Our currencies quiz asks you to match the world's countries to the money they use. In 10 timed rounds you name the country behind a currency, such as the kwacha or the baht, or pick the right currency for a named country. Play World or one region, on Explorer to learn the names or on Expert, where every option comes from the same family, so you have to know which dollar, which franc or which peso. A fact card follows every answer with the currency's full name, code and symbol.
Every game has 10 rounds with two kinds of question, shuffled together. Half the rounds show a currency's name in large gold letters, with its symbol on a coin underneath, and ask which country uses it. The other half show a country's flag and ask which of four currencies it uses. No country comes up twice in one game.
"Which country" questions only ever ask about a currency that belongs to a single country. Shared currencies such as the euro, the US dollar or the CFA francs are never used this way, because several answers would be right. They still appear in the other direction: "What is the currency of France?" has exactly one right answer, the euro.
Each question has a 15-second timer. Answer with a tap, a click or the keys 1 to 4. After every answer a fact card shows the country's flag, capital, languages and region, plus the currency's full name and code, for example Zambian kwacha (ZMW), and its symbol where it has one.
A right answer earns 500 points, plus a speed bonus of up to 500 more. Answer within one second for the full bonus; it then falls steadily to zero at 15 seconds. A wrong answer, or running out of time, scores nothing. Ten rounds make a perfect game of 10,000.
Your answer streak counts right answers in a row and resets on a miss. Your best score for each region and difficulty is saved in this browser, and every game earns XP towards your level when you're signed in.
On Explorer, the wrong answers are random countries or currencies from your region. It's the best way to meet the names for the first time: the kwacha, the pula, the quetzal and the tögrög.
On Expert, the wrong answers come from the same currency family as the right one wherever the region allows it. The world has around twenty dollars, nine pesos, nine francs and eight dinars, so a question about Fiji's currency might offer the Fijian dollar next to the Solomon Islands dollar, the New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar. For "which country" questions, Expert prefers neighbours and countries whose own money belongs to the same family.
Learn the big shared currencies first. The euro is used by 25 countries, from Portugal to Finland, including small states such as Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. Eight West African countries share the West African CFA franc, six Central African countries share the Central African CFA franc, and six Caribbean islands share the Eastern Caribbean dollar.
Then learn the families by region. Pesos are mostly in Latin America, plus the Philippines. Dinars stretch from Serbia through North Africa to the Gulf. Rupees belong to South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and shillings to East Africa. Some names are unique and easy to anchor: the baht is Thailand's, the real is Brazil's and the paʻanga is Tonga's.
Watch for twins. Zambia and Malawi both call their money the kwacha. A question about one never offers the other, so if you see "kwacha", look for the only country on the list that uses one.
- Why is the euro never a "which country" question?
- Because 25 countries use it, so no single answer would be right. You'll still be asked which currency a euro country uses.
- What about countries with more than one currency?
- Some countries officially use two, such as Panama with the balboa and the US dollar. The quiz asks for the country's own currency, and the other is never offered as a wrong answer.
- Why is Palestine left out of this quiz?
- Palestine has no currency of its own, so any single answer would be contentious. It still appears in every other mode.
- What does the coin show?
- The currency's symbol, such as ZK for the Zambian kwacha, or its three-letter code when it has no symbol.
- Can I play one region at a time?
- Yes. Choose Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe or Oceania, or World for every country.