Disney Lorcana, the trading card game explained from A to Z

I’ve been collecting Disney Lorcana since it first came out, so I’ll explain everything you need to know before you start: what it is, how you play, how much it costs, where to buy it and the pitfalls to avoid. The aim is to make it all clear for you, as a parent discovering the game or simply as someone curious about it.

One point before you start, because people often get confused: Lorcana is a paid game that you buy. If you’re looking for the collector cards handed out for free in the parks, see the free collector cards instead. And for the collectible keys, it’s this way.

Disney Lorcana is a trading card game launched in 2023 as a collaboration between Disney and Ravensburger, designed by Ryan Miller and Steve Warner. It’s two things in one. On one side, a game: you build a deck (a pack of cards you choose) and take on an opponent, in the spirit of Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh!. On the other, collectable cards that you gather just for fun.

The game puts you in the shoes of an Illumineer, a character who brings Disney heroes together. Each set features different characters and worlds, and since 2026 the game also includes Pixar films (Toy Story, The Incredibles, Brave).

It’s simple: the first player to collect 20 Lore points (the game’s score) wins. To play your characters, you spend Ink, the game’s resource. There are six Ink colours, each with its own personality.

You don’t need to remember everything to get started. If you mainly want to play, pick up a ready-to-play starter deck: the rules are included and you can start a game straight away. If you mainly want to collect, boosters are what you need (more on that below).

Each card belongs to an Ink colour:

A few words come up a lot:

Disney Lorcana isn’t free. Here are the products you’ll come across most often, with guide prices (they vary from one retailer to another). A booster (sometimes called a booster pack) contains 12 cards, including one foil card with a random rarity that can go all the way up to an Enchanted card. It’s the basic purchase for collecting. The mix in a booster is always the same: 6 commons, 3 uncommons, at least 2 cards of a higher rarity and the foil card. Alongside the cards, the range also includes accessories (storage boxes, illustrated card sleeves, playmats) and a mobile app to browse the cards and manage your collection.

As with books, Disneyland Paris annual pass discounts don’t apply to Lorcana products.

Rarity tells you how hard a card is to find. To spot it, look at the small symbol at the bottom centre of the card. Here’s the scale, from most common to rarest. To give you an idea of the proportions, a standard chapter has 204 numbered cards (72 commons, 54 uncommons, 48 rares, 18 super rares and 12 legendaries), with Enchanted cards numbered beyond 204.

Enchanted cards are among the most wanted (Sorcerer Mickey, Elsa). Since chapter 9, two extra tiers have been added: Epic and Iconic. Iconic is now the hardest rarity to get, limited to just two cards, Mickey and Minnie.

That’s what makes opening a booster so unpredictable: you never know what you’ll get. To my surprise, I pulled an Enchanted card in my very first packs, and hunting for rare cards is clearly part of the fun.

To get a set first, you have two options: Disneyland Paris or a specialist games shop. New releases often come out there early, several days before the general release in big chains (Cultura, Fnac, King Jouet, Micromania) and online (Amazon).

At Disneyland Paris, Lorcana is most often found at The Storybook Store, the Main Street bookshop in Disneyland Park, and sometimes in other shops in the park or in Disney Village (such as World of Disney). Early releases happen regularly there: for example, the Givresort chapter came out early at Disneyland Paris in February 2026, a week before the general release.

A new set (called a chapter) comes out roughly every three months, so about four a year. Here’s the up-to-date list of chapters released so far.

Lorcana is just one of the things you can buy while you’re there. For the bigger picture, read my guide on which souvenirs to bring home from Disneyland Paris and browse all the shops in the resort to see where to find what. For the official list of partner retailers, the official Disney Lorcana website keeps its stockists up to date.