For a change, I though of searching for currencies used in fictions as it is a very interesting subject for me. And then I though of writing a note about it here as I assumed that you will also be interested in knowing some of them and discuss any thing you know that is not included here. First of all, this is not a complete list. There are hundreds of currencies and exchange media used in movies and books and we capture only a few but interesting ones.
Most of the currencies used in fictions bear little or no resemblance to the modern or historic money used by the human civilizations. Most of the science fictions take lead in introducing these currencies and they are often called credits. H.G. Wells introduces a currency called “Air Dollars” in his book “The Shape of Things to Come”. Air Dollars are a series of paper notes and represents distance, weight, bulk, and speed. The value of an air dollar is defined as: a cubic meter which weight ten kilograms and traveling two hundred kilometers at a speed of hundred kilometers per hour. Interesting!
Latinum is another currency used by the Ferengi in Star Trek. The unique characteristic of the currency was that it is not replicable by any existing or predicted replication technology. Latinum was a liquid stored in gold strips in standardize amounts. When it comes to exchange media, Waterworld introduces dirt. Since the entire world is covered by water, dirt has a higher value and used as an exchange media. In the book “Future Timeline” written by Dr. Arthur C. Clarke, Energy is mentioned as an exchange media in the future world. In the novel “The Forever War”, kilocalorie is used for monetary transactions and it is based on human dietary needs. In “Ice Pirates” and “Arrakis”, water was used as the exchange media.
When it come to games there are so many interesting currencies used. Some of them are derived from ancient currencies used and some of them are copied from science fictions. For games, money plays a vital role in buying weapons, food, first aid kits etc.