Buying Monopoly In France? Hasbro May Have A Surprise For You

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

How many times as a kid playing "Monopoly" did you have this wish - or even as an adult. When you passed go or your annoying cousin had to pay you for landing on Park Place - if only that money was real.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MONEY")

PINK FLOYD: (Singing) Money.

CORNISH: Well, go to France, and your dreams could come true. "Monopoly" made its debut in the country 80 years ago. To celebrate the octogenarian game, the folks at Hasbro France have taken a Willy Wonka approach - 80 out of 30,000 "Monopoly" sets on the shelves of French stores will have real cash hidden inside. There's no way to identify which boxes hold the payoff, although there are reports that boxes with euro notes are making for slightly bigger, slightly heavier boxes.

Here's the breakdown of what's inside. Sixty-nine sets are packed with some real fives, tens and twenties. Ten sets have some replaced twenties, fifties and one-hundreds, and one jackpot box has all the play money swapped out, a prize of more than 20,000 euros. That's more than $23,000.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY")

JACK ALBERTSON: (Singing as Grandpa Joe) I've got a golden ticket.

CORNISH: Not so fast, Grandpa Joe. U.S. "Monopoly" fans, put down your scales and rulers. The U.S. special editions will not be packed with greenbacks, but Hasbro is reviving some throwback tokens including a lantern, cannon and a bathtub - not quite as exciting as cold, hard euros. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.