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Promo cards: what they are, how they've held up, and what McDonald's and big stores are doing next
Free with a Happy Meal, a store event, a $15 purchase or a tournament win. A few promos become legends; most end up in a binder worth a few dollars. Here's the history, the frenzies, what a November McDonald's run would look like, and where the big stores are heading.
Sources: Guinness World Records (39), ABC7 ($16.49M), PriceCharting ($17, October 5, 2026), PokeBeach (Nov 5, reported).
In short
- Most promos are made in large numbers and stay cheap. The valuable ones were limited by design: contest prizes, tournament prizes and serial-numbered cards.
- Big giveaways bring big crowds: McDonald's in 2021, the Van Gogh Pikachu in 2023, Lorcana at Gen Con 2023. Each ended in lines, resale listings and new limits.
- McDonald's in November 2026 is reported, not confirmed. Past years point to 4-card packs of reprints and about 15 cards to collect.
- Big stores are swapping the race for limits, invitations and drawings, and handing out promos as gifts with purchase.
Five ways to get a promo
A promo is a card you get for doing something, not from a booster pack. How you get it says a lot about what it will be worth.
- In a product
Packed into Elite Trainer Boxes, gift sets and collections. As common as the box.
Usually plentiful - At a store event
For playing a prerelease, League night, Pirates Party or Nexus Night.
Plentiful, if you go - With a purchase
Free with a qualifying buy at certain stores, while supplies last.
Plentiful, for a while - At a place
Tied to a museum, Disney Parks, a convention or a restaurant chain.
Depends on the crowd - For winning
For top finishers, sometimes serial-numbered.
Rare by design
Then and now
Pokémon From a 39-card contest to a gift with purchase
- Movie promos. One of four stamped cards with a ticket to Pokémon: The First Movie (CGC). Millions went out; they're a common first vintage card.
- McDonald's 25th Anniversary, then Target pauses in-store card sales in May: "The safety of our guests and our team is our top priority" (NBC News).
- Van Gogh Pikachu. Handed out at the Van Gogh Museum from September 27, removed within weeks. About $954 ungraded today (PriceCharting, October 5, 2026).
- Gift with purchase. November 2025: a different promo per store, Suicune at GameStop, Reshiram at Hot Topic and Barnes & Noble, Genesect at Best Buy (ComicBook.com). October 2026: a stamped Mewtwo with $15 of Pokémon cards at seven chains (The Pokémon Company).
"A small group of individuals has created an undesirable situation."
The Van Gogh Museum and The Pokémon Company, removing the Pikachu promo in October 2023 (Dexerto)
Lorcana A game that started with promos
- The first cards were promos. A $49.99 D23 Expo set with six foils and an exclusive Mickey, a year before launch (WDWNT).
- Gen Con. Overnight lines of about 14 hours (Gizmodo), a 24-pack cap per person (Disney Lorcana), a Gen Con-logo Mickey promo (ComicBook.com), and a reprint moved up to the holidays (ICv2).
- Gold, serial-numbered Mickey for Top 4 at Disney Lorcana Challenge events (Bleeding Cool). The D23 Collection: $99.99, two per person, then a second-chance lottery (TheGamer).
- A promo plan for every set: prerelease, Buy-A-Box with a full booster box at a Play Hub store, weekly play, and Magical Places cards only at Disney Parks and Disney Stores (Disney Lorcana, Magical Places). Hyperia City follows it from October 16 (TheGamer), and the $29.99 Beast Gift Box on November 13 has a holiday foil Beast (ICv2).
Whispers in the Well promos (Disney Lorcana, October 29, 2025).
One Piece · Riftbound · Gundam Prizes are where the value is
- One Piece
New Pirates Party participation promos every two months (Bandai). A Top 8 Treasure Cup Luffy sold for $17,000 graded PSA 10 on September 3, 2026 (PriceCharting); the November 2025 Top 4 prize was a serial-numbered Zoro (Bandai).
- Riftbound
Promo packs at weekly Nexus Nights (Riot Games). Riot has asked stores not to sell its Flash promos as singles (Riot Games).
- Gundam
Store tournaments give every player a foil participation pack and the winner an alternate-art pack (Bandai).
The pattern: promos anyone could get by buying something or showing up tend to settle at a few dollars. Promos only a few could win tend to hold. Prices here are snapshots, not forecasts.
McDonald's: every US Pokémon Happy Meal
Pokémon cards have been in US Happy Meals most years since 2011: reprints with a McDonald's mark, only some of them holo.
- 201112 foil cards; the first set outside Japan, June 17 to July 7Serebii
- 2012–19A 12-card set most years; 2013 ran only in FranceNine Pocket
- 2020No US promotionNine Pocket
- 202125th Anniversary: 25 cards in holo and non-holo, 4-card packs. Sold out fastNewsweek
- 2022Match Battle: 15 cards, one holo per pack, a coin and a spinnerpokemon.com
- 2023Match Battle Returns: 15 cards, the first with foil borders, Sept 12 to Oct 16pokemon.com
- 2025Dragon set: 15 cards, 6 confetti holos, Charizard as #1, Jan 21 to late Febpokemon.com
- 2026?Reported: Nov 5 to Dec 9, 15 cards. See belowPokeBeach
2021 McDonald's: then vs now
"We're working quickly to address shortages and also strongly encouraging restaurants to set a reasonable limit on Happy Meals sold per customer."
McDonald's, February 2021 (Newsweek)
Japan, 2025. McDonald's Japan ended a card Happy Meal planned for August 9 to 11 after about a day, citing "higher-than-expected sales", as photos spread of meals left behind by buyers who wanted only the cards (Nintendo Life).
Reported · not confirmed
The 2026 file
- Dates
- November 5 to December 9, US
- Cards
- 15, in 4-card packs with one holo; which cards isn't known
- Extra
- A toy or a "Pokémon Essential Handbook"
- Status
- "Preliminary and subject to change" (PokeBeach, September 27). No announcement from McDonald's or The Pokémon Company as of October 5 (Dexerto)
If it runs like past years: reprints, a handful of holos, four to six weeks, and per-customer limits at some restaurants if the anniversary draws a 2021-sized crowd. We'll update this when it's announced.
Where the big stores are heading
- Promos as a reason to visit
Gift-with-purchase promos, split by store in November 2025 and shared across seven chains in October 2026.
- Limits
GameStop: one per item on new Pokémon releases from May 30, 2025 (Game Rant). Walmart: five trading card items per visit from November 5, 2025 (Kotaku).
- Invitations and drawings
Best Buy moved online Pokémon releases to invitations in November 2025 (Best Buy); Walmart runs random drawings (Walmart); Pokémon Center emails invitations. How each works.
- Store-only promos
Pokémon Center's own Elite Trainer Boxes add a Pokémon Center-stamped promo (pokemon.com); Disney Parks have Magical Places.
"Our goal is to ensure more fans have the opportunity to experience these exciting releases, rather than limiting access to early buyers and resellers."
GameStop, ending Pokémon pre-orders in February 2025 (Nintendo Life). It has since taken pre-orders again for Delta Reign.
Our Report Card scores each big store on this: whether it used a line, set limits and announced the drop.
Play it smart
- Get gift promos with something you'd buy anyway. The Mewtwo needs $15 of Pokémon cards, not a particular product.
- Go to the event. Prerelease, League, Pirates Party and Nexus Night promos come with entry. See our events guide.
- Wait out launch week for mass promos. McDonald's 2021 cards resold for many times what they sell for today.
- Treat prize and serial cards as a different market: graded, rare, and one sale can sit far above the rest.
More: every 30th Celebration product, Lorcana chase cards, One Piece prices and why sealed cards cost so much. Terms like reprint, purchase limit and scalper are in our glossary.
Prices are PriceCharting snapshots on October 5, 2026 unless another date is shown; they change daily and aren't forecasts. The 2026 McDonald's details are reported, not confirmed. Card images: The Pokémon Company (pokemon.com) and Ravensburger (disneylorcana.com). © Disney.