Being given a Pokémon promo card with a McDonald's Happy Meal is cool, but there's something to be said about the ones you had to hunt for.

For a period of time in 1998-1999, collectors who mailed a copy of any Kadabra card plus a copy of Bill's PC card to Media Factory (the first Japanese Pokémon TCG distributor) were sent a copy of this Alakazam in return.

There was a similar process for 4 other cards – Gengar, Golem, Machamp, and Omastar – and the card you got back depended on which evolution you sent in.

While I wasn't the one who sent in a Kadabra way back when, I'm grateful that someone did because it allowed me to scoop up this gem 25 years later.