Collectors and resellers are swarming McDonald's for the new Pokemon card toys included with Happy Meals

• McDonald's is giving out Pokemon cards in Happy Meals for a limited time.
• The cards are highly popular with collectors, and resellers are rushing to buy them up.
• McDonald's official policy is not to sell full cases of toys without Happy Meals.

McDonald's just released limited edition Pokemon cards in Happy Meals designed for children, but adult collectors are already trying to scoop them up.

Happy Meals will come with a special edition booster pack of cards for Pokemon's 25th anniversary. Each pack comes with four cards, and 50 total in the collection so customers can collect and trade them.

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Knowing that fans and professional resellers would be coming in droves, McDonald's prepared.

"With such significant demand for our promotional Pokémon TCG cards, and some fans even going to extreme lengths to get them, we're working quickly to address shortages and also strongly encouraging restaurants to set a reasonable limit on Happy Meals sold per customer," McDonald's said in a statement "We want to offer the full Happy Meal experience to as many families as possible, and help ensure everyone is able to get in on the fun!"

With more than 13,000 locations in the US alone, run by different franchisees, policies differed across the board. Pokemon fans took to social media to report the situation in their markets. One fan who runs a website dedicated to Pokemon trading cards tweeted that he called 25 locations to inquire about the limited edition cards, and all told him that the cards are only available with Happy Meal purchases.

These rules don't apply at every location. Other fans posted that they were able to buy 50 or 100 packs of cards without Happy Meals, while some restaurants seem to allow an additional pack or two alongside a Happy Meal. One Instagram account with a bio that reads "Exclusive reselling Discord" posted photos of hundreds of packs of cards the owner acquired, presumably to resell online.

McDonald's policy is that all Happy Meal toys are intended to be sold with the meal, the company confirmed in an email to Insider. While restaurants can accommodate "reasonable customer requests" to purchase additional toys, company policy prohibits selling full cases of toys.

Major franchisee with over 100 restaurants Michael Retzer tweeted that he hadn't seen this kind of buzz around a Happy Meal toy since Beanie Babies in the 1990s, which still go for hundreds and even $1,000 on eBay if they are unopened.

Given the huge popularity of Pokemon cards so far, McDonald's told Insider that it is working with its supply chain to continue distributing a "controlled supply" of cards to locations that are running low, with other backup toys on hand.

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.