Five Pokemon promo cards, one 1910 painting, and a pun that only works once you notice it: the attack is called “Scream.” In late 2018, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum hosted a major Edvard Munch retrospective, and The Pokemon Company built the five Munch Exhibition Pokemon promo cards around it — each one a different Pokemon mid-scream on Munch’s bridge, and handed out in three very different ways.
None of the five ever got a normal booster-pack pull. Three came from a purchase-and-choose giveaway, one shipped sealed inside a museum-shop collectible, and one went only to exhibition visitors.
The five Munch Exhibition promo cards (286–290/SM-P) are Psyduck, Eevee, Pikachu, Mimikyu and Rowlet. Psyduck, Eevee and Rowlet shared an in-store pick-1-of-3 giveaway, Mimikyu 289 came sealed inside a “Scream” mini card file, and Pikachu 288 went to museum visitors.
- Set reference: Japanese Pokemon card list.
All 5 Munch Exhibition Pokemon Promo Cards
The set runs 286 through 290 in the SM-P promo numbering, one card per Pokemon, five different illustrators, three different distribution routes:
| # | Pokemon | Illustrator | How it was distributed (2018) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 286/SM-P | Psyduck | Tomokazu Komiya | 2-pack purchase, pick 1 of 3 (in-store only) |
| 287/SM-P | Eevee | Atsuko Nishida | 2-pack purchase, pick 1 of 3 (in-store only) |
| 288/SM-P | Pikachu | You Iribi | Museum visitor giveaway (window disputed) |
| 289/SM-P | Mimikyu | Hasuno | Sealed inside a “Scream” mini card file (museum shop + Pokemon Center Online) |
| 290/SM-P | Rowlet | Hideki Ishikawa | 2-pack purchase, pick 1 of 3 (in-store only) |
Despite the “pick 1 of 3” language, only three of the five (Psyduck, Eevee, Rowlet) actually shared that giveaway pool. Pikachu and Mimikyu were each handled on their own, which is where most of the confusion around this release comes from.
The Exhibition: Munch at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
“Munch: A Retrospective” — in Japanese, ムンク展―共鳴する魂の叫び (“Munch: The Resonating Cry of the Soul”) — ran at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno from October 27, 2018 to January 20, 2019. It was built around roughly 100 works, more than 60 of them oil paintings, and its headline loan was the Munch Museum’s own 1910 tempera-and-oil version of The Scream — the first time that particular version had traveled to Japan. General admission tickets reportedly ran about ¥1,600, down to ¥800 for high schoolers.
The tie-in cards all reference that same tempera Scream — each Pokemon rendered mid-scream, hands to face, standing on Munch’s bridge under his signature swirling sky. It’s a straightforward crossover on paper, but the way Pokemon actually released these five cards turned out to be anything but standard.
How Each Card Was Actually Distributed
Psyduck, Eevee, and Rowlet shared one giveaway: starting November 2, 2018, Pokemon Center and Pokemon Store locations across Japan gave away one of the three — your choice — with every two-expansion-pack purchase, one card per transaction. Pokemon Center Online was not part of the promotion; this was strictly an in-store giveaway, and the only way to pick a specific one of the three was walking into a physical shop.
Mimikyu never got a standalone giveaway at all. It shipped sealed inside a “Scream” mini card file collectible, sold at the museum’s own shop and via Pokemon Center Online starting October 27, 2018 — the exhibition’s opening day. If you own a loose Mimikyu 289, it originally came out of that file, not a pack. For everything else Mimikyu-related, see our Mimikyu cards guide.
Pikachu is the one exception to all of the above: it was reserved for museum visitors themselves, illustrated by You Iribi rather than any of the other four artists.
Illustrator note: Rowlet 290 was drawn by Hideki Ishikawa — see our Hideki Ishikawa illustrator guide for his other work — and Eevee 287 was drawn by Atsuko Nishida, covered in our Atsuko Nishida illustrator guide.
The Connected Artwork Across All 5 Cards
Line the five cards up in collection-number order — 286 through 290 — and a small detail shows up that isn’t obvious from any single card: each one’s background includes the previous card’s Pokemon, rendered as a silhouetted figure on the bridge behind the main artwork. It’s a connect-the-set gimmick that only reveals itself once you own the full run in order.
All five share the same attack, reported in English-language coverage as “Scream” — it confuses every Pokemon on the opposing side.
If you’re trying to identify a loose copy, the collection number in the bottom corner (286–290) tells you both the Pokemon and where it sits in the silhouette sequence.
Our Japanese Pokemon Listings
For sealed Japanese Pokemon product, the M6a 30th CELEBRATION booster box Sealed option was listed at ¥26,449 (~$172) on October 23, 2026. USD figures convert at ¥154/USD, approximate.
The Pikachu 288 Distribution Date — What Sources Actually Say
Of the five cards, Pikachu 288 is the one with a genuinely unresolved distribution window.
Bulbapedia’s record puts it during “Pokemon Week,” a promotional stretch from December 10–16, 2018, handed to visitors one card per person. A separate account from collectible-tracking site Pokumon describes a ticket-based, first-come exchange instead — with no individually wrapped packaging, cards arriving in bundles of 50 that museum staff opened and handed out on the spot — and gives a similar early-to-mid-December window (its own year label reads 2019, which looks like a typo). Earlier press coverage from October 2018, including Anime News Network and Hypebeast, simply reported that visitors could receive the card, without specifying any particular period.
Museum visitors could receive Pikachu 288 only during a limited window, not for the entire exhibition.
Where to Buy Munch Exhibition Promo Cards from Japan
We ship Japanese Pokemon singles and sealed product from Tokyo. Sourcing requests for a specific card go through Quick Order.
Beyond this release, browse our full PSA10 card list, the PSA10 graded singles collection or the Japanese Pokemon card collection. For the wider picture of high-priced Japanese cards, see our most valuable Japanese Pokemon cards guide for 2026 — these five promos sit outside that list, since they’re driven by exhibition history rather than standard pull-rate rarity. And if you’re sourcing graded Japanese cards in volume rather than one at a time, our Japanese PSA10 wholesale guide covers how that process works.
This isn’t the only art-museum Pokemon crossover, either — a 2023 Van Gogh Museum tie-in produced its own Pikachu promo.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Munch Exhibition Pokemon promo cards are there?
Five: Psyduck (286/SM-P), Eevee (287/SM-P), Pikachu (288/SM-P), Mimikyu (289/SM-P), and Rowlet (290/SM-P), tied to the Munch retrospective at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.
How was the Pikachu 288 card originally distributed?
To exhibition visitors. Bulbapedia cites a “Pokemon Week” giveaway; a separate secondary source describes a ticket-based exchange around the same period with cards handed out from opened bundles.
Can I get the Mimikyu 289 card on its own?
Not through the original 2018 distribution — it only came sealed inside a “Scream” mini card file sold at the museum shop and Pokemon Center Online. See our Mimikyu cards guide for the character’s other printings.
Are the Munch Exhibition promo cards available in English?
No. All five — Psyduck, Eevee, Pikachu, Mimikyu, and Rowlet — were Japan-only releases tied to a Japanese museum exhibition, and none of them ever received an official English-language printing.
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