The currencies of Fallout

Ugly Kid

Ugly Kid

Still Mildly Glowing
Currencies:
Wasteland:
Hubbucks, AKA Hubscript (1)
NCR Dollar (2, NV)
Morningstar Mine Scrip (2)
Kokoweef Mine Scrip (2)
Ring Pull (T)
BoS Scrip (T)
Bawls Bottle Cap (PoS)
Nuka-Cola Bottle Cap (PoS, 3, NV, 4, 76)
Unites States Dollar, AKA Prewar Money (3, NV, 4, 76)
Sunset Sarsaparilla Bottle Cap (NV)
Blue Star Bottle Cap (NV)
Legion Money (NV)
Gold Bullion (76)
Treasury Note (76)

Casinos:
Atomic Rangler Chip (NV)
Gomorrah Chip (NV)
The Tops Chip (NV)
Ultra Luxe Chip (NV)
Sierra Madre Chip (NV)

Arcades:
Nuka-Cade Token (4)


Conversion Rates:
1/2/PoS/3/NV:
1 Bottle Cap/Casino Chip/?Hubbuck? = 2.5 NCR dollars/Mine Scrip = 0.01 Legion Aureus = 0.25 Legion Denarius = 0.01 Bawls Bottle Cap = 0.1 USD

Tactics:
1 Ring Pull = 1 BoS Scrip

4:
8 Caps = 1 USD
1 USD = 3 Nuka-Cade Tokens
3 Nuka-Cade Tokens = 9 Caps??

76:
1 Bottle Cap = 0.1 Treasury Note = 1 Gold Bullion

1 USD = 0 Anything

You can't trade caps for gold. Also Legendary Scrip exists but it can't be used in trade. I think you can get cub scout badges but those also aren't for trade. There may be more I can't remember with 76.

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The only reason I split 76 and 4 from the rest is because of the difference in value for USD in each game. In NV and 3 it has a value of 10, but in 4 it has a value of 8, and in 76 it has no value. Also an issue occurs with 76's gold bullion, in New Vegas, 1 gold bar = 10547 bottle caps, whereas in 76, 1 gold bullion = 1 bottle cap.

I split Tactics from the rest because it doesn't share any currency with other games.


Headcannon:
In my head-cannon, the Enclave uses a made up currency similar to that of a classroom currency. Every president would use their own fake currency, and each new currency would be worth 10x more than the last one because each president thinks they're better than the last. By Fallout 2, the Enclave uses Dick Bucks. Dick Bucks would be twice as valuable as prewar money. All Enclave currencies would have the same value to anyone outside of the Enclave though.

I'd also like to imagine that the BoS uses BoS scrip in each chapter, but they don't trade it with outsiders. Although if I could remake 1, 2, and NV, I would make them only trade with scrip. For the other games I'd just delete the BoS.

The Institute from Fallout 4 would also likely use their own currency if Bethesda's writer wasn't ass. They do in my head cannon, I feel like changing the name but right now it's Institute Scrip. The institute wouldn't trade their scrip for any bottle caps, but the wasteland would trade 300 bottle caps for 1 Institute Scrip.

Although, I think that Fallout 3, 4 and 76, shouldn't even use bottle caps. Maybe ring pulls, but I feel like the east coast, west coast, and mid-west each having their own general currency is more interesting. Off the top of my head I'm thinking the east coast could use corks or something.

With that being said though, I think the raiders at Nuka-World would still use bottle caps as their currency. I don't need to explain why I think that though, do I? And maybe 5 bottle caps = 1 cork or something.

I haven't played Fallout 3 that much, so I don't really know about the organizations in that game and don't have a head cannon for them. In Fallout 4, I think the organizations I didn't mention would use the standard east coast currency instead of making their own.


Reason For Making This:
At first this post was me wondering what currencies there were that I didn't know about, now I know the currencies so I just made a list, this is an edit of course. I was also curious about the conversion rates, so I just did them myself.

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I really wish we had the conversions for a currency in Tactics to any of the other ones, and I wish that Fallout 4 had the same value for USD as the rest of the games. I also wish Nuka-Cade tokens weren't broken. If 1 USD = 10 caps in Fallout 4, then maybe 1 USD could equal 5 Nuka tokens and 1 token would equal 2 caps. Very easy fix for you Bethesda.
 
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In the original game, Bottle Caps were a deal equalizer for use in bartering goods for goods.

It's been said (or theorized?) that one bottle cap == 1 liter of water from the water merchants, and that Hubbucks (bottle caps) started out as a way for the water merchants to pay debts/ and employees. Caps were backed by drinking water (as opposed to gold, for instance).

Bottle caps are worthless in Fallout 2.

*FO3 doesn't allow bartering; everything is bought with (or sold for) bottle caps.
 
There's also the Morningstar and Kokoweef mine scrips:

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Those images say they are worth $5, but in game they are only worth 1 NCR dollar each.
 
In New Reno they refer to money as “chips” despite the fact that they only seem to use NCR dollars. I think we can assume that before the NCR, New Reno used casino chips as a currency, but that’s just speculation.

If casino chips count as currency I guess you could include Gomorrah, Ultra Luxe, and Tops chips.
 
Atomic Postman said:
Do we assume the New Canaanites used caps?
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I would assume they did, but only because Fallout: New Vegas seems to operate on Fallout 3 rules, meaning that literally everyone and their mother decided to use bottle caps as currency after the bombs fell because why not? Don’t think about it. A scientist at Big MT even predicted that bottle caps would become the standard currency of the post apocalyptic world.
 
Iprovidelittlepianos said:
I would assume they did, but only because Fallout: New Vegas seems to operate on Fallout 3 rules, meaning that literally everyone and their mother decided to use bottle caps as currency after the bombs fell because why not? Don’t think about it. A scientist at Big MT even predicted that bottle caps would become the standard currency of the post apocalyptic world.
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New Vegas has two currencies other than bottle caps
 
Its funny to think that the gold-backed currencies (The NCR Dollar of FO2 and the Legion Denarius) are the ones that apparently had higher worth. Guess Fallout designers are all secret goldbugs.

Also, I've read somewhere that originally, ammunition was going to be the currency in Fallout.

You know what would fit very well in Fallout? Energy Currency. Small Energy Cells, Micro-Fusion Cells, Electron-Charge Packs, Fusion Cells, Fission Batteries... as MONEY! Perhaps use something like simple batteries as the equivalent of coins?
 
I've just edited the post with a list of all of the official currencies on the wiki + all casino chips + nuka-cade tokens, and all of the conversions we have that I know of.

Also, does anyone have suggestions for the head cannon section. Slaughter Manslaughter thinks some sort of electrical ammunition or batteries could be used as currency, and TheGM thinks salt could be used as currency. I would like you two to please explain further if you could.
 
I'm personally not that troubled by the Fallout world settling on one currency (caps) over the course of the series. Humans from across Eurasia to Africa settled on using gold to represent value over the course of history. It would make sense for the societies in North America to eventually settle on one currency eventually. Even if only the caravans were using caps and most others were bartering or using some other random item as money or even issuing their own money.
 
Ugly Kid said:
TheGM thinks salt could be used as currency. I would like you two to please explain further if you could.
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Seriously? Salt is one of the most important things you need because without salt you'd die. it is a food preservative. Post Apocalypse it wouldn't necessarily be as common. It is often overlooked by writers in settings because most writers are idiots.
 
At one time people used to display salt in fountains.

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Money has to either have intrinsic value, or be backed by something that has it. Bottle caps in Fallout were called Hubbucks. As I understand it —gleaned impression, without references— one bottle cap was worth one liter of water; payable by the Water Merchants.

Caps as currency don't make sense anywhere else. Fallout was set in a desert wasteland. Fallout 2 was set around NCR, and they had established a gold dollar.

FO3 is set in DC —Washington DC. There are banks, and international currency exchanges in DC (as opposed to the desert wasteland of Fallout 1). Caps are not a good coin; caps have sharp edges, don't stack well, and deform easily. A better choice would have been Krugerrands, silver dollars, even BUS tokens over bottle caps.

Bethesda just threw them in their like everything else they see as recognizably from Fallout...whether it makes any sense or not.

Also: Caps were not money in Fallout, they were more like scrips, and mechanically they were a bartering aid; a deal equalizer. People would include them to make up any significant difference in the value of traded items.
*Yes they could be used for trivial purchases, like drinks and gambling, but they were for padding a deal.

In FO3 the [sadly] Bethesda either missed or ignored that distinction, and just made it the de facto money of the world. Bartering was discarded entirely; all trades were done items for caps & caps for items. AFAIK, it is impossible to trade item for item (but I'd have to run that awful game to be sure).
 
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Gizmojunk said:
AFAIK, it is impossible to trade item for item (but I'd have to run that awful game to be sure).
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All items have values.
You can trade items with vendors without the need to use caps (if you can offer items worth enough for what you want to "buy"). You can also give items with higher value than the stuff you want to "buy", and will receive caps to make the difference or just lose some "money" (if the vendor doesn't have enough caps).
 
One day when I get more experienced in modding, I’d like to introduce an idea I had for Fallout 1 and 2 called “Supply and Demand”.

Make it so that some items cost more in some regions then they do in others.

For example, medical technology would sell for a lower price in Vault City, NCR, and other “high-tech settlements” since there’d already be a higher demand. And Rad-X and RadAway would sell for a higher price in Broken Hills, and Jet for a higher price in the Den, that type of stuff
 
Risewild said:
...or just lose some "money" (if the vendor doesn't have enough caps).
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That's the part I was not sure of.

ElloinmorninJ said:
One day when I get more experienced in modding, I’d like to introduce an idea I had for Fallout 1 and 2 called “Supply and Demand”.

Make it so that some items cost more in some regions then they do in others
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How about checking the merchant's reaction to the PC as part of adjusting the price?
 
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TheGM said:
Seriously? Salt is one of the most important things you need because without salt you'd die. it is a food preservative. Post Apocalypse it wouldn't necessarily be as common. It is often overlooked by writers in settings because most writers are idiots.
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Salt is where we get the word "salary" from, supposedly. Since Roman soldier were paid partially in salt since it was such a hot commodity. Salt would still be a hot commodity just like water would be.

Gizmojunk said:
At one time people used to display salt in fountains.

______________

Money has to either have intrinsic value, or be backed by something that has it. Bottle caps in Fallout were called Hubbucks. As I understand it —gleaned impression, without references— one bottle cap was worth one liter of water; payable by the Water Merchants.

Caps as currency don't make sense anywhere else. Fallout was set in a desert wasteland. Fallout 2 was set around NCR, and they had established a gold dollar.

FO3 is set in DC —Washington DC. There are banks, and international currency exchanges in DC (as opposed to the desert wasteland of Fallout 1). Caps are not a good coin; caps have sharp edges, don't stack well, and deform easily. A better choice would have been Krugerrands, silver dollars, even BUS tokens over bottle caps.
Click to expand...

It does make sense that water merchants across the country would use caps eventually since they are selling units of water. One thing I would expect to happen is for the water merchants in an area to band together, like they did in the Hub and just start issuing banknotes or futures contracts and using a form of water backed paper currency and calling it "caps". At least for larger purchases and people carrying around a small amount of actual caps to buy things with. But writers and game engines being what they are probably can't handle that difference easily and sometimes you have to go with what works rather than something realistic.

One thing I have thought about is the subject of using pre war money as a form of currency in the world. It would make sense that it would have been used at some point because the mass inflation would have left a lot of banknotes and coins laying around. Well maybe left a lot of coins laying around. If $1 is worth what a nickle is today, why would anyone use coins at all? But coins would be worth something since the bills would eventually decay and the coins would probably survive a lot longer. But they you have the same issue with caps, which are they are heavy to carry long distances and we're talking about a world that lacks the stability to maintain a trust worthy banking system. So any newly issued banknotes aren't going to be trusted if you travel too far away from where your operations are headquartered.
 
When the Ben Franklin silver half-dollar dropped below its value in silver; they became more valuable to melt and sell as the precious metal.

*Fun-fact: The ridges on the edge of some coins are a 'tamper-evident' warning that the coin has been shaved (if they were missing). People used to shave metal dust from the edges of coins so that they could spend them at full value, but eventually have a [free] bag of gold or silver dust.
 
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