The Pokémon Company confirmed on October 29 what September's leak had promised: Pokémon cards are back in Happy Meals for the licence's 30th anniversary. Canada opened on November 3, Australia on November 5, and the United States follows from November 10 to December 14, 2026, with Europe staggered through to February 2027. The 15-card list is out, 7 holos included: here it is, with the dates country by country.
When are Pokémon cards coming back to McDonald's?
The October 29 announcement corrects PokéBeach's September 29 report on one point that matters: the November 5 date given for the United States was actually Australia's. The confirmed calendar runs as follows: Canada from November 3 to December 7, Australia from November 5 to December 9, and the United States from November 10 to December 14, 2026, while supplies last.
The timing fits the licence's 30th anniversary year, whose product slate is already packed, we keep the full list of 30th anniversary releases up to date. The previous American wave, Dragon Discovery, ran from January 21 to February 24, 2025.
What does the 30th anniversary Pokémon Happy Meal contain?
Each meal contains one toy and two cards drawn at random from the 15-card collection. The toys are miniature Happy Meal boxes, 15 designs to collect from Bulbasaur to Umbreon by way of Squirtle, Rowlet and Munchlax, and their backs double as card display stands. Two exceptions spotted by PokéBeach: in Quebec and Norway, a 4-card booster pack replaces the toy.
McDonald's holo cards are printed on a "confetti" holofoil paper you will not find anywhere else. The cards remain reprints from existing sets with their own numbering: this collection carries the M26 symbol, just as the 2024-2025 series carried M24. Seven of the fifteen cards exist in holo versions, exactly like the dragon wave before it.
What are the 15 cards in the McDonald's 2026 set?
The M26 collection spans several generations, from Decidueye to Wooloo, and roughly one card in two pulled from a meal comes out holo. Here is the list in numbering order:
| No. | Pokémon | Version |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decidueye | regular |
| 2 | Chandelure | holo |
| 3 | Palafin | holo |
| 4 | Pikachu | holo |
| 5 | Mimikyu | holo |
| 6 | Lucario | holo |
| 7 | Hawlucha | regular |
| 8 | Tyranitar | holo |
| 9 | Absol | regular |
| 10 | Zoroark | regular |
| 11 | Metagross | regular |
| 12 | Jirachi | holo |
| 13 | Eevee | regular |
| 14 | Snorlax | regular |
| 15 | Wooloo | regular |
Watch out for the wrong list still making the rounds: on October 29, The Pokémon Company accidentally posted the visuals of the 2027 set, stamped M27 and opening with the Kanto starters, before pulling them the next day. If a list gives you Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle as cards, it is next year's: in 2026, the starters are in the toys, not in the packs.
We have since gone through that next-year list card by card: our breakdown of the McDonald's 2027 cards covers the 15 accidentally revealed cards, the unreleased Squirtle by Kariya and the regulation marks that give their year away.
A nod to the trainers of the house: Lucario lands one of the seven holos, and if brawlers are your camp, the Garchomp crystal LED Pokéball is engraved in glass at 29.99 euros.
Which countries get the cards, and when?
The calendar The Pokémon Company passed to the specialist press places France and Spain in November 2026, no exact day yet. Germany, Austria, Belgium and some twenty other countries follow in December, Italy in January 2027, and the United Kingdom and Ireland close the run in February 2027.
| Wave | Dates in France | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Pokémon 25th anniversary | 2021 | 50 cards: 25 Pokémon in regular and holo versions |
| Match Battle | September 28 to November 8, 2022 | 15 cards, 6 holo, cardboard game included |
| Scarlet & Violet | from December 6, 2023 | 15 cards, Paldea starters up front |
| Dragon Discovery | December 4, 2024 to January 21, 2025 | 15 cards, 7 holo, poster and stickers |
A European start in November would be a first for France: recent waves landed there between late September and December, never the same month as the American launch, even though France did beat the United States to it in 2024. Exact local days usually drop a few days before launch through the McDonald's app and the specialist press, and they will be added here. To aim for the right week, the reflex is the one the 30th anniversary ETB sell-out taught us: week one, or someone else's doubles.
Why is everyone watching out for scalpers?
Because the precedents are heavy. In 2021, the 25th anniversary wave landed in the middle of the card speculation frenzy: restaurants stripped bare, meals bought by the armful, kids leaving empty-handed, to the point that several countries imposed purchase limits.
The worst played out in Japan, from August 9 to 11, 2025. For its first Happy Meal cards in a decade, McDonald's Japan offered 6 cards, including a Pikachu numbered 020/M-P with brand-new artwork: the Pokémon reaches for a burger sitting on a table. Despite a 5-meal limit per customer, distribution ended on day one, bags of untouched food piled up on sidewalks, and the card was soon listed around 28 dollars for a meal that costs 510 yen, barely more than 3 dollars and change. McDonald's Japan apologised publicly: "we sincerely accept that our preparations had not been adequate". CNN and CBS News both ran the story, which tells you how far past the Pokémon crowd it travelled.
What anti-scalper measures should we expect in November?
Nothing is announced on the American side. But Japan just showed the direction: for the 30th anniversary Happy Set launched in August 2026, no cards at all, 30 toys to collect, the 27 starters from all nine generations plus Pikachu, Eevee and Snorlax, released in three rounds on August 7, 14 and 21, with a 6-meal limit per group over the first three days and online orders restricted to McDonald's own delivery service.
For November in the US, two signals should keep things calmer: no exclusive-artwork card appears on the list, and PokéBeach notes The Pokémon Company has slowed down on exclusive-art event promos precisely because demand overflows. My advice, as a seller who watches these waves closely: aim for the first week, go as a family, and check the app before driving out, stock varies from one restaurant to the next. During the 2022 French wave, a Happy Meal cost around 4.50 euros, this is not an investment, it is a meal with cards inside.
Are Happy Meal Pokémon cards actually worth anything?
Almost nothing, and that is good news. They are reprints with special numbering: their value counts in single euros or dollars, not hundreds, and sealed packs almost never climb. The three-digit listings you see on eBay are asking prices, not sold prices, exactly the mechanism we documented in the crash of 30th anniversary card prices five days after launch.
The exception that proves the rule is exclusive artwork: the Japanese burger Pikachu trades high because it exists nowhere else. Nothing like it sits on the M26 list. These cards are made to be opened by kids, played with, dog-eared, and that is exactly right. If your trainer leans more starters than boosters, the Bulbasaur crystal LED Pokéball stays lit long after the meal, at 29.99 euros. And for those hooked by the dragon wave, where Charizard headlined the boxes, the Charizard LED Pokéball in crystal plays the same part on a shelf.
While waiting for the exact local days, the light-up Pokéball collection counts 13 models at the same price, no drive-through queue involved.
Images: PokéBeach, McDonald's and The Pokémon Company, SoraNews24 for the Japanese Happy Set. Updated November 8, 2026: full M26 card list, dates by country and the European calendar. Local launch days will be added as they are announced.
