Shop - McDonald’s Japan 2025 Pikachu 020/M-P PSA 10

Description

In August 2025, McDonald’s Japan ran a limited-time Pokémon Trading Card Game promotion as part of its Happy Set (Happy Meal) campaign. This ran from 9-11 August and with each eligible Happy Meal purchase during that short window, customers received one exclusive Pikachu promo card with a never-before-seen illustration and one additional promo card chosen at random from five other Pokémon (Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Ralts, and Riolu).

The Pikachu card was the standout item of the promotion: its artwork showed Pikachu in a unique illustration themed for McDonald’s Japan — often described as Pikachu reaching for or enjoying a burger — not a standard card from a regular set. All of the promo cards in this series carried the McDonald’s logo on them to mark them as part of this exclusive collaboration.

This Pikachu card was a Japan-exclusive promo and distributed only while supplies lasted during the very short period. Because the campaign was so brief — and some locations reportedly ran out early — the card quickly became sought after by collectors and secondary markets. Variants of the card (e.g., graded versions like PSA 10) have been discussed by card collectors and can trade at elevated prices compared with typical free promo cards, reflecting both scarcity and collector demand.

McDonald’s Pokémon card promotions had occurred before, but this 2025 release was especially highlighted because the Pikachu card featured all-new artwork specifically for the campaign, it was only available for a very limited time at McDonald’s in Japan and it sparked significant attention from collectors due to its unique origin and distribution method.

However, the 2025 McDonald’s Japan Pokémon card promotion was effectively abandoned/ended early because of unexpected problems during its launch. Massive demand, bulk buying by scalpers, and chaotic scenes at restaurants caused the campaign to go off the rails within less than 24 hours.

Many McDonald’s restaurants ran out of the Pokémon promo cards on the very first day of the distribution period, and McDonald’s officially announced the early end of card distribution at many locations due to the overwhelming demand.

The company issued an apology, stating that unusually high sales — mainly driven by hoarding and resale efforts — had led to congestion, disorder, and even instances of food being discarded after buyers only took the cards.

Effectively, while the promotion wasn’t formally “cancelled” in advance, it ended prematurely, and the planned three-day giveaway didn’t continue past the first day at most stores.

The chaotic situation also affected future Happy Meal campaigns: McDonald’s Japan postponed or cancelled other planned trading-card promotions (e.g., a One Piece card campaign) as a result of concerns sparked by the Pokémon card rollout