# Fictional crazy currencies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731 "2019-08-16T11:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/61 "2019-08-21T19:28:36Z")
More bills than currencies, but given the hyperinflation they relate to … Meeses in _Snow Crash_. Worth one trillion dollars, backed by what’s left of the US government. Sure, most people prefer Gippers (1 quadrillion US$) bills, but the idea of Ed Meese being considered “respectable” enough to be on a US bill is amazing. And don’t get me started on Kongbucks. Although if you have enough, I understand a fella could have a pretty good weekend In Vegas with with those. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/62 "2019-08-21T19:57:02Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The Algebraist (novel) has an economy based on kudos. It doesn’t go into great detail but I guess the more famous you are the more things you can get - a little bit like in our system. Like in The Moon Moth? That’s not currency, though. More like people thrust valuable articles upon you because they’re thrilled you would deign to be seen wearing or using them. It happens for real, too, as you observe. > [@ftg](#): > > More bills than currencies, but given the hyperinflation they relate to … > > Meeses in _Snow Crash_. Worth one trillion dollars, backed by what’s left of the US government. Sure, most people prefer Gippers (1 quadrillion US$) bills, but the idea of Ed Meese being considered “respectable” enough to be on a US bill is amazing. Meh. There is a picture of a real-life 10[sup]20[/sup] Hungarian pengo banknote on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/63 "2019-08-21T20:01:11Z")
The post scarcity society of Cory Doctrow’s “Down and out in the Magic Kingdom” uses “Whuffie” which is essentially social standing. Positive interaction or reputation gives you more, negative less. At one point the protagonist is so poorly thought of that elevators and automatic doors stop working for him. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/64 "2019-08-21T20:03:19Z")
Harry Potter’s currency has no clear buying power or value, either. He wins 1,000 galleons in the Triwizard tournament. He gives them to Fred and George to: - buy premises and supplies to open a store on Diagon Alley(they do this in about a year’s time) - buy Ron new dress robes(small purchase, but still) So, how much is 1,000 galleons in USD or Pounds? I believe galleons and other currency levels are thrown about that indicate it is not $100,000 or anything like that. No idea what it is worth. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/65 "2019-08-21T20:22:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > So, how much is 1,000 galleons in USD or Pounds? I believe galleons and other currency levels are thrown about that indicate it is not $100,000 or anything like that. No idea what it is worth. You think people who can turn lead into gold have foreign exchange and futures markets? 🙂 It’s magic. IIRC, in the book, the humans couldn’t even figure out how to run a bank; the industry was run by goblins and gnomes. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/66 "2019-08-21T20:29:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > The post scarcity society of Cory Doctrow’s “Down and out in the Magic Kingdom” uses “Whuffie” which is essentially social standing. Positive interaction or reputation gives you more, negative less. At one point the protagonist is so poorly thought of that elevators and automatic doors stop working for him. The ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Nosedive’ took this concept to its logical extreme. Someone who behaves like a dick will gradually lose all their privileges. > **[Nosedive (Black Mirror)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive_(Black_Mirror))** > > "Nosedive" is the first episode in the third series of the British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. Michael Schur and Rashida Jones wrote the teleplay for the episode, based on a story by series creator and co-showrunner Charlie Brooker, while Joe Wright acted as director. It premiered on Netflix on 21 October 2016, alongside the rest of the third series. The episode is set in a world where people can rate each other from one to five stars for every interaction they have using th... ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/67 "2019-08-21T20:30:45Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > So you would be happy to measure and weigh each coin you get in change, to make sure that the correct value is made? > > The inconvenience of that is the reason why standard sized coins were invented. What? You would standardize the size of the coins so that the denominations made sense. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/68 "2019-08-21T20:34:13Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > From what I understand, that’s exactly what the gold coins in\* John Wick\* are supposed to represent - favors. That’s why they can be used to pay for anything. > > I mean, favors are what the criminal economy is supposedly based on, at last in the movies. When Bonasera went to Don Corleone and asked him to deal with the boys who put his daughter in the hospital, the Don didn’t say, “OK, you owe me one (1) fixed-up body of one dead son, to be determined later”; instead, he told him, basically, that he owned him a favor. If \*the Godfather \*had existed in the \*John Wick \*universe, the undertaker would have given the Don a gold coin. Yeah, they represent favors, but the characters treat them like lending you a dollar for the vending machine is an equal favor to killing an entire rival gang. If I owe you one, I’m going to think it’s unreasonable for you to ask me to something way out of proportion and I won’t feel bad declining. That’s why the coins in John Wick don’t make sense, they make the trivial and grandiose equal. If there was a minimum bar for a “gold coin favor” then it would make more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/69 "2019-08-21T22:18:40Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > You think people who can turn lead into gold have foreign exchange and futures markets? 🙂 It’s magic. > > IIRC, in the book, the humans couldn’t even figure out how to run a bank; the industry was run by goblins and gnomes. My fanwank is that the goblins have a monopoly on coining gold into galleons, in such a magical manner that they can’t be debased, counterfeited (for very long), or otherwise magically manipulated. Goblin coinage is about the only completely trustworthy medium of exchange in the wizarding world. Not to mention the infamous security of their storage vaults. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/70 "2019-08-21T23:26:13Z")
No, it’s just that Harry Potter wizards are min-maxing munchkins who put all of their points in spellcasting, making them utterly useless at anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/71 "2019-08-22T04:22:11Z")
Not fictional but certainly unusual: [the wooden money of Tenino, Washington](http://www.chronline.com/news/wooden-money-helped-make-tenino-famous/article_d8ceb232-8fe8-51cb-8b1d-7135fe27ea14.html). ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/72 "2019-08-22T06:20:59Z")
Sim City Buildit. Simoleons=coins you earn all day if you’re not stupid. Greenbacks=rare money you earn about 7 greenbacks a day, it can be bought with any real currency. Neo Bucks=dopey money only related to pretentious Omega-building fetishists. Purple Warbucks=money you need to play a war successfully but impossible to earn unless you play the wars or have dad’s credit card. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/73 "2019-08-22T15:38:20Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Sim City Buildit. Simoleons=coins you earn all day if you’re not stupid. Greenbacks=rare money you earn about 7 greenbacks a day, it can be bought with any real currency. Neo Bucks=dopey money only related to pretentious Omega-building fetishists. Purple Warbucks=money you need to play a war successfully but impossible to earn unless you play the wars or have dad’s credit card. > > 😕 Eesh. Evony with a SimCity skin. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/74 "2019-08-22T17:52:33Z")
In the post-apocalyptic sports movie _The Blood of Heroes_, the currency appears to be small gears and other random machine parts that presumably are the remnants of the now-destroyed civilization and not expected to be produced again. It is never commented on in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731/75 "2019-08-22T21:56:05Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > In what way are they different from the physical objects used as money on contemporary Earth? They’re completely unforgeable, for one–being alien artifacts rather beyond the degraded technological level that the humans are at. That said, the book(s) are pirate stories set in the future. Quoins are just pieces of eight or doubloons or whatever piratical currency you wish to compare to. They have a physical nature, like gold coins, that is distinct from paper or electronic currency. They lend themselves to hoarding and hiding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-crazy-currencies/838731.md?page=3)