Toyota’s Prius has a Monopoly in space

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This Prius has covered 6,000,000 miles -- without emitting even an ounce of carbon dioxide. Of course, not having an engine helps a lot in that respect. When this thing moves, it needs a human hand to do it. Or, in this case, an extra-terrestrial one.

Kind of. Here’s the story: Hasbro’s Monopoly, probably the most well-known board game in the universe, has a new ‘Here & Now’ edition coming out in September (yep, some people have their eyes on next Christmas already). Instead of antiquated things like railroad stations, this version will have airports. Plus NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

And those old place-marking tokens like the top hat, the boot and the wee Highland terrier? Replaced by things like McDonald’s French Fries (really), a Starbucks coffee mug, a Motorola Razr cell phone and, you guessed it, the Toyota Prius.

So pleased were the space cadets at JSC to be honored in such a fashion, and as a way of acknowledging Toyota’s entry into the zeitgeist, they decided to take those tokens (along with an airplane, a New Balance 992 running shoe, a laptop computer and a labradoodle -- this is getting more surreal by the minute) where no token has gone before, on a giant leap to the International Space Station, orbiting about 217 miles above the Earth. In space, no one can hear you scream when you throw a six.

After re-entering the atmosphere it’s trying to save, the Prius was presented to Toyota by JSC’s president, Richard Allen, on April 22 -- Earth Day, appropriately enough. We’ll have to wait until the fall (more specifically, an edition of ABC’s Good Morning America) to find out what all the other new places on the Monopoly board will be. And whether ‘Go To Jail’ has been replaced by ‘Make A Donation To A Police Charity And Attend Anger Management Classes.’

-- Colin Ryan