The United States leg of the McDonald's Pokémon run is no longer a date on a calendar. This is a follow up to our October 27 report and our November 3 Canada launch story, and it covers only what is new today. The promotion is live this morning at participating restaurants across the United States, and it now sits in the Confirmed tier, because the launch rests on a McDonald's news release and on the official Pokémon announcement rather than on store level reports.
The launch is live and the end date question is open
USA TODAY reports this morning that participating locations in the United States have the Pokémon Happy Meal starting Tuesday November 10, citing a McDonald's news release. The same report adds a detail that matters more than it sounds. No end date has been announced. Our November 3 story carried a reported December 14 end date drawn from store checks and flagged that date as reported rather than promised, and that flag now does real work. The only honest clock on this run is the official one, a limited time while supplies last, and supplies will run out at different speeds in different places.
What each meal holds on launch day
Each meal arrives in one of three box designs built around Pikachu or Umbreon or Torchic. Inside sits one of 15 miniature toys shaped like Happy Meal boxes, plus two Pokémon Trading Card Game cards drawn from a set of 15 cards that includes seven foil cards. The Pokémon Company confirms the two card count and the seven foil cards on its own announcement page, and it also confirms the one regional exception in North America. The miniature box toys will not be available in Quebec, where fans receive a Pokémon sticker and a booster pack containing four Pokémon cards instead.
Two small extras that are easy to miss
The toys do a second job once the meal is over. Guillaume Huin, a senior marketing director at McDonald's, has shown that the mini boxes turn into charms that can clip onto keys or bags. The packaging carries a second extra as well. Scanning the QR code on the box opens a digital game in which players hunt for all 15 toy designs across a virtual classroom and playground.
What this means for collectors
Our take is that the open end date changes the hunt more than any single card on the list. A run with a printed end date lets collectors pace themselves, while a run that ends when each restaurant runs dry rewards the early visits and punishes waiting for a quieter week. Two cards per meal also sets the math from day one. Even perfect luck needs at least eight meals to reach 15 cards, and real luck is never perfect, so duplicates will pile up long before most sets close. Sleeve the foil copies first, trade the duplicates second, and treat any purchase limit you meet as a local rule rather than a national one, because neither company has announced a national limit in the material we opened.
What to watch next
Watch the first week for stock reports from the biggest cities, because those restaurants will show first whether the two card format slows the usual rush or feeds it. Watch for the first clean foil copies reaching the singles market, since condition will decide which of the seven foils hold any premium at all. And watch the international calendar. Australia and Canada and Fiji and France and New Zealand and Spain share the November wave with the United States, December brings a long list of countries in Europe and beyond, January 2027 covers much of Latin America, and Ireland and the United Kingdom close the rollout in February 2027.