Most fast food chains have their “thing.” Chick-Fil-A has their original chicken sandwich, Burger King has the Whopper and Wendy’s with their infamous Frosty. But none come close to the grandiose 50-year history behind the McDonald’s Big Mac. So it only makes sense that on the famous burger’s 50th birthday celebration McDonald’s will be handing them out for free.
Pro tip: Curious how to make Big Mac sauce? McDonald’s showed us how to make their recipe.
How to get a free Big Mac
Unlike some fast-food freebies, this free Big Mac must be purchased with a MacCoin. Yes, you read that right, with McDonald’s money. Since some people refer to Big Macs in terms of currency (i.e. “that new set of dishware costs the same as X Big Macs”), McDonald’s decided to actually make a currency of their own. The worth of a Big Mac coin is, you guessed it, the price of a Big Mac.
Now obviously you can’t just go to the bank and get Big Mac coins. In order to obtain a coin, you must go to McDonald’s and buy a Big Mac first. So technically the deal is a buy-one-get-one Big Mac, with a little twist. After purchasing that initial Big Mac, you will be handed a MacCoin.
This birthday deal will officially roll out starting at lunchtime on August 2, but there’s a huge catch.
There’s only a limited supply
Thankfully 14,000 McDonald’s locations around the United States are participating in the MacCoin exchange, but that doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to get a coin. McDonald’s plans to only distribute 6.2 million of them! That may seem like a big number, but that’s still smaller than the current population of New York City. So you may want to plan lunch out on Thursday, August 2.
Multiple countries are participating
The United States isn’t the only country handing out MacCoins; more than 50 other countries will be joining as well! The coins will feature seven different languages to represent the participating countries: Arabic, English, Indonesian, Mandarin, Portuguese, French and Spanish.
The coins have five different designs
Along with the seven featured languages, the coins actually come with five different designs. The designs represent a different decade that the Big Mac experienced in its 50 years of existence. The designs focus on popular concepts from each decade including flower power for the ’70s, pop art for the ’80s, abstract shapes for the ’90s, technology for the ’00s, and the ’10s focus on the evolution of communication (hello, social media).
Now if you get one of these beautifully designed MacCoins, there’s a dilemma you will probably face: To keep, or not to keep, the MacCoin? In another 50 years, the MacCoin may be a vintage commodity, especially if you collect all five designs. Sure you could get a free burger, but coin collectors may sacrifice the delicious lure of free lunch by keeping their MacCoins instead. Either way, you’re gonna want to get in line at McDonald’s this Thursday.
Decided to keep the coin? These recipes will satisfy that fast food craving!
