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Change for a Silver Eagle?

"Another day, another septim."
Imperial City guard, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Money is an important part of daily life, and fiction is no different. And fictional settings often use fictional currency.

Inventing a fictional currency helps establish a setting as unique, and when done well it builds immersion. Of course, when done poorly, it can have the opposite effect — having an unexpected or unexplained reference to a made-up word that means "money" can be confusing or distracting. Often, a fictional currency will be roughly equivalent in value to a real-life one; this saves the writer the effort of having to do conversion rates mentally. The most common targets for this treatment tend to be the dollar or the yen. This is occasionally explicit, as with the double dollar or the nuyen. The zeni (or zenny) is a popular name for fictional currencies in Japanese medianote ; derivatives of the word like "jenny" or "berry" are also common.

Occasionally, the name of a recherché and/or archaic real-world currency will be borrowed: e.g. the Cardassian lek (Albania), the Centauri ducat (Republic of Venice and elsewhere), or the guilders in Andromeda (pre-Euro Netherlands). "Crowns" is also a common name, which exist in real life as the currency in the Scandinavian countries, Iceland and Czechia (which get the name from having one or more crowns engraved on one side).

Compare Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp", though Justified in that one generally expects there to be different names for different currencies; thus, the ones that borrow the name of a real-world currency fall under Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit". Contrast Gold–Silver–Copper Standard, where the money used isn't a currency at all, but precious metals are used instead; the two may overlap when different names are given to the appropriate coins. Compare and contrast with Energy Economy, where energy, either a real form or fictional, is used for currency. Examples are often a Global Currency. We Will Spend Credits in the Future is a Science Fiction-specific subtrope. See also Weird Currency and Practical Currency.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Bleach uses kan, which serves as Soul Society's official currency.
  • Cowboy Bebop uses woolongs, which are roughly equal to yen. Its symbol (₩) is even similar to the yen symbol (¥), with the Y replaced by a W — ₩ is incidentally also the currency symbol for the North Korean won and South Korean won.
  • A few Gundam series use them:
    • The Earth Federation in the Universal Century series is stated in side materials to have the Earth Federation Dollar, or ED in short, as currency. The lunar colonies also maintain their own lunar dollar. Each space colony cluster has its own currency: Side 1 (home colony cluster of Judau from Gundam ZZ) has the gilla as currency, subdivided into one hundred luke. The Riah Republic, or Side 6, has the hite, subdivided to 100 kool. Side 3, or Munzo has the dagat; it is presumed that its successor state of Zeon kept it as currency. Side 4 has the Point, and Side 7 has the Credit.
    • After War Gundam X has a banknote shown in one episode issued by the Bank of Saints Island; the name for this currency is unknown.
    • Averted in Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam 00, where the currencies currently at circulation or were in circulation at the time of broadcast were mentioned or shown.
    • In Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, the currency in the Martian colony of Chryse was called Galar and a banknote was shown in one episode; it was not known if it was simply the colony's currency or the currency of its parent nation Arbrau.
  • Henkyou no Roukishi Bard Loen: The local money is called Gyel.
  • Naruto uses ryō, which Word of God states has a 10:1 exchange rate with yen. note 
  • One Piece:
    • Belly/Beli/Beri/Berry are used throughout the ocean-going world, and are roughly equal to yen/pennies; a loaf of bread is 150 belly, designer clothing is 10,000 to 28,800, a cheap weapon is 50,000, a rare one is a million, a secondhand ship is a hundred million, etc. Every noteworthy pirate seen in the series has a bounty of at least five million on their head, with several of the most powerful (such as the Four Emperors and a few of their top lieutenants, and as of Chapter 903 Luffy, have bounties of over a billion).
    • The sky islands the Straw Hats visit use Extols, which have a 10,000:1 exchange rate with Belly. The Straw Hats go on a shopping spree; among the things they use their pocket money to fill their hold with are a bunch of high-powered magical artifacts.
  • Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise is notable for its currency taking the form of metal rods instead of coins.
  • Trigun uses double dollars (and c-cents are mentioned once); as expected, they're generally equivalent to dollars. In fact, there's some indication that the name came from misinterpretation of the original name of the currency.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair uses a currency called "dill." As far as calculating its value, six hundred thousand dill was considered to be a pretty pricey sum but not to an outrageous extent, so it's probably based on the actual Japanese yen.
  • In Spy X Family, 100 Ostanian "pents" equals one "dalc." In a twist from most other fictional exchange rates, one dalc is equivalent to 320 real-life Japanese yen.

    Comic Books 
  • In Groo the Wanderer, kopins seem to be a Global Currency.
  • The Transformers features shanix, which is used either a Cybertronian currency or a galactic one used by most space-faring civilizations. The exact details differ based on the specific continuity.

    Fan Works 
  • Calvin & Hobbes: The Series mentions that the planet Zok uses geekoids, froiks, and sandlumbs, which are implied to be akin to pennies, dollar bills, and hundred-dollar bills, respectively.
  • Chasing Dragons still features the various canonical examples, all of which are used fairly regularly in the Kingdom of Myr for the first few years after its founding by the Sunset Company. However, they eventually realize they need to start minting their own currency, both to stabilize their economy and to further establish their own identity separate from their Westerosi forebears. As such, they eventually settle on gold crowns, silver shields, and copper pennies, marked with King Robert's face.
  • The Rainsverse: The currencies of the Heartlands are the gold livre (normally used only by nobles or for large transactions), the silver sou (twenty sous to the livre, the usual coin for regular day-to-day purchases), and the copper denier (twelve deniers to the sou, used for small purchases or making change).
  • Like in Odd Squad, the fanfic OSMU: Fanfiction Friction has Jackalope Dollars. However, it doesn't appear to be Global Currency, as when Opal tries to pay for books at The Book Loft, a local bookstore, with Jackalope Dollars, the cashier is confused and has to ask her manager if the store takes that currency.

    Films — Animation 
  • Frozen II: Kristoff buys clothes with coins that have an image of Queen Elsa on them.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie features Toads using the standard Coins from the games as their currency, as well as having Coin Blocks as automated teller machines.
  • Zootopia: The Zootopian dollar has a picture of a deer on it (pun on "buck") and is symbolized by a Z with a line through it.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The Live-Action Adaptation of The Flintstones used sand dollars instead of clams.
  • John Wick:
    • The criminal underworld uses a separate system of gold coins for transactions, whether it's paying for a Cleanup Crew to get rid of a body or simply gaining entrance to a bar. Its value relative to real currency is intentionally vague and inconsistent, as according to the directors, its status as an "in the know" token for the underworld is more important than an exchange rate; if you're worried about how much something costs, you're not truly part of the world of assassins.
    • In general, the coins seem to be be measured more in favors than in actual value, with a 1:1 ratio of coins to favors. John pays a single coin to access the Continental Hotels and another coin to enter the Continental's bar. He pays twelve coins to Charlie's Cleanup Crew to dispose of twelve bodies, and when prepping for the assassination in the second movie, he pays three coins to a specialist who acquires a map of Rome's catacombs, entry points to the ruins, and the keys to access both.
  • The main currency in Star Wars is Republic (and later Imperial) credits, but other currencies (such as druggats on Tatooine in The Phantom Menace) show up occasionally. The title character of The Mandalorian requests payment in some other currency than Imperial credits since the Empire has recently been abolished and they're basically worthless nownote , so he's paid in "Calamari Flan" instead, which appear to be coins made of jelly. Credits are apparently also called dataries, as Qui-Gon Jinn first says that he has Republic dataries while bartering with Watto, who then contextualizes it for the audience by calling them "credits."
  • The Street Fighter movie has "Bison dollars", a currency created by the Big Bad M. Bison. He declares that they're worth five British pounds each — or will be, when he kidnaps the queen and forces the Bank of England to set that as the exchange rate. Other characters, like Sagat, are less than pleased with being paid in Bison dollars.
  • The unit of currency in The Sword and the Sorcerer is the Talon. Coincidentally — or perhaps not coincidentally — this is also the name of the movie's hero.
  • In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it's implied that "simoleons" are an actual currency used in Toontown, rather it being just a slang term for dollars.

    Literature 
  • Akata Witch: Behind the Masquerade, the main currency of Magical Society is chittim — small metal nuggets that appear out of nowhere when a magical person gains knowledge. They eventually disappear again, making it important to keep learning. They use an inverted Gold–Silver–Copper Standard, adding bronze as the second-most valuable behind copper.
  • In Vladimir Vasilyev's Antarctica Online, after the new Antarctic Republic is formed, the Antarcticans try to decide on the currency for their country. Those who originally came from Australia demand that a dollar be used, while Brits want a pound. Russians want a ruble, etc. Eventually, they settle for a currency that is no longer used in order to please everyone. Thus the Antarctic thaler (the word "dollar" originally came from "thaler") or anthaler is born.
  • In The Balanced Sword, the unit of currency in the lands that look to the Dragon Throne is the "scale".
  • Bigfoot and Littlefoot: The currency that sasquatches use are coins known as Nubbins.
  • In Bounders, the Alkalinians, snake-like aliens, use their venom as currency. It's highly valued on the galaxy's black market because in addition to its purchasing power, it can be used as a medicine, a mind-altering drug, or a deadly poison.
  • Book of the New Sun: The feudal Commonwealth, in the deep future of Earth, uses coins called (in ascending order of value) aes, orichalks, asimi, and chrisos — the latter three being made of gold, silver, and brass though without much standardization beyond that, and the aes being assorted provincial types of bronze, brass, and copper coins not meant to be circulated outside their locale of origin. An appendix adds that the precise values and rates of exchange between each one are impossible to estimate, but that one aes can buy an egg, one orichalk buys a day's work from a laborer, one asimi buys a coat suitable for a nobleman, and one chrisos buys a good mount.
  • Brandon Sanderson uses these in the various settings within The 'Verse most of his works are set in, The Cosmere.
    • In Mistborn: The Original Trilogy, the Final Empire uses "boxings", which are small gold coins. "Clips" are also mentioned as the smallest denomination of coinage, though they're not physically described. Three thousand boxings is considered an absolute fortune by most people's standards — far more than an entire crew of skilled thieves could possibly earn in an entire year. To the nobility and the government, though, it's relatively small change. It's stated that even a full coinpurse of clips is far more valuable to Allomancers as ammunition than currency, so fights between Mistborn tend to leave coins strewn around the city. Mistings who can burn only steel are even called "coinshots" due to the ubiquity of this practice.
    • The Stormlight Archive has currency called "spheres", consisting of gemstones encased in glass. Value depends on the type and size of the gem (the spheres themselves are all the same size). The denominations (from lowest to highest) are "chips", "marks", and "broams", with emeralds being the most valuable stone and diamonds the least. Spheres infused with Stormlight (which makes them glow) are also more valuable because it's a guarantee that they're not counterfeit. (Infused spheres also make convenient sources of light.)
  • A Brother's Price has "crowns", which are implied to be made of gold. There may be other, smaller currency units, but they are not mentioned.
  • In Carrera's Legions, the Federated States of Columbia uses the Federated States Drachma, abbreviated FSD or $FS.
  • In The Chronicles of Narnia, Narnian coins are Lions and Trees, which may correspond to "gold" and "silver" though this isn't specified. Calormen uses crescents and minims; one minim = 1/40 crescent.
  • In City of Bones by Martha Wells, the city-state of Charisat has a currency system that's restricted to citizens and those who buy an (exorbitant) license. The rest use a Guild-enforced standard of "trade tokens", good for hours or days of an artisan's labour; their disadvantage is that the city can declare them void whenever it wants to get rid of outsiders.
  • In The Dark Profit Saga, thanks to dwarven alchemists collapsing the gold standard, the preferred currency of the Freedlands is the giltin, available in both gilded coins and banknotes. Silver shillings and pennies are also mentioned.
  • Discworld:
    • Ankh-Morpork uses dollars, but coins less than that are shillings, pence, ha'pennies, and even smaller fractions of a penny like elims (1/16th of a penny), which can apparently get you a small and mostly edible potato in some parts of the city. Morporkian currency appears based on several archaic currency systems on Earth, including pre-decimalisation British which is as weird and unearthly as you'll find anywhere.
    • The other major currency on the Disc is the rhinu (a play on the archaic British slang term "rhino") the currency of the Agatean Empire. Since Agatea is filled with Worthless Yellow Rocks, a rhinu is a solid gold coin used as small change.
    • Various other countries on the Main Continent have dollars which probably aren't the same as AM$. Currencies with different names include the Uberwaldean bizot, the Omnian obol, the Ecksian squid, and the Hershebian half-dong. The stamps add the Klatchian wol, the Djelibeybian talon, the Ephebian derechmi, and the Llamedese ffyrling.
    • Speaking of stamps, these handy inventions of Moist von Lipwig served as a de facto Ankh-Morpork street currency in the interval between Going Postal and Making Money.
  • In The Elric Saga as our hero travels the world, there are lots of different currencies and systems. Elric's home country, Melniboné, has a large gold coin called a wheel. It is not minted, but "carved by craftsmen to a design both ancient and intricate". These rare coins are not used outside the home country and are prized even by the nobility of Melniboné. They are called "the currency of kings". The Chaosium games based on Elric's stories describe them as palm-sized medallions of pure gold, each created to commemorate an Emperor. They weigh about 20 pounds and are not used as money. In one of the stories, there is also mention of coins set with gems.
  • Gor has Tarn Disks/Tarsks, which use the Gold–Silver–Copper Standard.
  • In Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky Trilogy the tree-dwelling Kindar have a moneyless communism but a society based on honor ranking. Most goods and commodities are stored in warehouses and available to all at need, but certain things (e.g., made of rare materials or that take more time to make) are reserved for those of high rank. Down in the caves, the capitalist Erdlings use tokens, earned by service. With enough of them, you can buy anything you want. After the Rejoyning, this causes annoying clashes as Erdlings try to buy elegant items usually reserved for the highest rank. The tokens are used by all in The Game of the Book.
  • In Harry Potter, wizarding Britain uses galleons, sickles, and knuts; overlaps with Gold Silver Bronze Standard. 1 galleon = 17 sickles = 493 knuts.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
    • In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, a group of people have crash-landed on an uninhabited planet. They decide to adopt the leaf as their currency. The upside: Everyone immediately becomes fantastically rich. The downside: it costs approximately three entire forests to buy one peanut. The solution: burn down all the trees.
    • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions a few galactic currencies, all of which have fallen into disfavor: The Altairian Dollar (due to inflation), the Flanian Pobble Bead (due to being only exchangeable with other Flanian Pobble Beads) and the Triganic Pu (because one Pu is equal to 8 Ningis, and as a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin 6000 miles on a side, nobody has ever been able to acquire enough Ningis to make one Pu ... and the interplanetary banks refuse to accept Ningis in trade because they consider them "fiddling small change").
  • It's mentioned briefly in Mikhail Akhmanov's Invasion that, in 2042, the American dollar and the euro were replaced by a unified currency known as the eular. It's stated that other currencies still exist, such as the British pound, the ruble, the yuan, the yen, the rupee, and the peso.
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? uses Vals, which seem to be a direct equivalent to yen.
  • The Kingkiller Chronicle has multiple standardized currencies, with a variety of denominations in each, including with "marks," "talents," "drabs," "shims," "jots", "pennies" in both copper and iron, and more. The main character is constantly scrounging for cash, so he frequently discusses how much money he currently has.
  • KonoSuba uses "eris" as currency, which also happens to share a name with a local goddess in the setting's pantheon.
  • In Labyrinths of Echo, the national currency of the Unified Kingdom is the crown, divided into a dozen coronets, which in turn are divided into a dozen copper handfuls. Other nations' money is also mentioned, such as the Kumana ounce, the Changaia zot, the Irrashian finny, the Tasher pelli, and so on.
  • Liv in the Future has ZScrip, the currency of the year 3000. The banknotes' design resembles US dollars.
  • In The Lunar Chronicles, all six of the remaining Earthen countries use a currency called univs, which may be entirely digital.
  • Majipoor Series: Majipoor has its own currency, with a variety of denominations. This is brought into particular focus in Lord Valentine's Castle when Valentine doesn't know how much money the coins in his purse are worth and tries to pay for a sausage with a golden royal, enough money to buy a thousand sausages.
  • Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit has "han" as its basic currency unit, and lugals, which are 100 han.
  • In Poster Girl the old regime, the Delegation, was a society run based on Desirability Coin, Des Coin for short. Pretty much every action of the constantly monitored citizens was either rewarded or deducted in Des Coin. Actions considered "good" like doing one’s job, being polite, eating healthy, always keeping a proper appearance, reporting rebellious or indecent activity would earn coin. Meanwhile cursing in public, premarital sex, eating unhealthily and other "indecencies" would see Des Cion deduced.
  • Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! uses the Ener, which is noted by the protagonist, Hiro, to be roughly 100 yen, or roughly one US dollar, give or take a few pennies. In-Universe, it was also the primary currency of Stella Online, the video game whose world Hiro got dumped into. The currency is digital, allowing the elites to track every transaction, which is why some people exchange it with rare metals.
  • Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon: 10 Owa is equal to 1 Yen, and Boxxy earns a Point per 100 Owa. A bronze coin is 100 Owa and a silver coin is 1000 Owa.
  • Rebuild World
    • The main currency for everyday people is "aurum", which is given in both coins and bills. It's the local currency managed by the MegaCorp Sakashita Heavy Industries. It seems to be analogous to real-life yen.
    • Large corporations mostly trade using "chrome", which is the currency of the Old World Precursors. There are ancient vending machines that still work and accept chrome to dispense miraculous medicines and such, but they have extremely lethal security systems to prevent theft.
  • Robert A. Heinlein's books have several examples.
    • In Citizen of the Galaxy, part of which focuses on an interstellar trading vessel, has different currencies for each of the various political bodies they travel through (when they aren't dealing with primitive planets and bartering instead). The two most notable examples are minims and stellars (10 minims being 1 stellar) in the Nine Worlds and credits among other things in the Terran Hegemony.
      Terran currency did not bother him: a hundred dollars to the credit — which he thought of as five loaves of bread, a trick the Supercargo taught him — a thousand credits to the supercredit, a thousand supercredits to the megabuck. So simple that the People translated other currencies into it, for accounting.
    • In Friday, the eponymous character mentions that the city-state of Las Vegas is the only "country" with a system of currency that is actually backed by gold. The general unit of currency in the greater part of the United States is called the "crown."
    • In Time Enough for Love, Lazarus Long owns the bank, so he prints his own currency. It's tied to the price of wheat as a pseudo backing, which means sometimes he took a loss, but it meant the money was a stable system.
    • It's mentioned that the unit of money on the Howard Family planet Secundus is the "crown."
  • Slow Life in Another World (I Wish!): The fantasy world uses "nohl", which seems to just be yen by another name.
  • Spice and Wolf: Each nation has it's own gold, silver, and copper coins, with Churches and Earl's minting their own at will. The very first arc dealt with the devaluation of "Trenni" silver coins.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire
    • Westerosi gold dragons, silver stags, and copper pennies (plus a few more rarely encountered ones, like a copper star, which is worth more than a regular copper penny). When the Targaryen dynasty conquered and united the Seven Kingdoms, they imposed this standardized currency system across the entire continent. Before that, each kingdom used their own local currencies (some of which are still encountered, because they still contain precious metals - such as Hand coins in the Reach, which are only worth about half as much as a gold dragon). Curiously, they used "silver stag" coins even before the Targaryens were overthrown by the Baratheons (whose sigil is a stag), because they co-opted it from the local currency of the stormlands (which was ruled by House Durrandon, whose sigil was also a stag, until the Baratheons co-opted them as well by marrying their last daughter). Unlike many fantasy series, the novels actually take inflation into account: food prices drastically increase during wartime. Money values are also different in prequel eras: price numbers are three times smaller in the Tales of Dunk & Egg era, set 90 years before the main novels (3 gold dragons and change is considered a good price for a horse in the Dunk & Egg era, but one gold dragon is considered a fair price for a horse in the main novels). George R.R. Martin hasn't worked out all of the specifics, but at least he acknowledges that inflation exists on a scale of centuries - in contrast with other series in which "a gold coin" is worth the exact same amount across thousands of years.
    • Other regions have their own currencies, particularly each of the nine Free Cities to the east (which are like medieval Italian city-states and a lot more urbanized than Westeros is). Several regions use a variant of the "Gold Honor" coin, such as Volantis, Meereen, and Qarth, but each with their own local values (like a "U.S. dollar" vs a "Canadian dollar"). The biggest bank in the known world is the Iron Bank in the Free City of Braavos - which, curiously, uses square iron coins - which might be a hint that they're advanced enough to use representational money for gold reserves in the bank, instead of everyone just walking around with pieces of gold. Meanwhile, the Dothraki "don't believe in money" as such and have no currency (though they resort to bartering large numbers of slaves to get finished products and weapons).
  • In Sprawl Trilogy Japan's revalued New Yen are the preferred currency in many places. On account of most other currencies undergoing Ridiculous Future Inflation if not collapsing entirely.
  • Sword Art Online has multiple in-universe instances of this, depending on which VRMMO it applies to.
    • "Cor" for Sword Art Online (an abbreviation for "Coin of Radius")
    • "Yrd" for Alfheim Online
    • "Credits" for Gun Gale Online; notably, these are exchangeable for real-world yen (100:1), meaning this particular VRMMO is registered as a casino and some play the game for a living.
    • "Shia" for Underworld
    • "El" for Unital Ring
  • In the Takeshi Kovacs novel Broken Angels Sanction IV's government used the Standard Archaeological Find Token, or saft, as the planet was colonized to hunt for Martian relics. By the time of the book, the war and other economic problems have reduced the exchange rate to 230 saft to the UN Protectorate dollar.
  • Victoria: After the dollar gets driven into the ground, Maine starts issuing 'Pine Tree Dollars' with a picture of a Pine. Instead of a fiat currency, one backed by gold and/or foreign money that still has value.
  • Violet Evergarden uses "kohls" on the continent of Telsis.
  • The War Against the Chtorr has United Nations Federal Kilo-Calorie notes, or 'caseys'.
  • The Way Things Work: When explaining mechanical parking meters, the original 1988 print of the book told of a "mammoth" coin which bought two hours, a "hog" which bought one hour, and a "chicken" which bought a mere twelve minutes.
  • The Wheel of Time has three terms for coinage: penny, mark, and crown. However, these can be made of different materials, with a gold mark, say, being worth more than a silver crown. All told, because coppers are always pennies and golds never are, there are six different varieties of coin in use, with their exact relative values differing by country of origin due to being different weights. Randland also has the early form of banknotes in common use in the form of promissory notes from various institutions that are used for convenience over carrying and transferring large quantities of gold.
  • A majority of the currency in The Wild Ones is composed of seeds, nuts, and other forms of food that can be traded. Given that everyone is a Funny Animal, this is somewhat expected.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Adventure Game had drogna, the main currency of planet Arg. Working out the value of drogna coinsnote  was a crucial part of one of the show's most recurring puzzles. Some adventuring parties would also find themselves using drogna coins.
  • Andromeda occasionally makes reference to "guilders" or "thrones", but given the post-collapse setting it is likely there are several planets and nations with their own currencies.
  • Thanks to approved tie-in material, we know the currency for many of the alien nations on Babylon 5: Abbai use gy, nori and chuk, Brakiri use grull or credits, Drazi use tok, Grome use vorl, Hurr use fla, Llort use yat, heek and molat, Markab used galot and Yolu use ogo. Hyach and pak'ma'ra use a barter system instead. Gaim, being hive insects, never used money. The Centauri use ducats and the Humans use credits. No word on the Narn or Minbari. The credit is standard on Babylon 5, being run by the Humans, after all, and seems to be a fairly common trade currency for legitimate transactions (since the Humans are the major commercial power); however, Centauri ducats (the only currency besides the Earth Alliance credit that actually appeared on the show) are favored for underground transactions and transactions with no or unreliable access to banking networks, as there are physical ducat coins that make them easy to trade and hard to trace.
  • Both versions of Battlestar Galactica use the "cubit". Caprica shows that this currency was used on at least two of the Twelve Colonies (Caprica and Gemenon) before unification.
  • The official printed currently that appears to be in use in the post-apocalyptic world of Defiance is the "scrip". While the word is commonly used to denote a currency substitute (like vouchers used in some company towns), here it appears to have become a currency on its own. The scrip appears to be the currency of the Earth Republic and is also used in various city-states like Defiance (formerly St. Louis) and Angel Arc (formerly Los Angeles). It's not clear if it's also accepted in the Votanis Collective.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Usually the series avoids talk of money, and the Doctor never has any on him. Most references to alien or future money involve generic terms like "credits" (as when he robbed an ATM in the year 200,000 to give his companions something to keep them busy). In The TV Movie he handed a companion a bag of gold dust from a drawer full of them.
    • A couple of Fifth Doctor stories showed him carrying alien money: for example, he absentmindedly paid for a meal in Lanzarote with strange triangular coins in "Planet of Fire".
    • In "Frontios" Turlough mentioned coins from his home planet with holes in the center that you blew through for luck.
    • The most conspicuous named fictional currency is probably the grotzit, the accumulation of which was the main motivator of Sabalom Glitz. Every time he turned up he could not stop talking about them.
    • In "The Ghost Monument", the prize for winning the race is 3.7 trillion krin.
      Doctor: 3.2 trillion what?
      Angstrom: Krin.
      Doctor: How much is a krin?
      Angstrom: 200 kavlons.
      Epzo: 90 forvalars.
      Doctor: No...
      Angstrom: 4,000 trynties.
      Epzo: Well, in old money.
      Doctor: Bit behind on my exchange rates...
      Ilin: Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world for the winning pilot and their entire clan.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Westeros runs on the Gold–Silver–Copper Standard (gold dragons, silver stags, and copper stars respectively).
    • Coins from other cities are also depicted, including Jaqen H'ghar's Faceless Man iron coin in "Valar Morghulis," a square Braavosi one in "Second Sons," and the voucher-tokens of the Iron Bank in "The Laws of Gods and Men."
  • At least three million years in the past of Red Dwarf, humanity used the 'dollarpound' ('buckquid' for slang, and made up of 100 'pennycents'). Also an example of Coca-Pepsi, Inc..
  • Contests in Hinatazaka de Aimashō often give Chacha coins, named after co-host Kasuga's dog, as reward. In a nod to cryptocurrency, the alleged exchange rate with real money varies wildly, at one point reaching three million yen to a Chacha (after Kasuga won that amount in Japan's Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?), but generally the coins are exchanged for favors in later episodes.
  • Kamen Rider Build: Ever since Japan was split into three nations, Touto (the eastern region) adopted the dollark, paper money that resembles the American dollar and seems to operate off a similar exchange rate, Hokuto (the north) has the horuku, and Seito (the western region) has the roruku.
  • When a medium of exchange is required on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a number is given, but the unit is left unspecified, e.g., "How much do I owe?" "Three."
  • Odd Squad has Jackalope Dollars, which function more or less similar to American dollars. If the episode "Overdue!" is any indication (which, in the American version, has the Mobile Unit use American dollars to pay Orla's library fine), it seems to be a currency exclusive to Toronto.
  • The Republic of Sarah: In order to stabilize their economy in light of all the foreign transaction fees they're now being charged due to now being a separate nation from America, the leadership of Greylock design and implement new currency called Greylock Dollars, which has pictures of local historical figures and landmarks.
  • Star Trek:
    • The Klingon Empire's currency is the darsek. The Bajorans use a currency called lita, and the Cardassian Union has the lek. The Karemma, part of the Dominion, use dirak, and in the casino run by Martus (an El-Aurian), the currency of choice is the isik. The Gamesters of Triskelion gambled with quatloos. The Star Trek Novel 'Verse has added several others, including Tarkaelean notch-rocks, Gorn szeket, and Breen sakto. Humans on the other hand have no currency at all (though this is inconsistently depicted).
    • Naturally, your local Ferengi currency exchanger is more than happy to turn all of this into gold-pressed latinum, in easy-to-handle denominations of slips, strips, bars, and bricks. Note that the gold is considered worthless; it's the liquid latinum inside that holds value. Going by the Deep Space Nine episode "Body Parts", 100 slips makes a strip and 20 strips makes a bar, and so 2000 slips makes a bar.
  • Several times in Super Sentai The Empire will be large enough to have their own currency.
    • The Silver Imperial Army Zone in Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman has the Dolyen, which is stated to be equivalent to 100 Japanese yen (or 0.66 USD). They're mostly seen using Dolyen bills to pay Dongoros for Gorlins, other weapons and the like.
    • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Zangyack Empire has Zagin, which is the currency that the bounties for the five Gokaigers are posted at. It's on Zagin notes that we also get our first glimpse of the Zangyack Emperor, in fact.
    • Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: The Space Shogunate Jark Matter's currency is the pongi, which they use for similar purposes as the Zangyack before them.
  • In Taxi, the drivers are pooling their money to make a big score. When they ask Latka what he has he answers something to the effect of "30,000 glotkies". When asked how much that is in American money he answers "Nothing."
  • The colonists of Terra Nova appear to have staples such as housing, medicine, and basic food provided, but other goods are paid for with "terras" alongside a spirited barter system. 20 terras buys a nice outfit, while 60 is somewhat steep for a handmade guitar.
  • Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego kept score between the "gumshoes" with ACME Crimebucks.
  • Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman had the "Dolyen" (Dollar and Yen) used by the villains.

    Podcasts 
  • Valorian Marks and Bruchteil in Podcast/Kingmaker.

    Pro Wrestling 

    Puppet Shows 
  • In some episodes of Bear in the Big Blue House, the currency of Woodland Valley is the clam. In others, it's ordinary US dollars. Clams appear to not be regular clams, since Pip and Pop sell a whole bunch of clams in one episode, making two clams on the deal.

    Tabletop Games 
  • BattleTech's major houses each use a distinct national currency, colloquially known as D-bills, K-bills, S-bills, M-bills, and L-billsnote , each also having an official name, for instance, the Capellan Commonwealth's "L-Bill" is officially the Yuan, while the Free Worlds League "M-Bill" is the Eagle. The most encountered and important currency in the Inner Sphere, however, is ComStar's C-Bill, which, officially, represents one unit of transmission on the Hyperpulse Generators that ComStar uses for FTL communication. However, said communication is seen as enough of a scarce and precious commodity that the bills have taken on a use as a currency and legal tender. The C-Bill has an official canon exchange rate that fluctuates according to what's going on in the latest sourcebook but generally hovers around ten US dollars (plus or minus a few cents), although the most recent major story event involves the HPG network being knocked offline across human space by a massive, as-yet unexplained cyber-attack it's likely to take a fairly major hit. Exchange rates for so-called House bills, by contrast, are rarely mentioned.
  • Cyberpunk has the Eurodollar, which is basically the present day euro with a dystopic flavor: the "dollar" part means the USD has crashed, and the EUR has taken its place in the US. Because the game was originally created when the actual euro was still only in the realm of political debate, the tabletop games abbreviated as §; it later became €$ in Cyberpunk 2077. Other currencies include the Soviet rouble (the Soviet Union never died in-game) and the Japanese new yen ("new" because Japan in-game was brought into the Eurozone and later removed from it, which resulted in Japan having to issue a new currency).
  • While most settings of Dungeons & Dragons simply use the Gold–Silver–Copper Standard, the novels for Eberron refer to the coins as Galifars, Sovereigns, Crowns, and platinum Dragons. Most settings did tend to have actual names for the currency floating around... it was just that except for Eberron most of them had several different currencies using the copper/silver/gold/platinum system, with wide acceptance for most making just calling the coins for their metallic category a wide-spread and very common general nickname.
  • Eclipse Phase has credits in most capitalist habitats, but Anarchist habitats don't use money at all, instead they use a combination of public-access nanofabricators and a gift economy mediated by Reputation networks. While the Titanian Commonwealth mostly uses something similar to the Anarchists but they also have kroner that are invested in "microcorps" as some form of introducing competition to a Socialist economy.
  • Exalted features Jade (a magical material rather than real-life jade). Jade scrip is most widely used in the Realm, but the Guild has managed to push a silver standard as an alternative currency in the last few decades. The denominations of different Jade coins is exhaustively detailed (including coins so large and valuable that they're almost exclusively used on paper rather than actually carried around). It's also implied that there are other minor currencies, such as cowry shells, throughout the world.
  • HoL has grobules, a small lumpy egg often scavenged from battlefields and slaughter sites. If left alone, it will mature into the festering groblinoid, which is larger and smells like rancid oatmeal and is worth ten grobules for no discernible reason. Eventually, that will hatch into the grobling, a snarling mass of claws and fangs and killing urge which is not only worthless as a monetary unit but will also savagely assault its owner and everyone else in the area. It also releases a gas that causes nearby grobules and groblinoids to hatch prematurely into adult forms so they can join in. After everything else is dead, they lay new grobules and promptly die from boredom. Then new victims show up and loot the new hoard, and the cycle repeats. The alternative is the Confederate Chit, but nobody other than offworlders put any value in that.
  • In Ironclaw the silver denar (represented by a D with a stroke) is the primary currency of Calabria, along with gold aureals and bronze orichalks, and a few other coins that aren't legal tender anymore.
  • Life also has toy money of very large denominations, with portraits of guys with Punny Names on them.
  • Malifaux has Guild Scrip, in keeping with its portrayal as a Company Town. Exchange rates Earthside may be fair, but in Malifaux they are controlled entirely by the Guild and are yet another way to exploit people.
  • Monopoly money may be the Trope Codifier. In some spinoff games like Monopoly City, it's denominated in "monos" (the symbol is a struck-through M; the name is a riff on Euros). In addition, some versions have used game-oriented names, like the pre-euro German "spielmark".
  • Mutant Chronicles: The Mega Corps and the Brotherhood all mint their own currencies, with varying levels of success. Brotherhood Cardinal's Crowns are the de facto Universal Currency since they are backed by the Cardinal's Bank, which is the largest and most respected financial institution in the Solar System, and one of the few banks which does inter-corporate banking. Capitolian Dollars and Imperial Sterlings can be used pretty much everywhere and you probably won't get ripped off too much on the exchange rate. Bauhaus Guilders are rarely seen outside Bauhaus territory but for some reason the preferred currency for trading in financial instruments. No-one outside Cybertronic sees Cybertronic Piastres and no one who is not required to by law so much as touches Mishiman Dubloons.
  • Myriad Song's most widely accepted currency is the Imperial Monetary Note, represented with a note symbol, and divided into 100 quavers. While the Concord and Solar Creed each have energy-backed currencies, the "masey" and "sol" and a lot of independent worlds issue their own scrip.
  • Shadowrun:
    • The most common currency is the Nuyen (¥), which is derived from "New Yen". It's equal in value to the Euro used in Europe and is as of 2077 worth twice as much as UCAS dollars.
    • The ten AAA-rated Mega Corps also print their own currencies. Technically, possession of this corporate money by non-employees is a crime in itself, but since Runners operate outside the law as it is, this merely means that they have to find some who will exchange that corporate money for a freely usable currency.
  • Warhammer 40,000
    • The Orks use their own teeth as currency. Apparently, this works because their teeth grow back constantly but also decay over time once removed. Poverty is rarely a problem as an Ork short on "Teef" can easily punch any one of his fellow Boyz in the jaw if he needs some spare change.
    • The Imperium at large does not bother with currency, preferring to charge tithes and taxes in the form of whatever resource their planets can offer, be it food, ammunition or recruits. For everything else, either Credits or Thrones are used instead. The RPG spinoffs such as Dark Heresy simulate this by having characters roll a Commerce check to purchase equipment rather than using actual currency.

    Toys 
  • Widgets in BIONICLE. They vaguely resemble gears and were used in both Metru Nui and Mata Nui, with a brief interruption post-Great Cataclysm where the Matoran used barter instead.

    Video Games 
  • Being a fantasy game, Afterimage has its fictional currency in the form of "Dews", as in tiny drops of water that can be harvested from desposits, or dropped by strong creatures. The shopkeeper Tark even discusses the value of some objects (like a rock) in Dews when you meet him for the first time.
  • Alnam no Kiba and Alnam no Tsubasa call their currency Romu.
  • Animal Crossing uses bells, and the prices of items in the games suggest they have a 1:1 exchange rate with the Japanese yen.
  • In Arknights, the main form of currency is Lungmen Dollars, or LMD. The city-state of Lungmen has enormous economic power, and its currency is very stable, making it one of the best measures of exchange. There is also a wide range of other currencies in various regions of Terra as well, with some being informal or barter currencies for particular regions or temporary events.
  • Awesomenauts uses a currency called Solar, which is drilled from planets in a liquid form and condensed into silver or gold cubes. In-game, Solar is earned when killing enemy players, droids, and structures as well as in small amounts floating around the map and is used to purchased items at the shop.
  • Battlezone (2016) uses "data" as currency; players collect it on the battlefield, then use it to purchase equipment upgrades, enemy information, and extra lives.
  • Billy vs. SNAKEMAN has Ryo as the general currency (largely a reference to Naruto), but some areas of the game have different things, even though it's supposed to be ordinary money; pizza delivery grants "Tips", Retail pays in "Wage", and the currency at BillyCon is "Monies". This is largely to prevent players from just buying their way through, but the lack of any exchange at all is... questionable. Lampshaded in the mission "Count Change": "With a multiverse of currency, this is much harder than it seems!"
  • In the video game BioShock Infinite, the floating city of Columbia uses coins known as "Silver Eagles", as seen in the above photo. The United States actually made coins by that name, but these aren't like the ones featured in the game.
  • Black Tiger, has our Barbarian Hero earn Zenny (the Capcom fictional currency) which he spends on merchants who revert from stone statues.
  • Zenny in the Breath of Fire series, as well as most other Capcom games: the symbol is generally a Z with vertical lines through it.
  • BlazBlue has the Platinum Dollar as its currency (often abbreviated as pd or P$).
  • Cities: Skylines seems to use the Costa Rica colón (₡) as its in-game currency.
  • Chrono Trigger calls its currency gold, although it seems to be a name rather than the actual metal. It is also spendable throughout the eras you travel, although shopkeepers in 2300 A.D. will poo-poo it at first before reluctantly accepting it, and shopkeepers in 65000000 B.C. refer to it as "shiny stone."
  • Civilization: All nations use a currency called "Gold", although in 'IV', you can pass a UN resolution to have one global currency to help the economy, even though all the nations already use the same currency.
  • In Control, Jesse Fadden is the Director of a super-secret U.S. gov't organization so theoretically she has a massive treasury to tap. In reality, the organization is under attack and lockdown plus the only useful things to "buy" are new weapon forms and weapon mods for her Service Weapon or personal mods for herself. These can only be created by spending Source, the currency of Control's strange Astral world, and whatever extra material is required.
  • All of Cygames' original works (Rage of Bahamut, Granblue Fantasy, Shadowverse, and Dragalia Lost) have the fictional currency, rupies, which appears to be the only currency used by people in all four games.
  • Deadly Rooms of Death: The only currency mentioned is "greckles", which seem to be in use throughout the Eighth. One greckle is divided into 1,000 grubbles.
  • Dino Crisis 2 has the two protagonists earn "Extinction Points" by killing dinosaurs and these are spent on weapons, ammo and other useful goods from automated vendors.
  • Disco Elysium uses the currency most commonly know as "réal", or by its code IIR, which is short for "interisolary reál". Réal uses ✤ as its symbol, and 1 réal can be divided into 100 centims; its plural is réalsnote 
  • In The Ditty of Carmeana, the de facto unit of currency is the frequent-flyer mile.
  • Dragon Age uses gold sovereigns, silver pieces, and copper bits, each worth exactly one hundred of the previous denomination. There are also a few mentions in dialogue of "royals," which are only used in Orlais.
  • Dwarf Fortress uses an unnamed currency (which the fandom has taken to calling "dwarfbucks") represented by the ☼ symbol. By default, copper coins are worth 1☼, silver coins worth 5☼, and gold coins worth 15☼, though this can easily be modded. Different civilizations don't honor foreign currency, which seems to make sense until you realize that the value of items doesn't distinguish between currencies and a valid copper coin is still worth the exact same 1☼ regardless of who minted it.
  • Some of EasyGameStation's games use a currency called "Pix" which has a Fleur-de-lis design, fitting the world's French-inspiration:
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • Throughout the series, gold coins known as "Septims" (after the ruling dynasty of the Third Tamrielic Empire) are the official currency of Tamriel. They are also sometimes referred to as "drakes", due to the Imperial Dragon symbol on one side.
    • Other forms of currency have appeared in the series, such as the ancient Dwemer coins in Morrowind, but to date, they have been treated as Shop Fodder which can be sold for the standard gold coins.
  • While set pretty much in the real world, Endless Ocean Blue World uses the Pelago (P), same as the name of the commonwealth Nineball Island is in. To give you an idea of value, jukeboxes cost 200P, hammocks cost 440, haircuts are 1000 each, guitars cost 1900, swimwear runs you from 1200 to 3200, and telescopes cost 4700.
  • Etrian Odyssey uses ental, commonly abbreviated to "en". The games take place after a global apocalypse, so it makes sense to make up a new currency.
  • Fairy Godmother Tycoon uses magic beans. They're represented by a symbol which is basically a backwards number 3 with a line drawn down the center.
  • Fallout most prominently uses caps (literally old Nuka-Cola bottle caps, backed by the water merchants of The Hub) as their post-apocalyptic currency, but the New California Republic also produces NCR dollars (gold coins in Fallout 2, and heavily devalued paper money based on a water standard in New Vegas). The Legion produces their own money, but it's directly based on two Ancient Roman coins: the aureus and denarius.
  • In Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, the city of Eden has such abundant resources and supplies that they are capable of minting their own money for use by the citizenry while all other settlements continue to barter. Since all of the money technically belongs to the city, it is referred to as "Internal Dollar Loans", or "IDL" for short.
  • The Final Fantasy franchise uses gil, in one of the most recognizable instances of this trope. The earliest Western translations instead used gold (G), but have stuck with the original "gil" for all releases since Final Fantasy VII.
  • FusionFall uses taro. Taros are earned by defeating monsters and completing missions. They are spent at a Shopkeeper to buy weapon boosts, items and nano potions. Taros can also be spent on travelling via flight or warp.
  • The Freddi Fish series has purple sea urchins. There are at least five variations, all of which are more valuable: red sea urchins (worth two purple ones), blue sea urchins (worth three purple ones), gold sea urchins (worth four purple ones), and orange sea urchins (worth more than four purple ones; exact value unknown). There's also a mention in the fourth game of Gill owing a loan shark twenty clams; the significance of this debt implies that a clam is worth more than any sea urchin seen in the series.
  • Guilty Gear has the World Dollar (W$).
  • In Halo, the Covenant's main form of currency is called "gekz", as first revealed in Halo: Mortal Dictata.
  • The Harvest Moon series uses "G" as its currency. G is generally depicted as gold coins.
  • The societies in Horizon Zero Dawn use metal shards harvested from machines as a Practical Currency—in addition to serving as money, they're also used to craft arrows and other types of ammunition.
  • The currency used in Torras in Hype: The Time Quest is the Plastyk. The game is a Playmobil one, so it is a reference to the toys' primary material.
  • Idle Mine Remix: The game's third currency is Planet Coins, or PC for short, which are occasionally gained from mined asteroids or planets.
  • Island Saver: Doubloons, the main currency of the Savvy Islands and the only currency on the DLC islands.
  • Killing Floor 2 rewards players with "dosh" for killing specimens. This is at least semi-justified in that the game takes place over the whole of Europe and includes non-European Union countries.
  • While the Kingdom Hearts games take a lot of elements from the above Final Fantasy series, they use munny instead of gil. Its name likely a takeoff of "Hunny" spelling in Winnie the Pooh. Strangely enough, instead of coins, it takes the forms of yellow octahedrons. The opening of Kingdom Hearts II suggests it's equivalent to the Japanese Yen.
  • Kingdom of Loathing uses meat as currency, while precious metals are Shop Fodder.
  • Legend of Mana uses "lucre", but not the rest of the World of Mana.
  • The Legend of Zelda franchise similarly uses rupees, which is oddly enough a real currency (used by Mauritius, Seychelles, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka), though no one's quite sure if it's supposed to be a reference to that or a pun on the word "rubies" since Zelda's rupees look rather like absurdly large gemstones. It doesn't help that the NES game's instruction manual erroneously refers to them as "rubies", as do the infamous CD-i games. Originally, there were only two kinds of rupees - orange ones worth 1 unit and blue ones worth 5 - due to the engine limitations of the NES. Later games in the series have a wider variety of colors and values, such as red (20) and silver (100), though the exact values vary from game to game. Silver rupees in particular have ranged from 5 to 200. Some of the games also have a peculiar variant called a "rupoor", which actually takes money away from the player, although it's never explained exactly how that works.
  • In Little Flower Fairy, there are two forms of currency beans used by fairies - xiandou or fairy beans and lingdou. Fairy beans are the main currency while lingdou are used to buy special props.
  • Littlest Pet Shop: Biggest Adventure uses kibble coins as currency, which are golden coins with paw prints on them. These are used to buy goods and services for your pets, in addition to paying the adoption fees for new ones.
  • Luxaren Allure: "Vei" is the name of the currency used in the game's world.
  • The Mega Man franchise uses zenny, most prominently in the Legends series, but it occasionally shows up in earlier entries (Command Mission) or other media (Mega Man (Archie Comics)).
  • Monster Hunter uses zenny, true to Capcom fashion. However, some services and goods instead cost "points", the exact name of which depends on the game you're playing; in Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) and 3 Ultimate it's Moga Points (since you live in Moga Village), in Monster Hunter 4 and 4 Ultimate it's Caravan Points (since you're part of a traveling caravan), and in Monster Hunter Generations and Generations Ultimate it's Wycademy points (since you represent the Wycademy, a Fantastic Science institution). Most likely, the points are not material, but instead a form of credit.
  • NeonXSZ uses grams of uranium as the currency. It is highly doubtful that it is actual uranium, given that the game takes place in cyberspace.
  • Multiple Nippon Ichi games have their own currencies:
  • Octopath Traveler has leaves as the name of the primary currency.
  • The Oddworld series has "Moolah," the standard currency of the Glukkons.
  • Odin Sphere does something a bit different, overlapping with Global Currency. Two of Erion's nations, Ragnanival and Titania, mint coins for use; Ragnanival Silver is of poor quality and thus only worth 1g, whereas Titanian Gold is worth 10g. The interesting bit comes from coins made by the Kingdom of Valentine — Ariel coins have a depiction of Princess Ariel and are worth 5g. Valentinian Gold coins, bearing the (now former) kingdom's symbol are worth 10g. Commemorative Coins, made to celebrate a high point in the kingdom's reign, are worth 20g. The Valentinian Coins were also imbued with a bit of King Valentine's magic and soul, and it's implied that bringing every single coin together would grant a wish, hence the remnants of Valentine (cursed into Pooka) want to bring the coins together to break the curse, and to accomplish this they only accept Valentinian coins at their restaurant. Cornelius and Velvet manage to accomplish this in a scene following the True Ending.
  • "Goth" is the accepted currency across the entire continent of Zeteginea in Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, though the physical form it takes is never specified.
  • Panzer Dragoon Saga calls its currency "Dyne"; you can also find remnants of Ancient Age currency that can be exchanged (or rather, resold) for Dyne.
  • In Parasite Eve 2, the FBI pays its NMC hunters in "Bounty Points" which they can buy weapons, ammo and other useful items. The FBI will financially back these BPs, so non-FBI vendors will also accept it as currency.
  • PAYDAY 3 has C-Stacks, an "encrypted currency" within Crime.net which acts as a replacement for the gang's offshore accounts from the previous game.
  • Perish, being based on Greek mythology, uses gold and silver danae as currency.
  • PewDiePie's Pixelings: In the Trials Mode unlocked at Level 5, Relics are used as currency for the Trials-only Shop, which can net you some food and Pixeling skins.
  • Phantasy Star uses meseta as the currency of the Algol star system and its planets Motavia, Dezoris and Palma. Being about a Generation Ship transporting Algol refugees to the Ragol system, Phantasy Star Online maintains meseta.
  • Pikmin 2 has the Poko as the currency of the planet Hocotate. The game's objective is to gather treasure objects worth a combined total of at least 10000 Pokos to pay a huge debt to Olimar's company.
  • Plantasia has mana, which is harvested from blooming flowers and used to purchase gardening tools (and more flowers).
  • Pokémon:
    • The Western translations use "Pokémon Dollars", the symbol of which looks like the yen symbol (¥) with the Y replaced by a P. The Japanese version just uses yen, (even in regions based on New York and France), which is why costs and payouts appear so oddly high to non-Japanese players.
    • The Pokéwalker, a pedometer device released for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, where you carry around a party of Pokémon whilst walking through different areas where you can find Pokémon to battle and gain exp and happiness, use the currency 'Watts' one of which is gained/'charged' for every 20 steps you take (cleverly the amount of steps needed to burn 1 calorie), or from Pokémon (depending on its happiness level) periodically, it can be used for the (mini-version) PokéRadar and the Dowsing Machine or to buy new areas or routes each with different Pokémon to battle with.
    • Pokémon Sword and Shield also uses Watts, which can generally be acquired from the glowing dens throughout the overworld. There’s also a character called Digging Pa who can “dig up” Watts for you (no explanation how that works). Notably, there is no direct exchange between Watts and Pokémon Dollars, but you can create an intermediated exchange of Watts to P by buying items for Watts and then reselling them at shops. The best rate uses Luxury Balls, granting an exchange rate of W100:P1,500.
  • Prayer of the Faithless: Marks is the currency used.
  • Pyramid Builder's currency used for buildings and boats is something called vVv.
  • Rakenzarn Frontier Story has an odd little currency called "medals". They're apparently only used by interdimensional travellers and can be found across multiple universes.
  • Ratchet & Clank allows you to buy an array of weapons with bolts as a main feature.
  • Sands of Salzaar from Han Squirrel Studio has the Utar as the coinage of the once unified empire and it's still the universal currency after the uprising and. murder of thr Old King. While Utar is easy to get normally thru tribute from your Sultan and /or city under your rule, earnings to your party from the Wealthy talent and merchants in your party, and finding booty - it's only part of the main resources you need with the others being ironstone, wood and jade.
  • The Secret World features Pax Romana - commonly known as PAX - the official currency of the eponymous Secret World. Also, the setting has numerous additional currencies - to the point that they actually had to be trimmed during a later update. Up until Issue 12, there were Sequins of Solomon Island, Sequins of the Valley of the Sun God, Sequins of Transylvania, Sequins of Sunrise, Aurei of Initiation, Credits of Ca'd'Oro, Black and White Marks of Venice, Distinctions of the Council, Gambler's Markers, Extant Third Age Fragments, Extant Third Age Silver - all special tokens that can only be used in specific locations and sometimes only with very specific vendors or during very specific events. Since then, these currencies have been replaced with the infinitely simpler multi-purpose Black Bullion and Marks of the Pantheon. And then The Secret World: Legends replaced them with Anima Shards, Third Age Fragments, Marks of Favour, and Aurum.
  • Shin Megami Tensei
    • The series, save for the Persona subseries, uses macca. It has some relevance as a power source for demons.
      • It's not really until Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey that the idea of macca being a "power source" really took hold (though little-known spinoff Devil Children established demons could eat it). That explanation was used to justify purchasing items from the Matter Replicator with demon money. Earlier games had a third "currency" called Magnetite (not the same as the real mineral) which was a mystical substance found in living things that demons needed to incarnate in the human world - summoning your demons cost you Magnetite, as did keeping them around. You could gather it from slain demons, and demons could also feed their need by eating humans, the most abundant natural source of Magnetite in the real world.
    • Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE has certain areas that use other currencies beyond macca. Ikebukuro, for example, uses kreuz.
  • Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Money is simply called Energy, and it is gained from energy-producing facilities or power plants.
  • Sierra has this in several of their "Quest" series.
  • SimCity and The Sims both use the simoleon as their currency. In Sim City 2000, the currency symbol was just a $, but starting with Sim City 3000 the currency sign for the simoleon became a section sign (§). In real life, "simoleon" is an old-fashioned slang term for a dollar.
  • Skies of Arcadia has Rich, although it's simply called "gold" in the English version (some menus still use the term Rich, as an oversight).
  • Spore: The cell and creature stages use DNA points as currency, the tribal stage use food, and the civilization and space ages use Sporebucks symbolized with a §.
  • Starflight uses a currency called Monetary Units, the sequel uses a currency called Shyneum Pennies.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • In the Mario RPGs Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi use Coins, as in the ones that float in the air in the platformers.
    • Super Mario Odyssey has both the regular Coins and Purple Coins. In addition to buying stuff, the regular coins are also tied to the lives system as every time Mario dies, you lose 10 coins. Purple Coins are different in that they're a collectable that can only be used in the Kingdom they're found in and there's only 50 or 100 of them in each. The Purple Coins are also differently shaped, which is dependent on the general theme of the Kingdom (for example, the Purple Coins in the Seaside Kingdom are shells while in the Luncheon Kingdom, they're Tomato Shaped).
    • Super Paper Mario has "rubees", which are a red rupee-like currency. They tend to be associated with Mimi, one of the villains, who uses them at one point to force Mario into a grinding session to stall him.
  • TerraTech has "Block Bucks", used by off-world prospectors to trade for blocks.
  • The Trails Series uses Mira, which seem to be universally used in all of Western Zemuria, at the very least.
  • Ultima:
    • The games usually have gold coins, but Ultima VII Part II takes place on another continent, where three city-states have different coinage each. Warlike Monitor uses monetari (huge golden coins), beauty-fixated Fawn uses filari (small gems encased in glass), and magical Moonshade uses guilders (enchanted glowing chips). The exchange rates are fixed, but different moneychangers take different fee for exchange.
    • Ultima VIII, which takes place on another world, uses obsidian coins.
  • Vampires Dawn has Filar. You need to sell silver or items in order to get them though.
  • Vangers has beebs, which are not coins, but four-legged insects. They are gathered by crushing them.
  • Wasteland 2 has scrap metal as the standard currency in Arizona and California.
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has Novigrad crowns, which are the standard currency, Temerian orens and Nilfgaardian florins, both of which have to be exchanged to crowns in Vimme Vivaldi's bank.
  • In the English versions of Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble, the currency is "Y Dollars". In the main Yo-kai Watch games, however, real-world currency is used.
  • The various Infocom text-adventure Zork games have zorkmids. Later used in NetHack as a homage.

    Visual Novels 

    Web Animation 
  • DSBT InsaniT: Kelex, which look like gold coins.
  • RWBY: The world of Remnant has lien (Ⱡ) as the primary form of currency which according to Miles Luna is approximately equal to Japanese Yen. While coins of lien exist ("cents" mentioned by Roman and actually seen in RWBY Chibi), lien is most commonly seen mass-produced as plastic cards of various colors with a magnetic strip like a prepaid credit card since it is more resilient than paper money and less expensive than coins for Huntsman to carry.
  • The currency of Monkey Wrench is called "pixels". Its symbol is a P with two vertical lines through it, and appears to be mostly digitally traded. When it does appear in physical form, it's comes in small squares of copper or golden metal, and can be compressed into a glowing 100,000-pixel cube called a "Voxel". The value of a single pixel is unknown, but ten million can buy a battle cruiser and twenty-five thousand is considered "measley" for a pest removal job.
  • The Pink City: The currency of the Pink City is "yonts", as seen on bounty postings.

    Webcomics 
  • Cirque Royale: The currency used in Clowny Island is tickets, which are shaped to look like colorful carnival tickets.
  • Forest Hill has a currency called Prims, which is represented by a triangle crossed by two diagonal parallel lines.
  • Iaei in Hazard's Wake. Word of God says they're "elliptical coins made of a shiny blue metal".
  • Homestuck:
    • The Incipisphere uses Boondollars, represented by a B crossed by two vertical lines.
    • Troll society is briefly mentioned as having Caegars. This tends to pop up more in fanfiction.
  • The Fantasy theme of Irregular Webcomic! uses copper commons, silver nobles, and gold royals.
  • In Problem Sleuth, the local currency is Spondulicks. At first it just seems like the comic's just using an old-timey word for cash (fitting with the rest of the "game"'s Call a Hit Point a "Smeerp" tendencies), but when Earth Drift sets in, it looks like that's actually what the money is called.
  • Unsounded:
    • Most countries use "sem" coins minted from various metals. People might specify the metal ("gold sem") or leave it implicit, much like "two-fifty" could mean $2.50 or $250.00 in context.
    • Cresce is a communist state that abhors money, so citizens who produce beyond their quotas earn Labour Points instead. These magic coins are keyed to the earner's aura so that they can't be spent by anyone else.

    Web Videos 
  • SMPLive has multiple.
    • Schlattcoin, a fictional cryptocurrency made by Schlatt & Co. — even if it does happen to actually be a scam.
    • In the SMPLive reunion, Conar Coin.

    Western Animation 
  • The Fire Nation in Avatar: The Last Airbender uses a currency called "Bǎn". The main characters carry mostly Water Tribe money (never named), which is accepted in some parts of the Earth Kingdom, but not all (this gets them into a tight spot). The United Republic in The Legend of Korra uses Yuans.
  • Chowder has dollops.
  • Count Duckula: Transylvania is depicted as an independent country that uses Transylvanian drachmas as its currency.
  • Dave the Barbarian has dreckles.
  • The currency in Dog City is "bones" - actually gold bars shaped like bones. Ace Hart's standard fee is five bones a day, plus expenses.
  • The Flintstones has clams, which are usually literal clams. (Sigmund and the Sea Monsters did the same thing in one episode.)
  • In Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch, Sand Dollars actually pass off as currency.
  • In one episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Harvey, representing The Jetsons in their lawsuit against the Earth of the past, is puzzled when they ask for their monetary damages in 'griznaks'.
  • The Hair Bear Bunch: "Gobs Of Gabaloons" had the bears searching for a buried treasure. They find it and take them to a coin specialist who tells them the coins are Gabaloons, the treasure of the kingdom of Ptomania. Priceless as they are, they were stolen by a pirate rendering them unspendable, even in Ptomania.
  • The currency on Invader Zim — seemingly both on Earth and in the Irken empire — is "moneys", as in "that costs six moneys."
  • Various incarnations of My Little Pony franchise have had their own currencies:
    • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has bits, a reference to an actual term for eighths of an old Spanish dollar (aka the "pieces of eight" coveted by stereotypical pirates) as well as the kind of bit used to drive horses.
  • On The Owl House the main currency of the Boiling Isles is “Snails”.
  • Rick and Morty, Rick and Morty's universe has several. In the giant universe, schmeckles are used (Rick has no knowledge of how much they're worth). In one of the alternative dimensions on Interdimensional Cable, rapples are used (and apparently have several designs, despite apparently being the same worth). In the main universe, it seems that flurbos are used, as Krombopulos Michael pays Rick in flurbos for weaponry. Flurbos may be an equivalent to game tokens since they're only ever used at Blips & Chitz; the Galactic Federation uses blemflarks.
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle: several of the kingdoms in "Fractured Fairy Tales" stories use either Pazuzas or Gold Grickles.
  • South Park: Canadough Canadian Coins virtual currency for the Terrance and Phillip Give Us Your Money Mobile Game.
  • TaleSpin, being a show about Baloo from The Jungle Book (1967) working as a cargo pilot and adventurer, features many fictional countries with their own currencies involved in the plot lines, from “Shaboozies” to “Walla Walla Bing-Bang Wubles”.

 
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Bison Dollars

Sagat is less than pleased when, instead of paying him in real cash, Bison pays him in his new currency known as "Bison Dollars" that he plans to have be worth five British pounds each once he kidnaps their queen.

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5 (4 votes)

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