The Pokémon Promo Gallery
Pokémon's best cards were never sold in packs. They were handed over counters, tucked into cinema pamphlets, and sealed inside Poké Balls.
For its first decade, Pokémon ran a second card game alongside the real one: a game of promotions. Restaurants, cinemas, airlines, railways, magazines and toy shops all dealt in Pokémon paper, and much of it never passed through a booster pack at all. This shelf of the Library documents that shadow set: the metal gold cards sold over a Burger King counter in 1999, the cards that came free with a cinema ticket, the Pikachu that only ever wore a poncho in Japan, and the stickers and phone cards most Western collectors have never seen.
Every door below opens onto a documented piece of that history: what was made, how it was given out, and how a collector today tells the real thing from the story.
BURGER KING, 1999
The gold cards and the great Poké Ball recallThe Gold Cards
Are the Burger King gold Pokémon cards real gold? What the 23-karat set actually is, and what it was sold as.
The Complete Set
Six metal cards, six Poké Balls, six certificates: what a complete Burger King gold card set consists of.
The Recall
Why the Burger King Poké Balls were recalled in December 1999, and what else the campaign handed out.
THE MOVIE PROMOS
Cards that came with a cinema ticket
The First Movie Four
Electabuzz, Mewtwo, Pikachu and Dragonite: the four Black Star Promos handed out at Pokémon: The First Movie.
Ancient Mew
The card written in runes: what Ancient Mew actually says, and why it was banned.
The Versions
Nintedo errors, cosmos foils and a 2019 return: how many versions of Ancient Mew there are, and how to tell them apart.
After the First Movie
Legendary birds, a reverse holo Entei, and the end of the cinema card era in America.
THE PIKACHU PROMOS
Ponchos, birthdays, balloons and costumesThe Poncho Gallery
Every poncho Pikachu, documented: the gallery of Japan's most dressed-up promo line.
The Count
How many Poncho Pikachu cards are there? The verified answer, promo code by promo code.
The Special Boxes
What came in the Poncho Pikachu Special Boxes, from Mega Charizard to Vulpix.
Birthday Pikachu
The card with a blank where your name goes, and why Wizards banned it on sight.
Flying & Surfing
Balloons over CoroCoro, a surfboard under Mount Fuji: where Flying Pikachu and Surfing Pikachu came from.
The Costume Promos
Mario, Magikarp and the Pretend Pikachu: the wider costume universe.
STICKERS AND PHONE CARDS
The paper Pokémon lived on besides cardsAmada Seals
What are Amada Pokémon sticker cards? Japan's Saikyo Seal Retsuden, from 1996.
Merlin Stickers
The Topps Merlin sticker albums that taught Europe to peel.
Stickers vs Cards
How sticker cards differ from trading cards, and how to read one.
Phone Cards
What are Pokémon phone cards? NTT's prepaid teleca, documented.
Phone Cards by Year
The designs, year by year, 1996 to 2003.
Reading a Teleca
Denominations, issuer lines and card codes: how to identify a Japanese phone card.
MORE PROMO HISTORY
Restaurants, stores and a card readerMcDonald's
When did McDonald's start giving out Pokémon cards? The Happy Meal sets, 2011 to today.
New York, 2001
The two promos made for one store: Pokémon Center and Lucky Stadium.
Opening Pikachu
Why every Pokémon Center opening in Japan gets its own Pikachu.
The e-Reader Cards
Cards you swiped instead of shuffled: the e-Reader promos and the Sample Set.