Skip to main content

Monopoly is being sold with real money inside

Monopoly is being sold with real money inside

/

80 of 30,000 anniversary sets in France will contain the secret stash

Share this story

PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images

Toymaker Hasbro is celebrating the 80th anniversary of Monopoly's introduction in France by replacing the fake money in 80 sets with real cash. The sets will be distributed among 30,000 specially branded editions of the game, with only one of these replacing every note on the board with real money (a total windfall of €20,580 or $23,348). Ten additional sets will contain €300 ($340) in twenties, fifties, and a single €100 bill while 69 other sets will offer €150 ($170) in tens and twenties. "We wanted to do something unique," brand manager Florence Gaillard told the AFP. "When we asked our French customers, they told us they wanted to find real money in their Monopoly boxes."

The sets containing real money are slightly thicker than normal but weigh the same

Hasbro says that although there's no difference in weight between the normal sets and those with real money, the Euros do make the boxes slightly thicker — a dropped detail that sounds like a bit of a ploy to encourage French shoppers to try and sniff out the sets. Gaillard adds that the operation to stock the sets with real money was carried out in secret, with the company employing a bailiff to handle and count the notes. "When they asked me, I was giddy as a child," the bailiff told the AFP, proving that even for adults, the lure of a real-money Monopoly set might be too much to handle.

Verge Video Archives: Tabletop gaming in the digital age (Top Shelf)