Target Pokémon Card Lottery System: How the New Drawing Works and When the First One Closes

Target has rolled out a lottery-style drawing for Pokémon Trading Card Game products, a change aimed at the familiar problem of bots and resellers clearing out new releases within seconds. The first drawing is a small test, and entries close Wednesday morning.

What is Target’s Pokémon card lottery system?

Instead of a first-come, first-served drop, Target now gives shoppers a window to enter a drawing for select products. When the window closes, the retailer randomly picks winners, who then get the chance to buy the item. Polygon reported the system, rumored for months, quietly went live on Target’s website.

Until now, Target typically released new Pokémon products after midnight on weekdays, Polygon noted, pushing collectors to stay up for hours only to lose out to bots that buy everything in milliseconds.

Which product is in the first drawing?

The first test is a Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals three-booster blister pack (the Kangaskhan blister, per Game Rant) priced at $14.99, Polygon reported. Polygon expects Target wants to see how the test goes before using the system for more in-demand products, such as items from the 30th Anniversary collection or Ascended Heroes, but Target hasn’t announced that.

How to enter the Target Pokémon raffle

Based on Game Rant’s walkthrough:

1. Sign in to your Target account.
2. Go to the product page for the Destined Rivals three-booster blister.
3. Click the Enter Drawing button. Game Rant said there is one entry per logged-in guest.
4. Watch for a confirmation email after entering, Polygon said.

If you don’t see the button, Game Rant suggested trying Target.com on a desktop computer or the desktop view on your phone, and Polygon recommended updating the Target app.

Deadline and what happens if you win

• Entry deadline: 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to Game Rant.
• Winners: notified by email starting Nov. 4, then they can complete the purchase.
• No automatic charge: Polygon reported that winners aren’t charged automatically and instead get a deadline to finish buying.
• No returns: items won this way can’t be returned or exchanged, Target warns, per Polygon.
• Not picked? “Guests who aren’t selected will have another chance if more inventory becomes available,” the Target page says, as quoted by Polygon.

Game Rant said it is unclear how many packs a winner can buy.

How it compares with Walmart’s Pokémon raffle

Walmart already uses a similar lottery. Polygon said the main differences are timing and payment: Walmart’s entry windows last only an hour or two, while Target’s appears to run much longer, and Target doesn’t charge automatically.

Polygon pointed out a trade-off. A longer window lets more real fans enter, but it also gives resellers more time to create extra accounts. Not being charged up front is a plus for collectors who enter several drawings: if someone wins more than once, they can buy only the product they want most.

Why it matters for collectors

For Pokémon card fans, the biggest frustration with big-box retail drops has been speed, not price. A random drawing doesn’t create more product, but it could make the odds feel fairer than a race against bots. How well it works will depend on how Target handles duplicate accounts and whether it expands the drawings to the most wanted sets.