Pokemon fan gifted gold-plated part of franchise history and it’s still sealed

One Pokemon fan has received an unexpected but welcome blast from the past during their travels to visit family. Not only have they uncovered a pristine piece of Pokemon history, but it is still factory-sealed.

Sharing their anecdote on X/Twitter, the recipient of Pokemon’s most memorable fast food tie-in – Steve – exclaimed: “While I was traveling, I visited my uncle, who asked if I still collected Pokemon.

“He had something lying around he couldn’t manage to sell. It’s only the goddamn 23K gold Pikachu card from Burger King still sealed in its bag!”

Launched at the height of Pokemon’s popularity in 1999, Burger King’s gold-plated cards came housed inside a plastic Poke Ball with a certificate of authenticity.

Released to coincide with Pokemon: The First Movie, six cards featuring Mewtwo, Charizard, Jigglypuff, Togepi, Pikachu, and Poliwhirl were produced.

Despite being mass-produced and widely available during the promotion, collectors foreseeing the franchise’s longevity held on to factory-sealed boxes of the item for decades.

Pokemon

Burger King ran the promotion to coincide with Pokemon: The First Movie’s release

Is that a worthwhile gamble? Well, considering the price, at the time, for a gold card with any Burger King meal was an additional $1.99, secondary market prices on eBay are nothing to scoff at. Prices range from double to triple digits depending on overall condition.

That’s little league prices compared to how much cash PSA or Beckett-graded Pokemon cards can fetch, but still more than a return on investment.

Burger King and McDonald’s have run numerous Pokemon-related tie-ins since the ’90s. The latter tends to stick exclusively to running limited-run Pokemon Card packs annually, though the cards contained within are usually reprints from Standard-legal sets.

Still, their widespread availability hasn’t stopped customers from getting into heated arguments over cardboard.