What You Need to Know About the 2023 McDonald’s Pokémon Cards

Pokémon exclusives and promotional launches are always enticing for collectors, yet they often sell out on the release day. Whether you’re talking about promotional cards for movies, the show, or upcoming tournaments and world events, it can be quite hard to get your hands on promotional Pokémon trading cards.

There’s been a very recent announcement about an upcoming Pokémon card promotion that is sure to fly off of the shelves almost immediately. Originally being announced on PokéBeach, McDonald’s is going to be releasing a set of 15 exclusive reprints alongside Happy Meals. 

McDonald’s has done a wide variety of Pokémon promotions in the past, each getting varying levels of success and hype from fans. Some have been immediately snapped up and others have been left by the wayside, and these cards are looking like some of the best so far.

If you’re hoping to get your hands on some of these prized cards, here’s everything that we know about the upcoming McDonald’s Pokémon cards so far. This includes the alleged release dates for every region and the card details.

Please note that this article contains mild spoilers about which Pokémon are featured in this launch and which ones are available as holo cards.

The Cards Will Be Available in August and September

There’s a bit of confusion about when these cards will be available globally but currently, we know that they have been available for a few days already in Germany and Austria, coming out on the 27th of July 2023. This is why there are so many incredible photos and pieces of information about the cards already.

The cards should also be available in August for U.K. fans too, with the release date of August 23rd being used in most other articles and publications. 

The official release date for the US is September 12th and Canada on October 31st. However, some McDonald’s restaurants may be distributing the cards early if they run out of their old Happy Meal toys, as we noted in our new McDonald’s card price guide.

There Are 15 Cards to Get

The official card list is already out for this Pokémon promotion and they all look fantastic so far. The full card list is as follows:

• Sprigatito
• Fuecoco
• Quaxly
• Cetoddle
• Ceitan
• Pikachu
• Pawmi
• Kilowattrel
• Flittle
• Sandaconda
• Klawf
• Blissey
• Tandemaus
• Cyclizar
• Kirlia

While some Pokémon x McDonald’s collaborations have been hit or miss in the past, it’s safe to say that scalpers and avid resellers will be jumping on these cards as soon as they hit the stores.

Some of them feature incredibly popular Pokémon and others have wonderfully unique designs. Aside from the Pikachu card, every card in this set is a Scarlet & Violet reprint. The Pikachu card is a Paldea Evolved reprint. 

This is the first set of McDonald’s cards to ever feature cards with holofoil borders which is exciting. They are using the confetti holofoil style, which adds a lot of extra depth and dimension to the cards. 

There’s the chance of pulling 6 holo cards in total. The holo cards are Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Ceitan, Pikachu, and Klawf. The chance of pulling a holo card is quite high, as one of the things you will get when purchasing a Happy Meal is a booster pack with 4 cards. Out of these cards, one will  be a guaranteed holo card.

Alongside the booster pack, you’ll also be able to get a Match and Battle toy. There are at least 12 variations of these toys, so there’s plenty to collect if you’re interested.

This is looking like it’ll be one of the best McDonald’s promotional releases to date. If you’re a collector looking for something new to add to your hoard, head to your local McDonald’s store as soon as they start offering these sets. It’s likely they’ll go quite quickly.