While not (yet) officially announced, new leaks indicate that McDonald’s is once again teaming up with The Pokémon Company to offer fans a fresh collection of 15 Pokémon cards to snatch up and flip on eBay for hundreds of dollars, or enjoy quietly at home. But probably eBay.
The Week In Games: Pocket Monsters And Simulated Goats
Since 2001, The Pokémon Company has, nearly every year, created promotional Pokémon cards that people can buy at local participating McDonald’s locations. These cards, which were only available in Japan until the 2011 promotion, have often featured unique symbols and are highly desired by collectors. In 2021, the McDonald’s X Pokémon promotional cards sold out quickly as collectors snatched up boxes at a time from the restaurants and sold them for hundreds apiece on eBay. And it seems possible that these newly leaked 2023 Pokémon McDonald’s cards might also sell out fast, too.
As PokéBeach reported on July 26, a reader sent the site images of the 15 cards from the upcoming (not officially announced) promotion, which apparently came out prematurely in Germany. PokéBeach claims these are all the cards that will be available during the yearly Pokémon event at McDonald’s. That makes sense, as in the past the number of promo cards was often around 12 to 15.
Here’s the full list via PokéBeach:
- Sprigatito
- Fuecoco
- Quaxly
- Cetoddle
- Cetitan
- Pikachu
- Pawmi
- Kilowattrel
- Flittle
- Sandaconda
- Klawf
- Blissey
- Tandemaus
- Cyclizar
- Kirlia
All of the Pokémon featured, with the exception of Pikachu, come from Scarlet & Violet. It seems just six of the 15 cards will be holo, those being Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Cetitan, Pikachu, and Klawf.
When you’ll be able to buy these new Pokémon cards
As before, these cards will be available in four-card booster packs that will come with Happy Meals. The cards will also come with a “Match & Battle” toy that looks to be based on a similar toy that was part of last year’s McDonald’s X Pokémon promotional event.
As for when to expect these cards to show up in the United States, PokéBeach says that the cards will be available in Germany and Austria on July 27 and in the UK on August 23.
No date has leaked for the U.S., though based on past events and this year’s known dates, it’s believed that the cards will also come to the United States sometime in August.