Cover image: McDonald's
McDonald’s have just announced a brand-new promotion, coming in March 2026, and you won’t want to miss it.
Next month, the fast food giant will be releasing an exclusive range of 24 McDonald’s cards featuring iconic characters. You’ll be able to collect cards (most likely when you buy McDonald’s menu items) and trade them with your friends and family. And if all that wasn’t enough, there’s also the chance to win prizes.
Following a somewhat cryptic post on their socials, it's now been announced that the card game will launch at McDonald’s UK on Tuesday, 17th March, which means there’s not long to wait.
Keep reading to get clued up on everything you need to know.
What McDonald’s cards are there to collect?
There will be 24 different McDonald's cards for you to collect from March onwards, featuring a wide range of legendary McDonald’s brand characters.
McDonald’s have gone back to their roots in recent months. Last year’s McDonald’s Monopoly game was an absolute blast from the past, featuring long-forgotten favourite characters like the Hamburglar, Birdie and Grimace.
As such, one famous face guaranteed to be showing up on these McDonald’s cards is Ronald McDonald. Whether or not you have any residual fear of the clown from your childhood is a different question altogether.
These are the cards we know for certain will feature so far:
🍟 Ronald McDonald
🍟 Grimace
🍟 Legendary Golden Arches Card
🍟 McDonald’s Multimixer
🍟 Milkshake Dip
🍟 Fry Girl
🍟 Cheeseburger Chair
While McDonald's have partnered with The Pokémon Company to give away collectable cards in the past, this new game is the first iteration of a McDonald's trading card game.
When does the promotion run?
These all-new McDonald’s cards will be launching on Tuesday, 17th March, 2026, which means it's almost time to start collecting. McDonald’s haven’t yet announced the end date for collecting cards and prizes.
How to collect McDonald’s cards
It’s not yet been revealed exactly how McDonald’s customers will be able to collect these trading cards. We think it’s likely you’ll find a pack of four cards inside selected menu items such as fries, Big Macs and drinks.
What we do know is that the cards are 18+ only, which means you won’t find them inside Happy Meals or other kids’ menu items.
We’ll update this guide as soon as we get more info about how to play and what prizes are up for grabs.
FAQs
Still got burning questions about this new McDonald’s card game? Check out the FAQs below, which we’ll be updating as we get more information. If we haven’t answered your question, leave a comment for us at the end of this article and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
🍔 Will this game replace McDonald’s Winning Sips 2026?
Winning Sips 2026 has not yet been announced, so it’s unclear whether the game will run this year or not. While Winning Sips usually takes place in March, there was no game in 2025, so we suspect that this McDonald’s card game may replace Winning Sips.
🍔 Is this the same as McDonald’s Pokémon cards?
No, this collectable card promotion is unconnected to previous Pokémon McDonald’s promotions. The McDonald’s Pokémon cards 2025 promotion started in May last year, so keep an eye out for updates in the spring.
Have you managed to get your hands on any iconic cards from this new McDonald's collection? Let us know in the comments.