There can't be a Monopoly fan in the world who has not dreamed of playing with real money.
Now, for the 80th anniversary of the game's first appearance in France, Hasbro is providing exactly that - at least for 80 lucky buyers.
Only one set will land the major jackpot, in which every game note is replaced by real money - for a total windfall of 20,580 ($32,360). In addition, 10 sets will contain five real 20 notes, two 50 notes and one 100 note, while 69 sets will have five 10 notes and five 20 notes.
"We wanted to do something unique," said Florence Gaillard, brand manager at Hasbro France.
The operation to switch the notes was carried out in secret, in the small eastern town of Creutzwald, where the games are packed up before being shipped throughout France.
Appropriately for a game where players try to cruelly bankrupt their opponents, Monopoly even roped in a bailiff to count and re-count the real notes.
"When they asked me, I was giddy as a child," said the bailiff in question, Patrice Wimmer, an aficionado of the game.
The board game of Monopoly was created after the Great Depression in the United States and has been tearing families and friends apart ever since.
