McDonalds released a Pokémon Happy Meal this week to mark the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The boxes, with Pikachu printed on the side, contain a pack of Pokémon cards. There are over 50 to collect, and each pack includes an exclusive McDonalds holographic (or Holo) map. There is already a busy online market for the cards and resellers are bringing it in.
Some speculators go to McDonalds asked to capture Happy Meals and reports suggest they are to buy so many Happy Meals if they can. Some locations are limiting the number from Happy Meals a private individual can buy, but that doesn’t seem to stop resellers from taking advantage.
Why do McDonald’s Pokémon cards go on eBay so much? Also, scalpers take these cards away from children. pic.twitter.com/6DxzzhN8Sd
– Jason (@panzerjedi) February 9, 2021
The card packs are often sold for at least $ 10. Some people have gotten their hands on boxes containing more than 100 packages, for which they are sold on eBay $ 1,000 or more. Whether or not the exclusive cards will be valuable enough to pay off over the odds in the long run remains to be seen, but it appears they were produced in large quantities so they may not be very rare.
Just a quick close-up of the foil for the McDonald’s Pokémon 25 Year Anniversary cards.#Pokemon #McDonald’s pic.twitter.com/8puNzGealP
– Kyle Dotson (@BitterHyena) February 9, 2021
Happy Meals with the card packs may not be easy to come by, with some fans reporting their local McDonalds stores out of stock. Still, at least some people who are new to the cards don’t just throw the food away, but instead to donate to people in need.
Given that the Pokémon Trading Card Game seems to have become more popular than ever over the past year, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that an online market quickly emerged for these packs. Some prominent Twitch creators have spent thousands of dollars on card packs to open their stream in hopes of finding rare, valuable Holos that they can turn a profit on.