History Main / GlobalCurrencyException

* Common in older [=MMORPGs=] and proto-[=MMORPGs=] such as the ''{{Diablo}}'' online scene. In ''{{Diablo II}}'', the value of gold coins quickly reached the MoneyForNothing stage, so instead, players began using a very valuable ring, the Stone of Jordan (or [[FanNickname SoJ]]) as a standard currency for player-to-player interactions; it could easily be farmed through gaming the ingame casino, at least until Blizzard caught on and whacked it with a nerfbat, but it was a useful and compact item for player trading.

*** There are different currencies for the NCR and Caesar's Legion, but you can still trade in caps with both of them. Later, you'll find that the Brotherhood blew up some of the NCR's gold deposits, forcing them to use caps again.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Film]]
* ''StarWars''
** In ''ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon finds his Republic credits to be worthless on the Hutt-controlled planet of Tatooine. Watto refuses to accept them from him, no matter how much he [[JediMindTrick waves his hands]] and says, "Credits will do fine." Apparently this large settlement full of traders have no money changers of any kind, or at least Qui-Gon assumes it doesn't since he makes no attempt to find out.
** Expanded Universe gives us the Corporate Sector Authority, a region of the galaxy run not by the Republic/Empire, but by an amalgamation of large conglomerates which are all generally headed by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s. In CSA space, standard credits are no good as-is; anybody in the Corporate Sector must either use Authority Cash Vouchers, or Crystalline Vertex chips. Fortunately, visitors can convert their standard credits to these currencies upon entering.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Previous to 3rd Edition, there were some limits on what gold could buy directly. For example, it was possible to be very rich but unable to buy a magic item directly, according to the rulebook. In some campaigns this rule could be worked around: e.g. a rich player on good terms with a high-level magic-user could commission the creation of a magic item.
** 3rd Edition let players buy nearly everything with gold, but there was a special class of items called Artifacts that couldn't be purchased, only encountered through the GM's will.
** In Birthrights campaign coins are good for everything ''but'' reign economy. That is managed in gold bars, gained by taxes or production. While a gold bar can be changed in thousand of gold coins, for some reason the reverse is unthinkable. Melting gold coins in gold bar is a gamebreaking violation of... something.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''FinalFantasyVII'' has its GoldSaucer area, where normal gil doesn't work, and you need not one, but ''two'' kinds of additional cash -- GP from finishing minigames (or by buying them from an {{NPC}} who is rarely present), and BP, which you get for battling in a MonsterArena.
* ''FinalFantasyXII'' has the city of Archades, where gil does work for the things you normally do with gil, but getting to different parts of the city requires a totally different, non-monetary currency called Chops, which you can only get by doing good deeds in a sidequest.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had this in the Slots minigame, where you could only get certain Pokémon by turning in a large number of tokens -- which could be purchased at a ridiculous price (50 coins for 1000 yen), or won at slot machines. The tradition continued in the later games in the series, although you couldn't get Pokémon from them.
** Later games in the series included Battle Tower (or, in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]]'' version, Battle Frontier) areas which used Battle Points (BP) to buy items rather than regular money. The same goes for the [=PokéCoupons=] in the console spinoffs.
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]]'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' have a currency only used ''during'' a Battle Frontier challenge: Castle Points (CP) for the Battle Castle. The currency rolls over between challenges but is emptied following a loss. Aside from assisting in the completion of challenges in the Castle, which reward BP, the Castle Points aren't used anywhere else.
** Some NPC characters also ask for Heart Scales to teach your Pokémon moves they knew in the past, but forgot. In [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue FireRed]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue LeafGreen]], because Heart Scales and the Pokémon that carries them do not appear[[hottip:*:There is one heart scale in [=FireRed=] and [=LeafGreen=]. You need to use the Itemfinder outside of one of the caves with the Unown on Seven Island. It's worthless.]], but these types of Move Tutors do in the [[BonusDungeon Sevii Islands]], they ask for Mushrooms instead.
** Diamond/Pearl/Platinum's Underground uses spheres (including the pointy Prism Sphere) to buy furniture.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'' has Subrosia, which uses ore rather than rupees. Fortunately, ore can be acquired in most of the same ways rupees can.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series

* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'': When everyone heads off to the Beanbean Kingdom, Toadsworth gives you 100 coins. However, when the brothers reach Stardust Fields, a local monster informs them that the exchange rate means they only have the equivalent of 10 beanbean coins. This Mushroom-to-Beanbean coin conversion only comes up once more: a certain character bets you 99,999,999 Mushroom Coins he'll win at something only to reveal that Beanbean Coins are worth 1/1,010,101 of a Mushroom Coin, meaning you only get 99 coins for winning.
** Which either means at least one of the two people was just screwing with the bros, or the Mushroom Kingdom economy tanked ridiculously hard without Peach there.
* ''KingdomOfLoathing'' loves this trope:
** The Bounty Hunter Hunter sends adventurers to various areas collecting items for him. These items can be traded in for one Filthy Lucre per day, which is the only currency he accepts. They can't be traded between players either. Also, it takes about a year's worth of Lucre to get one of everything he sells. Yeah.
** The Hippy/Frat Boy War only takes dimes (dime bags, get it?) and quarters (as in the drinking game) respectively for their shops (these are also untradeable between players, and are not carried over into a new [[NewGamePlus ascension]], though the stores hold valuable VendorTrash to enable conversion into the GlobalCurrency).
** Also, Mr. Store only trades items for Mr. Accessories, which are given to players in return for a donation of real money ($10 each). In practice this is less of an example than some of the others, as Mr. Accessories are ''very'' tradeable, so with enough [[GlobalCurrency Meat]] you can buy one from another player. However, the market price for them tends to be roughly a month's worth of dedicated meat farming.
** Also also, Big Brother in the undersea area only accepts sand dollars.
** Also also also, the hobos in the marketplace in Hobopolis only accept hobo nickels (again, untradeable between players).
** Also also also also, for the 2009 Crimbo season (Crimbo being the Kingdom's Christmas equivalent), A currency called Crimbux was introduced for use in Crimbo Town. In 2010 a similar pattern occurred with "CRIMBCO scrip". In 2011, the pattern happened again with candy credits.
** The recently-added Elven Moon Colonies trade only in Lunar Isotopes.
** The longest-lived example is the Hermit, who only accepts worthless trinkets, gewgaws and knick-knacks as currency. He would not accept "valuable" trinkets, which nobody really want, but can be converted to GlobalCurrency anyway.

* In ''LittleBigAdventure 2'', once the player reaches Zeelich, they will find out all the money acquired on Twinsen ("Kashes") is worthless, since the Zeelichians use their own coin ("Zlitos"). Afterwards, the player will encounter a ferryman who will only accept ''gems'' as currency.
* '' VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'': The garage which provides upgrades to Jade's ship will only work for rare pearls. It's a good thing Jade needs Hal, Issam, and Babukar's services over the course of the game, because pearls (in spite of the fact that everyone and their brother seems to hand them out like candy to you) are illegal currency according to the backstory, making their refusal to take regular cash more than a little prohibitively bad for business. They still have vending machines on their premises that take normal currency, however.
** It's perfectly possible that they, being small business owners, prefer to take pearls, that are valuable in and of themselves, rather than the credits of the current government, which will be worthless if the Domz win the war. The vending machines are probably a concession of some sort, and run by a larger corporation.
* In ''{{Persona 3}}'', the proprietor of the Shinshoudo Antiques shop only takes gemstones that are [[RandomlyDrops dropped by certain Shadows in combat]] for payment. Since she provides items that boost your Persona's power in exchange, it can be assumed that she somehow "harvests" some sort of benefit from them to make the power-ups. She also sells other items that may be beneficial in combat or in leveling up your [[RelationshipValues Social Links]] as well.
** Gem traders are a tradition in ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Megaten]]'' games.
** ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' smacks you with this perhaps a quarter of the way into the game, if that. [[spoiler:Then again, after a [[ApocalypseHow Class 1]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt nuclear holocaust]], it isn't like there's any government backing the yen you collected. The game does at least has an NPC who trades a fraction of your yen into macca, though.]]
* This is the actual message received when trying to use your money where it doesn't work in ''QuestForGlory I''.
** Every ''QuestForGlory'' game except the 2 last ones involves your character having to find a money changer to change his money into the local currency.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', the currency Tadpole Pond's Frog Coin Emporium and a certain scholarly frog (as compared to everyone else) is Frog Coins, which can be used to buy some useful stat-boosting items. The catch: You can only get Frog Coins by (a) finding them in hidden or hard-to-reach boxes or (b) playing certain minigames, most notably Midas River, where you swim and barrel-jump down a river, collecting coins; ''only'' coins you collect can be exchanged, and the exchange rate is usually 60-80 coins = 1 Frog Coin. And each time you play the minigame, it costs 30 coins in and of itself!
** It is possible, if just barely, to earn a Frog Coin by making ten consecutive jumps on the head of a certain enemy called Wiggler. This must be done outside combat, each successful jump makes the enemy move faster. Later in the game there are ant-like enemies found in sand-whirlpools that grant a Frog Coin for three consecutive jumps, but it's still just as hard to successfully pull off. These are the only enemies in the game on which players may jump without starting a battle. An {{NPC}} in Monstro Town hints at this, [[GuideDangIt but to get the message you have to jump on him instead of talking to him normally]].
** Late in the game, there's an absurdly easy, very short, infinitely replayable minigame which gives out a Frog Coin every time you win.
** There is an even better way than the Bridge game. Every time you beat the Sky Troopa game under 11 seconds, it gets you 5 frog coins. As an added bonus, it's free, and to play again, you just jump down and start again.

* ''Star Wars Galaxies'' has several types of currency: the Galactic Standard Credit, which is used with most NPC vendors and for the player driven economy; Meatlump Lumps, used for Meatlump Themepark vendors; Heroic Instance Tokens, which you earn for completing sections of the Heroic Instances: there are currently six types of token, one type per instance (Mos Espa Token, Akxva Min Token, IG-88 Token, Black Sun Token, Exar Kun Token, and Hoth Token).
* ''AtelierIris'' features a village of rabbit and bear monsters where your Cole currency is not accepted. The same goes for a merchant in the Land of Mana.
* ''{{VideoGame/Transcendence}}'': This roguelike 2D space game requires the alien currency ''Rin'' for the more powerful items towards the end of the game when you normally have huge funds in the standard currency, with no possibility of converting it.
* ''{{Neopets}}'': You need to use Dubloons instead of Neopoints on Krawk Island.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', there are special [=NPCs=] who will sell you badges, but only if you trade them rare Star Pieces. ''Thousand-Year Door'' also features a casino that only accepts Pianta Tokens.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', you need to pay for a broken vase costing 1 million ''rubees'' (read: NOT "rupees"), rather than the usual currency of Coins. You earn these by performing menial labor for the people who charged you the money [[spoiler:and can eventually open a vault that contains the entire sum]].
** Pianta Tokens is justified though, as it's more like the CallARabbitASmeerp version of poker chips than a separate currency in it's own right.
* In the DiscworldMUD, different cities of the world use different currencies, and most cities feature at least one money-changer (who charges exorbitant fees). Some enterprising (and very wealthy) characters run their own money-changing services on the side.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', some shopkeepers sell ItemCrafting materials for "grade", an abstract point score that can increase or decrease based on how well you fight battles. It is also used to buy NewGamePlus bonuses, where it makes a lot more sense.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'', there's a hidden town that you have to search the sea floor in a submarine just to get to, which nonetheless is somehow a popular resort town for the whole world. Their currency can be converted at exorbitant prices, and then used in slot machines to actually get enough to put in an auction for a ''chance'' at winning a nice item which may or may not actually be up for auction when you finally get enough. Most players don't bother, since you'd have to LevelGrind a long time before you ran out of better uses for your gald.
* ''MegamanBattleNetwork/Rockman.EXE'' has a separate set of currency called Bugfrags. They are pieces of junk data that can be given to vendors in exchange for some [[CollectionSidequest rare battlechips]] ([[AwesomeButImpractical of]] [[AwesomeYetPractical varying]] [[GameBreaker usefulness]]) or fed to machines that [[RandomlyDrops randomly spits out a battlechip]]. Some of the battlechips from the vendors are [[GottaCatchThemAll usually not obtainable anywhere else]], and are thus required for OneHundredPercentCompletion in most EXE games.
* Some vendors in ''{{Okami}}'' let you purchase items only with demon fangs, not the default currency. One vendor at the end [[MST3KMantra accepts both currencies, but for different items each]].
* ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' has, in addition to [[GlobalCurrency Resources]], Snakebucks (dropped from mobs in the Snake Gulch amusement park, used in the gift shop), Acclaim (gained in PvP, used to buy PvP items and rewards, mostly Luchador costume items), UNITY and Nemesis Tokens (gained by completing UNITY and Nemesis missions, respectively, used for very high level, exorbiantly priced rewards) and a few others.
* ''StarControlII'' has two different races that engage in this: The Melnorme accept Credits which they give in exchange for biological information and the locations of Rainbow Worlds, and the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Druuge]] accept certain Plot Coupons -- and crew.
* The racing minigame area known as Goofy Speedway in ''ToontownOnline'' uses tickets instead of jellybeans, and the two are completely unrelated and nonconvertible. This probably surprised quite a few people who saved up jellybeans when Goofy Speedway was not yet released. Sort of makes you wonder why the Goofy Speedway employees even want the tickets...
* In the Facebook game ''[[TheMafia Mafia Wars]]'', profits earned in different cities are tracked separately, with virtually no opportunity to exchange between the various cities' currencies. Even Vegas and New York use different currencies, justified in-game by the former using casino chips rather than dollars.
* Common in older [=MMORPGs=] and proto-[=MMORPGs=] such as the ''{{Diablo}}'' online scene. In ''{{Diablo II}}'', the value of gold coins quickly reached the MoneyForNothing stage, so instead, players began using a very valuable ring, the Stone of Jordan (or [[FanNickname SoJ]]) as a standard currency for player-to-player interactions; it could easily be farmed through gaming the ingame casino, at least until Blizzard caught on and whacked it with a nerfbat, but it was a useful and compact item for player trading.
* {{Ryzom}} has the Civilization and Faction vendors, who sell some cool stuff... but you earn points to pay them with by doing delivery quests and pvp, respectively.
* ''Mother 3'' has this in the beginning in a more literal, but not mean spirited sense. The villagers do not have a monetary system and when Fassad offers them money, they, at first, refuse it because they don't believe in charging anyone for anything.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[/folder]]

->"''He's Hungry.''"
->"''He's an inanimate object! His money's no good here!''"
-->-- '''Squidward''', ''SpongeBobSquarePants: Bubble Buddy''

Occasionally this area is home to the InfinityPlusOneSword, though this doesn't make either any more useful.

* ''{{Transcendence}}'': This roguelike 2D space game requires the alien currency ''Rin'' for the more powerful items towards the end of the game when you normally have huge funds in the standard currency, with no possibility of converting it.

* ''{{Fallout}}'' series
** In ''[[{{Fallout}} Fallout: Tactics]]'', your money is in fact no good ''almost everywhere''. The Brotherhood currency is not accepted in the wastelands. And wasteland currency is not accepted in the Brotherhood. Good thing almost everyone is willing to take looted guns in trade, eh?
** ''{{Fallout 2}}'':

** ''{{Fallout 3}}'', you can find "Pre-War Money" in various locales which can't be spent outright but still carries its own inherent value and can be traded for the local currency of bottle caps or bartered as part of the value for other items. How much it's actually worth depends on your own bartering skill, of course.
** ''FalloutNewVegas'':

** Previous to 3rd Edition, there were some limits on what gold could buy directly. For example, it was possible to be very rich but unable to buy a magic item directly, according to the rulebook. In some campaigns this rule could be worked around: e.g. a rich player on good terms with a high-level magic-user could commission the creation of a magic item.[[hottip:*:Some fetching of [[TwentyBearAsses bear asses]] could still be required.

** Previous to 3rd Edition, there were some limits on what gold could buy directly. For example, it was possible to be very rich but unable to buy a magic item directly, according to the rulebook. In some campaigns this rule could be worked around: e.g. a rich player on good terms with a high-level magic-user could commission the creation of a magic item.[[hottip:*:Some fetching of [[TwentyBearAsses bear asses]] could still be required.]]

* The browser-based web game [=PsyPets=] has a hidden "Mysterious Shop," which sells several rare items. In a ShoutOut to ''TheLegendOfZelda,'' the only currency it accepts is... Rupees. Unfortunately (quite unlike ''TheLegendOfZelda''), Rupees can be hard to get, since the easiest way to get them is to build a Wishing Well and throw normal money into it. You have [[LuckBasedMission a chance]] of finding a fairy who will give you Rupees, among other things. At least she gives you a choice.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', you need to pay for a broken vase costing 1 million ''rubees'' (read: NOT "[[TheLegendOfZelda rupees]]"), rather than the usual currency of Coins. You earn these by performing menial labor for the people who charged you the money [[spoiler:and can eventually open a vault that contains the entire sum]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}''
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had this in the Slots minigame, where you could only get certain Pokémon by turning in a large number of tokens -- which could be purchased at a ridiculous price (50 coins for 1000 yen), or won at slot machines. The tradition continued in the later games in the series, although you couldn't get Pokémon from them.
** Later games in the series included Battle Tower (or, in [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]] version, Battle Frontier) areas which used Battle Points (BP) to buy items rather than regular money. The same goes for the [=PokéCoupons=] in the console spinoffs.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver SoulSilver]] have a currency only used ''during'' a Battle Frontier challenge: Castle Points (CP) for the Battle Castle. The currency rolls over between challenges but is emptied following a loss. Aside from assisting in the completion of challenges in the Castle, which reward BP, the Castle Points aren't used anywhere else.

* ''TheLegendOfZelda: [[TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Seasons]]'' has Subrosia, which uses ore rather than rupees. Fortunately, ore can be acquired in most of the same ways rupees can.

Not to be confused with the common expression for "I insist on paying your share of the bill."

** Gem traders are a tradition in ''[[ShinMegamiTensei Megaten]]'' games.
** ''ShinMegamiTensei'' smacks you with this perhaps a quarter of the way into the game, if that. [[spoiler:Then again, after a [[ApocalypseHow Class 1]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt nuclear holocaust]], it isn't like there's any government backing the yen you collected. The game does at least has an NPC who trades a fraction of your yen into macca, though.]]

** In ''ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon finds his Republic credits to be worthless on the Hutt-controlled planet of Tatooine. Watto refuses to accept them from him, no matter how much he [[JediMindTrick waves his hands]] and says, "Credits will do fine."

** ''{{Fallout 2}}'' does ''attempt'' to have something like this in Redding - the owners of the mines issue pay scrips instead of cash to employees. The thing is, they can be bartered off for full price when trading with ''anyone''.

** ''FalloutNewVegas'' is set to have different currencies for the NCR and Caesar's Legion, but you can still trade in caps with both of them. Later, you'll find that the Brotherhood blew up some of the NCR's gold deposits, forcing them to use caps again.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
--> How was I supposed to know they wouldn't take Water Tribe money?
** Ironically averted earlier in that episode, when a merchant gladly accepted Water Tribe coins ("As long as it's money"), the village KangarooCourt just refused it as bail.
* TheSimpsons: When Homer once could afford to pay with a $50 bill, Moe initially rejected claiming that Homer's money was no good there until Moe noticed it was "real money".
** In another episode, the Simpsons went to Itchy and Scratchy Land. Homer exchanged a lot of money for Itchy and Scratch money, only to learn that ironically all the stores in the park wouldn't accept it.
*** The same gag was used in ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' when the Sinclair family visited [=WeSaySo Land=].
* In a season 1 episode of RockyAndBullwinkle a cruise ship is shipwrecked on an island. The passengers are starving when they find a fast-food restaurant run by natives who have no idea what American money is. They eventually work out a trade system based on weight, resulting in the passengers paying over one hundred dollars for a burger.
* CrashCanyon invokes this by name in the first episode. Instead, golf tees are used as the currency.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Arcades love making you trade in your quarters for 25-cent Tokens. That way it's not gambling to spend a bunch of tokens hoping to get more tokens (or tickets), and therefore not illegal - you bought Tokens because you apparently like having shiny metal discs, not because they have any Cash Value.
** Some arcades do have normal change machines that give quarters, although they're about just as common as the token machines. It's really just more of a gimmick then anything else. The tokens also prevent people from just using the change machine and not playing in the arcade. Even more importantly, the money is theirs ''now'', not whenever you get around to actually using your credit, even if you were going to spend that amount gradually. This means more liquid assets for the casino/arcade/Starbucks.
** The tokens cost less than a quarter to produce, so if a customer takes them home, the arcade still profits. Additionally, the person possessing the tokens has an incentive to return to the arcade, which may have more to offer than just games (food, other entertainment, etc.).
** You tend to use "useless" tokens when playing in casinos, too; they're called "chips". In fact, there is the occasional stink when a casino changes its chips, and an old customer who brought theirs home instead of cashing out finds out that those things are NOT as good as cash if you don't redeem them in a timely manner.
** On the plus side, arcades take advantage of tokens to offer discounts--for example, a $10 bill could get you 50 tokens instead of 40, and $20 could give you 100 instead of 80.
* Xbox points, Wii points. Justified in that it makes it easier when dealing with tons of different international currencies. Instead of having a dozen different prices for each item, instead you have a point price and only worry about the price of points when you buy them.
** All of these strategies are known as "tokenization". Out of the numerous benefits the company enjoys, the biggest one is the fact that some people out there just see 4 tokens as being worth less than a dollar, even if they just spent a dollar on 4 tokens. Microsoft takes this strategy to an art-form by making 80 points ~= 1 dollar.
*** Weirdly, the cards available in different countries don't give the same amount of microsoft point, in Australia the cards are multiples of 1500 points instead of 1600 points.
* Arcades also do this with tickets. In many cases, it's an additional layer: quarters buy tokens which play games which win tickets which are traded for prizes.
* Switzerland is surrounded on all sides by countries that accept the Euro, yet the Swiss only take Swiss Francs. To a lesser extent, the UK and Denmark also count, as almost all their land and sea borders are with the Eurozone. Many stores also accept Euro by now, but the exchange rate is a bit of a ripoff. And you may get your change in the local currency.
** Switzerland has a very long tradition of accepting foreign currency, though, and did so long before there was anything resembling a unified currency in the surrounding nations; at the time that the Swiss Franc was instituted, there were ''thousands'' of currencies treated as valid (this included dozens of Swiss currencies, as every Swiss canton and many cities within the cantons had their own currencies, but it also included the absurdly vast number of German, Austrian and Italian currencies, as none of those countries were unified at the time). Even though the Euro isn't legal tender, merchants (especially in border regions) will probably still accept it. The fact that the Euro isn't legal tender in Switzerland (and the UK and Denmark, for that matter) just means that nobody is ''required'' to accept it.
** In fact most phone boxes and tram/train ticket vending machines will take Euro as well as Swiss Francs. Also most banks have at least one ATM that allows customers to withdraw Euro.
* Some stores in Copenhagen accept Swedish Kronor (SEK) because it is close to the Swedish border and people regularly commute/go there on holiday.
** There is also a common inversion to this trope here. Danish Kroner (DKK) are slightly more valuable (~20%) than SEK, but some stores have special offers accepting SEK as if it were DKK. This saves you ~17% if you ''don't'' exchange before paying.
* Eastern Europe is drifting into this as more and more countries are switching to the euro. You can use euros in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, but in Hungary you must use forints, in Romania you need lei, and in Poland you need zlotys.
** While Slovakia and Slovenia are now properly in the Eurozone, the Euro is usually also accepted close to the border in Germany's and Austria's neighboring countries. The prices in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are lower, but not low enough to bother changing money, and the local merchants have caught on to that. And there's always credit cards.
* Hong Kong, being a rather important center of finance in Asia, uses a separate Hong Kong Dollar currency instead of the RMB that the rest of mainland China uses (Hong Kong has a large number of other differences from China as well due to policy). Although you can obviously exchange one currency for another, it is rather inconvenient as banks and everyone else charges extra for exchanging currency, even when the transaction is electronic. What is even more inconvenient is that the standard Chinese debit/ATM card ([=UnionPay=]) is not necessarily accepted everywhere in Hong Kong either. The same holds true to a lesser extent in Taiwan (YMMV if its a part of mainland China or not) and Macau.
** The same situation applies in reverse. Hong Kong's ATM card system, Jetco, is only accepted by one bank on the mainland. However, unlike in mainland China, most banks offer ATM cards with international network support (Plus/Maestro usually) as an option or even [=UnionPay=] cards that function just like any other mainland-issued debit card (even extending to being able to be used in other countries that take it). And unlike in Hong Kong, exchanging cash on the mainland requires ID and paperwork. Also unlike Hong Kong, there are no extra fees involved. Sure, a crappier rate if the money you're exchanging wasn't wired into your bank account (or a deposited check- note that only the province bordering Hong Kong will universally accept checks issued in HK), but only at the airport exchange shop will you be charged a fee.
** And Macau actually averts this trope- the official currency is the pataca, but just about every establishment in the territory will take HK$ (just about the only exception is the government) and quite a few also accept RMB cash.
** This is practical mostly due to the pataca being pegged to the HK$. So effectively, there are only two currencies in use across China, the RMB, and the HK$. Taiwan and the NT$ too if you lean that way. But the pataca has essentially no relevance if you're not actually living/paying taxes there.
** Averted for good in northeastern China, especially in the border towns, which mostly live off the trade with Russia. In official and/or state-owned establishments you'd still have to pay RMB only, but smaller private businesses will happily take rubles, dollars or euro without an afterthought. The exchange rates still hover in the "blatant rip-off" region, though.
* The further you get from Scotland the more difficult it is to get Scottish notes accepted in shops, and hardly anyone outside NI or western Scotland will accept a NI banknote because they're not familiar with them. There are three Scottish and four Northern Irish banks that currently issue their own series of banknotes that look nothing like Bank of England notes (and this doesn't include the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey governments who also issue their own notes and coins).
** Note that Scottish and Northern Irish notes aren't technically legal tender anywhere in the UK, including Scotland and Northern Ireland, and English notes are only legal tender within England and Wales (although using them elsewhere ''shouldn't'' be a problem). The only things that have to be accepted everywhere are £1, £2 and £5 coins.
** Officially, Scottish notes are supposed to be accepted in England, as English notes are always accepted in Scotland. The currency is the same, the notes are just produced by different banks. The fact some English shops don't accept it is usually due to a lack of knowledge rather than a rule against it. If you ask to speak to the manager, he will say it's OK. Of course, most banks are happy to exchange the notes to avoid any problems.
*** Actually, since they aren't legal tender (according to the Bank of England) it's within the rights of a store to reject it. Most cities in England from Manchester going south will not accept Scottish notes at all. However, since legal tender doesn't really have any bearing in day to day life, Scottish notes can and will be accepted.
** Coins and notes from the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey (as well as more distant British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar, St. Helena, and the Falkland Islands), despite being identical in value to their UK counterparts (and especially in the case of coins, looking almost identical as well), are not legal tender the UK. While often they're accepted (and particularly with the coins, not even noticed as being non-UK currency), there's no obligation for anybody to accept them.
*** An analogy for confused North Americans: while no US business is obligated to accept Canadian currency (or the other way around), many businesses in border states/provinces will happily take the other country's coinage (but not notes) in payment, since they look so much alike, even though nobody in Canada ''must'' accept American dollars and nobody in the US ''must'' accept Canadian dollars. This is particularly true ever since the Canadian dollar achieved near parity with the US dollar in the mid-2000s (although oddly, many American toll roads, like the Ohio Turnpike, have ceased to take Canadian currency in that time for some unclear reason).
** And bizarrely, no one finds this unnecessarily complicated, since English currency dominates. At most, it serves as an annoyance for Scots and Northern Irish outside their Home Countries, plus the occasional English or Welsh person who runs up against a particularly Nationalist Scottish or Northern Irish merchant.
** £50 and £100 notes from ''any'' of the issuing banks in the UK are almost always treated with suspicion due to their rarity. Very few shops will except Bank of England 50s (by far the most common) without some degree of eyebrow raising, and trying to get a Clydesdale Bank (one of the 3 Scottish issuing banks) one for instance would be downright impossible in London and the South of England.
* Sometimes happens in cities where normal mass transit is paid to the driver himself. Guadalajara, Mexico, for example, has buses that accept regular pesos, but the light train only accepts tokens or rail cards, and the rapid bus only accepts bus cards. Mexico City, meanwhile, has buses that accept regular pesos as well, but in the subway you need tickets or rail cards. And the Metrobus requires a different rail card BTW.
* Also happens sometimes in [[LeMetropolitain Le Métropolitain]] in Paris. You want to ride Subway 1, Bus [=PC1=] or Tramway 2 at La Défense with a normal T+ ticket? Fine. Want to ride RER A or Transilien U? Too bad, special ticket. Want to ride anywhere with a Navigo pass? Fine. Want to go to Charles de Gaulle or Orly airport? Too bad, special ticket!
* The Camlann medieval reenactment village, near Seattle, requires visitors to trade their spending money for the "coin of the realm" upon entry. Although it's fine to trade back on your way out.
** Likewise, it's common for carnivals and theme parks to sell tickets at their entryways, which must be redeemed to access rides and other attractions. Concession stands within the parks, conversely, are often cash-only operations, as their operators subcontract space from the park rather than working for it directly.
* In general this is averted in real life. They might not accept your money, but you can always convert it, [[RealMoneyTrade even if your money is gold from]] ''WorldOfWarcraft''.
* Within the USA, due to the recession, some towns are issuing their own money (legal as long as it's treated as taxable income and is done as paper bills) only valid within the town. Of course, they still accept regular dollars, but the prices are often better using the local currency, as it increases the amount of money spent in-town rather than on out-of-town purchases.
* These words may be used in social situations either extremely good or extremely bad. The good variant is often stated by friends celebrating someone else's good fortune and is taken to mean that said friends will take care of the check. The bad variant is when someone is so vilified that no amount of money will get them any service from a particular establishment
* In the U.S. there's no legal requirement for any person or business to accept currency, it's just that there's no more convenient way to exchange goods and services. However, this does allow businesses to only accept certain denominations. For example, they won't take payment in all pennies because it's inconvenient or they won't accept bills over a certain amount because it would wipe out their supply of change for other customers.
** The basic rule is that American Federal currency must be accepted to settle an existing debt, but not in the case of a potential debt. For example, if you pay for a meal before receiving your food (eg. fast food joint or vending machine), they can refuse Federal currency. If you pay afterwards, they must accept it.
** However, if they make a "good faith effort" to communicate their payment restrictions prior to this (eg. clearly visible signs), they are not legally required to accept payment in Federal currency. However, aside from a few tax protestors, conspiracy theorists, and historical period/fantasy re-enactment groups, pretty much everyone will accept Federal currency out of sheer convenience.
** Unlike private businesses, government agencies are not permitted to refuse any form of Federal currency. Thus it is legally permissable to pay for your $10 parking ticket with a $100 bill; or to pay your $1500 income tax debt with truckloads of pennies. In fact, payment in pennies is a favorite tactic of tax protesters and anti-government activists.
* There is a long-standing treaty between [[CanadaEh Canada]] and the U.S. whereby both will accept each other's currency, and coins will always be traded at par (hence why the corresponding coins under $1 look alike, though Canadian ones weigh less). However, good luck getting your coins traded on a one-to-one basis south of the border, and go far enough south of the border and there will be arguments over the validity of using Canadian ''pennies''.
** Also, modern vending machines can tell the difference, and will usually reject coins from across the border on the assumption that they're fakes.
** That said, even hundreds of miles south of the border, it's not uncommon to see Canadian pennies, dimes and quarters circulating as if htey were US coins, simply because most people pay so little attention to coins that they don't notice that some of them have Queen Elizabeth's face instead of a president on them.
* The Canadian 50-cent piece, while still in circulation, is so rare that shopkeepers have been known to refuse it as currency. The same applies to the American two-dollar bill. Perfectly legal tender, but so rare that many people believe them to be counterfeit.
** Also, the American Sacajawea golden dollar coins, and the newer golden dollar coins with other presidents on them. Vendors have reportedly rejected these. You still get Sacajawea coins as change from Minneapolis train ticket booths, though. They're also the only place in the city to ''use'' them.
** News reports have [[http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants surfaced recently]] that over a billion dollars worth of dollar coins are sitting, unused in Federal Reserve vaults. No one wants to use them (they are heavier than paper bills and prone all the problems listed in this bullet point), but the laws that created them mean the coins will continue to be minted until 2016.
** Gotta watch out for the people who receive a dollar coin without looking at it and assume it's a quarter. If you don't catch it, they might manage to put it somewhere and demand additional money even though you just paid the right amount. (I assume these are simple mistakes, rather than on purpose, but it's still vexing when it happens.)
*** Some vending machines even accept Sacajawea dollar coins as quarters.
* The Royal Australian Mint occasionally issues collectible or commemorative coins, which are all legal tender. However, most people would not recognize these coins, and a such not accept them as payment.
* In Japan, gambling is illegal, yet Pachinko parlors are a common sight. They get around this by using the pachinko balls as currency similar to casino chips and offering rewards instead of money. However, many of these parlors also offer these odd looking 'collectible' cards as rewards. Although useless in themselves, there is almost always a business just down the street that buys the cards off people at a set price (doesn't matter where the Pachinko parlor is, the other business is always just down the street).
** If this sounds familiar to Pokémon players, and you're wondering why the slot machines were eventually phased out of the games, this is why. A few of the racetracks in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' handled payouts this way as well.
* Prior to the recession, some Canadian stores would take American dollars at roughly current exchange value or equivalent to Canadian dollars. Since the recession and the subsequent devaluing of American currency however, a lot of those same stores will now only take American currency equivalent to or ''less'' due to the rather shaky state of American finances as well as bank fees for exchanging money.
* Throughout the Caribbean, countries take American money at varying exchange rates. People in the Bahamas use it at a 1:1 exchange rate; they take American money just the same as Bahamian. However, Caribbean money is not accepted in the States, and will have to be changed.
* Some shops in the Brazil/Uruguay and Brazil/Argentina border will accept the Brazilian real, as they are common travel destinations for Brazilians. Conversely, some shops in southern Brazil might accept money from Argentina or Uruguay.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''DigimonAdventure'', when Joe visits Digitamamon's restaurant, he can't pay with his Japanese yen because commerce in the Digital World only runs on US dollars, and winds up being kept as Digitamamon's virtual slave until he can pay off his meal. The English dubbers had a heck of a time dubbing this, since they were trying to keep up a general pretense of the kids being American - a pretense completely abandoned in [[DigimonAdventure02 02]], where what sort of currency accepted by Digitamamon's restaurant [[DubInducedPlothole became reversed]].
[[/folder]]

** Played with on the back of one issue of the ''Star Wars Insider'' magazine; a toy of an Imperial trooper came with one Imperial credit coin. "Accepted anywhere. Unlike, say, ''Republic'' credits." It is odd that didn't even occur to anyone to just find a bank or other money-changer. The city they were in was a spaceport and trading center, after all; do they ''never'' get people from the Republic there?
* ''EscapeFromLA'' uses this trope when Snake tries to con Hershey into believing the United States now uses money printed with blue ink. This is because Hershey says (s)he already has bags full of "greenbacks", which are worthless in LA.
* In the FilmOfTheBook for ''PercyJackson'', when the heroes need to cross the River Styx and go to the Underworld, Grover tries to pay Charon with $100 bills, only for Charon to contemptuously incinerate them. As Grover mourns the wasted money, Percy hands over some Ancient Greek Drachmas.

[[folder:ComicBook]]
* Phoney {{Bone}} modern paper money is worthless in the Valley, especially Barrelhaven, which uses a barter system.

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheBlueBlurOfTermina'', as Sonic found out at the Clock Town Bank, rings, the official currency from his world, are not legal tender in Clock Town.

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* In ''LoneWolf'' the various currencies can usually be spent interchangeably ... but woe betide you if you try using the wrong currency as a bribe. Kika, the currency of the Darklands, takes this a step further: you can't spend it AT ALL. Basically, it's purpose is to take up space in your Belt Pouch and to convince the naysayers at the Kai Monastery that, yes, these fiends ''do'' have an economy.
** One tavern in the New Order series will only accept Gold Crowns or Silver Lune. The felt currency your companion carries is useless and the tavernkeeper will ''kick you out'' if you offer Ren from the Autocracy of Bhanar since Bhanarese soldiers killed the tavernkeeper's son.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''{{Neuromancer}}'': Used in William Gibson's novel and its sequels. The black markets only deal in New Yen bills, while legitimate business uses Credits. The two currencies are not easily interchangeable -- the use of paper money is illegal, and using Credits is easily trackable and therefore not accepted by the criminal element.
* There are a couple of forms of currency in SnowCrash: Kongbucks, such as distributed by Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, as well as U.S. dollars, but they have suffered RidiculousFutureInflation. In the remnants of the U.S., which at this point has been reduced to the land that government buildings are located on, only accepts American, because [[ObstructiveBureaucrat they like being difficult.]]
* ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
** ''TheThrawnTrilogy'' had a bit character being paid in Imperial scrip -- which is only legal tender in Imperial territory. He ended up having to change it, losing some in the process.
*** And since at that point neither the Empire nor the New Republic actually recognizes the other as a legitimate government, there is no exchange rate (or rather, no ''official'' exchange rate) between Imperial and Republic credits. Exchanges are done exclusively on the BlackMarket, because [[ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt even possessing one government's money in the other's territory is a criminal offense]]. This is because possessing one government's money is considered a sign of having done business with the government itself, and each government considers the very existence of the other to be illegal.
** The ''XWingSeries'' had a SmugSnake defector demanding to be paid in Imperial credits since she intended to spend as little time in Republic space as possible. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that attempting to carry half a million in enemy currency into the Capital of the Republic is considered [[ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt evidence of intent to commit espionage and sedition]]. She wasn't happy, but the readers were.
* In ''[[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy So Long And Thanks For All The Fish]]'', Ford Prefect carries an American Express credit card, which is useless everywhere except Earth. This enables him to pay for drinks by offering to give the bar a write-up in the ''Guide'' instead of paying with actual money. ''Guide'' researchers aren't supposed to do that unless 1) They've made a legitimate attempt to pay, 2) Their lives are in danger, or 3) They really want to. Since the third option involved giving the editor a cut, Ford preferred to muck around with the first two.
* The Wizarding World in HarryPotter uses coins known as Galleons, Sickles and Knuts as money. Wizards who have Muggle money (usually because they were Muggle-born or raised by Muggles) must trade their money for some of those coins at Gringotts Bank to buy anything in the Wizarding World.
* The Leopard People in ''AkataWitch'' use chittim, which are metal rods that come from nowhere and are acquired through knowledge.
* Inverted in a story by Philip K. Dick. A general store owner discovers she has the ability to travel to a possible future, where she makes a mint selling common items to AfterTheEnd survivors for exorbitant prices. They realize she's jacking up the prices, but since it's, well, AfterTheEnd, the cash is otherwise useless to them anyway.
* RobertHeinlein's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Planets Between Planets]]''. Don Harvey arrives on Venus after it has rebelled against the Federation. He has a large sum in Federation money but it's worthless because everyone had been ordered to turn in their Federation money earlier and it was no longer legal tender.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''BeyondBeliefFactOrFiction'': A man gets transported to the WildWest. He tries to pay for a drink with a twenty dollar bill, only for the angry bartender to demand gold or silver, then kick him out when he has neither.
* ''Charlie Jade'': The titular character ends up in a ParallelUniverse, where he tries to pay for coffee by looking for a scanner for his ID bracelet, only for another character to pay cash for him.
* ''{{Smallville}}'': Clark Kent once revealed his secret. When he tried to buy something, he was once stopped by a man who wouldn't take his money. While, at first, it seemed it was because he didn't want anything to do with Clark, he quickly clarified he simply would allow Clark to take things for free. However, because of a greedy journalist who tried to take advantage of the situation, [[ResetButton Clark traveled back in time to prevent himself from having to reveal the secret in the first place]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'': Previous to 3rd Edition, there were some limits on what gold could buy directly. For example, it was possible to be very rich but unable to buy a magic item directly, according to the rulebook. In some campaigns this rule could be worked around: e.g. a rich player on good terms with a high-level magic-user could commission the creation of a magic item.[[hottip:*:Some fetching of [[TwentyBearAsses bear asses]] could still be required.]]
** 3rd Edition let players buy nearly everything with gold, but there was a special class of items called Artifacts that couldn't be purchased, only encountered through the GM's will.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had this in the Slots minigame, where you could only get certain Pokémon by turning in a large number of tokens -- which could be purchased at a ridiculous price (50 coins for 1000 yen), or won at slot machines. The tradition continued in the later games in the series, although you couldn't get Pokémon from them.
** This could be averted with the [[GoodBadBugs Missingno. Glitch]], if you put a Nugget in the 6th item slot before the encounter: essentially, you sell all of the resulting Nuggets except for one, and repeat the glitch to get infinite cash. Then just spend 20 minutes buying all of the coins you can carry. Later games introduced the ability to fight some trainers over and over again, making it easy to get cash without Missingno.

*** [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver SoulSilver]] have a currency only used ''during'' a Battle Frontier challenge: Castle Points (CP) for the Battle Castle. The currency rolls over between challenges but is emptied following a loss. Aside from assisting in the completion of challenges in the Castle, which reward BP, the Castle Points aren't used anywhere else.

Because many games have MoneyForNothing economies, where the GlobalCurrency becomes almost worthless halfway into the game, many {{RPG}}s also include an area where your regular money just doesn't work. It may be a [[MinigameZone gaming center]] that runs on tokens, an [[HiddenElfVillage insular country]] that doesn't accept standard currency, or a [[MonsterTown city inhabited by monsters]] - but one way or another, YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere. Sometimes there's a way to convert your normal money into this alternate currency (usually at an obscenely bad ratio), but often there's nothing for it but to complete {{sidequest}}s and minigames.