- McDonald’s is releasing Pokémon Cards in Happy Meals for a limited time.
- The cards are very popular among collectors, and merchants are rushing them fast.
- McDonald’s official policy is not to sell complete boxes of toys without Happy Meals.
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McDonald’s has just released a limited edition Pokémon card in Happy Meals designed for kids, but adult collectors are already trying to pick it up.
Happy Meals has a special card package for the 25th anniversary of Pokemon. Each package contains four cards, and there are 50 in the collection so customers can pick them up and trade.
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Knowing that fans and professional dealers would come in large numbers prepared McDonald’s.
“With such a huge demand for our Pokémon TCG cards, and some fans are even going to go to great lengths to get them, we are working fast to address shortages and also strongly encourage restaurants to set a reasonable limit for Happy Meals per customer, “McDonald’s said in a statement:” We want to offer the full Happy Meal experience to as many families as possible, and help ensure everyone is able to have fun! “
With more than 13,000 locations in the U.S. alone, managed by different franchisees, policies differed across the board. Pokémon fans have taken to social media to report the situation in their markets. A fan who runs a Pokémon Trading Cards website, tweeted that he had called 25 places to inquire about the limited version, and everyone told him that the cards are only available with Happy Meal purchases.
These rules do not apply in every place. Other fans reported that they could buy 50 or 100 packages tickets without Happy Meals, while some restaurants seem to allow an extra package or two along with a Happy Meal. One Instagram account with a bio that reads ‘Exclusive reselling Discord’ posted photos of hundreds of packets of cards the owner purchased, presumably for sale online.
McDonald’s policy is that all Happy Meal toys are meant to be sold with the meal, the company confirmed in an email to Insider. Although restaurants may accommodate “reasonable customer requests” for the purchase of additional toys, the company’s policy prohibits selling full cabinets of toys.
Important franchise holder with more than 100 restaurants Michael Retzer tweeted that he has not seen this kind of buzz around a Happy Meal toy since Beanie Babas in the nineties, which still cost hundreds and even $ 1,000 on eBay if not opened.
Because of the huge popularity of Pokémon cards so far, McDonald’s has told Insider that it is working with its supply chain to distribute a “controlled stock” of cards to places that are scarce, with other rugby toys at hand.
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