Pudgy Penguins expands retail footprint with Target trading card rollout

Non-fungible token ($NFT) project Pudgy Penguins has expanded the retail reach of its trading card game through a nationwide rollout at Target stores in the United States.

According to a press release sent to Cointelegraph, the launch of Vibes Series 3 marks the game’s biggest retail expansion to date and brings the total number of circulated cards to 15 million. The new set includes additional gameplay mechanics, original artwork and appearances from characters in the Moonbirds collection.

The rollout shows how Pudgy Penguins is extending its $NFT-born intellectual property into mainstream consumer products as it aims to build a broader entertainment franchise beyond digital assets.

Pudgy Penguins developed Vibes in partnership with Orange Cap Games, with Series 3 following two earlier releases. The digital collectible project is the fourth-largest $NFT collection by market capitalization, according to data tracker $NFT Price Floor.

Top five $NFT collections by market capitalization. Source: $NFT Price Floor

Pudgy Penguins builds beyond NFTs

The project has also expanded into toys, gaming, licensing and other consumer products.

Pudgy Penguins has spent years turning its Ethereum-based $NFT collection into a broader consumer brand. Its physical toys entered more than 2,000 Walmart stores in 2023, and CEO Luca Netz said in May 2024 that more than 1 million toys had been sold over the preceding 12 months.

The project’s licensing model also allows $NFT holders to receive 5% of net revenue from physical products featuring their individual penguins.

The franchise has pursued a similar expansion through gaming. In 2025, Pudgy Penguins launched the skill-based Pengu Clash game on The Open Network. At the time, Netz described gaming as a vehicle for bringing the project’s intellectual property to wider audiences.

It also launched a mobile game called Pudgy Party in August 2025. According to Pudgy Penguins, the game’s downloads exceeded 1 million. However, the project said on Monday that it would halt further development of the game and focus its resources on a browser-based game called Pudgy World.