Money and Currency Quiz
Euros, rands, loonies and thalers: 15 questions on the coins, notes and stories behind the world's money.
Which currency do France, Germany, Italy and Spain all share?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Euro
All four countries were founding members of the eurozone in 1999 and swapped their national cash for euro notes and coins in 2002. The euro is now the official currency of most EU member states.
Several non-EU countries and territories also use the euro, including Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Andorra, Kosovo and Montenegro.
Which US president is pictured on the one dollar bill?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
George Washington
The portrait of George Washington has appeared on the one dollar bill since 1869, based on the famous unfinished painting by Gilbert Stuart. Lincoln is on the five, Jackson on the twenty.
The one dollar bill's basic design has been unchanged since 1963, making it the longest running design in US paper money.
The rand is the currency of which country?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
South Africa
South Africa introduced the rand in 1961, replacing the South African pound. Its name comes from the Witwatersrand, the gold-bearing ridge on which Johannesburg was built.
The rand is also legal tender in Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, which peg their own currencies to it through the Common Monetary Area.
Which country uses the baht?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Thailand
The baht is Thailand's currency and has been issued by the Bank of Thailand since 1942. It was originally a unit of weight for silver, equal to about 15 grams.
Thai banknotes carry the portrait of the reigning king, and showing disrespect to money bearing his image can be treated as a criminal offence.
Which currency adopted the symbol ₹, a design chosen in 2010 from a public competition?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Indian rupee
India's government approved the ₹ sign in July 2010 after a nationwide design contest won by D. Udaya Kumar. It blends the Devanagari letter ra with a Latin capital R missing its vertical stroke.
The two horizontal lines across the top are meant to suggest the Indian tricolour flag and an equals sign, a nod to economic balance.
Whose portrait appears on the US one hundred dollar bill?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin has been on the hundred since 1914. He is one of two non-presidents on current US notes, the other being Alexander Hamilton on the ten dollar bill.
The hundred is the largest denomination printed today; the 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 dollar notes were discontinued in 1969.
In which year did euro banknotes and coins enter circulation?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
2002
Euro cash arrived on 1 January 2002 across twelve countries, the largest currency changeover in history. The euro had existed only as an electronic accounting currency since 1 January 1999.
Euro banknotes show imaginary bridges and windows rather than real landmarks so that no single country could claim to be favoured.
Paper money was first used in which country?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
China
Chinese merchants used paper promissory notes during the Tang dynasty, and the Song dynasty issued the first government paper money, the jiaozi, in the eleventh century, centuries before Europe.
Marco Polo described China's paper money in amazement, and the first European banknotes were not issued until Sweden's Stockholms Banco in 1661.
What is the nickname of Canada's one dollar coin?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Loonie
Introduced in 1987 to replace the one dollar note, the coin shows a common loon, a water bird, on its reverse, so Canadians quickly dubbed it the loonie. The two dollar coin that followed in 1996 became the toonie.
The loon design was a last-minute substitute: the dies for the planned voyageur canoe design went missing in transit, so the Mint switched images for security.
Before adopting the euro, which country used the peseta?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Spain
Spain used the peseta from 1868 until euro cash replaced it in 2002. Portugal had the escudo, Greece the drachma and Italy the lira, all retired in the same changeover.
Andorra, which had no currency of its own, used both the Spanish peseta and the French franc side by side until the euro arrived.
Under what name did the creator of Bitcoin publish its design in 2008?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The Bitcoin white paper appeared in October 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, and the network began running in January 2009. The person or group behind the name has never been conclusively identified.
The smallest unit of Bitcoin, one hundred millionth of a coin, is called a satoshi in honour of the pseudonymous founder.
What is the study and collecting of coins and banknotes called?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Numismatics
Numismatics comes from the Greek word nomisma, meaning coin or current money. Philately is stamp collecting, deltiology covers postcards and cartophily is the collecting of cigarette and trade cards.
A 1933 Double Eagle gold coin sold for 18.9 million dollars in 2021, making it the most expensive coin ever auctioned at that time.
Which company, founded in 1950, issued the first independent multi-purpose charge card?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Diners Club
Diners Club was founded in February 1950 by Frank McNamara, reputedly after he forgot his wallet at a New York restaurant. Its cardboard card could be used at multiple merchants rather than a single store.
American Express did not launch its own charge card until 1958, the same year Bank of America issued the BankAmericard that later became Visa.
The word dollar comes from the thaler, a silver coin first minted in the early 1500s in Joachimsthal, a town in which modern country?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Czech Republic
Joachimsthal, now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic, began striking large silver coins around 1518 that were known as Joachimsthalers, shortened to thalers. Dutch and Low German traders turned the word into daler, and English into dollar.
Spanish pieces of eight circulated so widely in the American colonies that the new United States chose the dollar as its unit in 1792.
Which currency is widely described as the oldest still in continuous use, with origins around the year 800?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Pound sterling
Sterling traces back to silver pennies struck in Anglo-Saxon England around 800, with 240 pennies weighing one pound of silver. No other currency in use today has such an unbroken history.
Britain only decimalised in 1971; before that a pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence, giving 240 pence to the pound.
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All General Knowledge quizzes →About the Money and Currency Quiz
The world's first coins were struck in Lydia around 600 BC, paper money appeared in China more than a thousand years ago, and sterling has been in continuous use for about 1,200 years. Money is one of the oldest human inventions, and it comes with a surprising amount of trivia attached.
These 15 questions cover the currencies people use every day, the symbols printed on them, the faces on famous banknotes and a few twists from monetary history, including where the word dollar really comes from. It starts gently with currencies most travellers know, then digs into coin nicknames, the first charge card and the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin. Ideal for pub quiz regulars, travellers and anyone curious about what is in their wallet.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What is the oldest currency still in use today?
The pound sterling is generally described as the oldest currency in continuous use, with origins around the year 800 in Anglo-Saxon England.
Where does the word dollar come from?
It comes from the thaler, a large silver coin first minted in the early 1500s in Joachimsthal in Bohemia, now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic.
When did euro notes and coins first appear?
Euro cash entered circulation on 1 January 2002, three years after the euro was launched as an electronic currency in 1999.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which currency do France, Germany, Italy and Spain all share?
Euro All four countries were founding members of the eurozone in 1999 and swapped their national cash for euro notes and coins in 2002. The euro is now the official currency of most EU member states. Several non-EU countries and territories also use the euro, including Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Andorra, Kosovo and Montenegro. - Which US president is pictured on the one dollar bill?
George Washington The portrait of George Washington has appeared on the one dollar bill since 1869, based on the famous unfinished painting by Gilbert Stuart. Lincoln is on the five, Jackson on the twenty. The one dollar bill's basic design has been unchanged since 1963, making it the longest running design in US paper money. - The rand is the currency of which country?
South Africa South Africa introduced the rand in 1961, replacing the South African pound. Its name comes from the Witwatersrand, the gold-bearing ridge on which Johannesburg was built. The rand is also legal tender in Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, which peg their own currencies to it through the Common Monetary Area. - Which country uses the baht?
Thailand The baht is Thailand's currency and has been issued by the Bank of Thailand since 1942. It was originally a unit of weight for silver, equal to about 15 grams. Thai banknotes carry the portrait of the reigning king, and showing disrespect to money bearing his image can be treated as a criminal offence. - Which currency adopted the symbol ₹, a design chosen in 2010 from a public competition?
Indian rupee India's government approved the ₹ sign in July 2010 after a nationwide design contest won by D. Udaya Kumar. It blends the Devanagari letter ra with a Latin capital R missing its vertical stroke. The two horizontal lines across the top are meant to suggest the Indian tricolour flag and an equals sign, a nod to economic balance. - Whose portrait appears on the US one hundred dollar bill?
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin has been on the hundred since 1914. He is one of two non-presidents on current US notes, the other being Alexander Hamilton on the ten dollar bill. The hundred is the largest denomination printed today; the 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 dollar notes were discontinued in 1969. - In which year did euro banknotes and coins enter circulation?
2002 Euro cash arrived on 1 January 2002 across twelve countries, the largest currency changeover in history. The euro had existed only as an electronic accounting currency since 1 January 1999. Euro banknotes show imaginary bridges and windows rather than real landmarks so that no single country could claim to be favoured. - Paper money was first used in which country?
China Chinese merchants used paper promissory notes during the Tang dynasty, and the Song dynasty issued the first government paper money, the jiaozi, in the eleventh century, centuries before Europe. Marco Polo described China's paper money in amazement, and the first European banknotes were not issued until Sweden's Stockholms Banco in 1661. - What is the nickname of Canada's one dollar coin?
Loonie Introduced in 1987 to replace the one dollar note, the coin shows a common loon, a water bird, on its reverse, so Canadians quickly dubbed it the loonie. The two dollar coin that followed in 1996 became the toonie. The loon design was a last-minute substitute: the dies for the planned voyageur canoe design went missing in transit, so the Mint switched images for security. - Before adopting the euro, which country used the peseta?
Spain Spain used the peseta from 1868 until euro cash replaced it in 2002. Portugal had the escudo, Greece the drachma and Italy the lira, all retired in the same changeover. Andorra, which had no currency of its own, used both the Spanish peseta and the French franc side by side until the euro arrived. - Under what name did the creator of Bitcoin publish its design in 2008?
Satoshi Nakamoto The Bitcoin white paper appeared in October 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, and the network began running in January 2009. The person or group behind the name has never been conclusively identified. The smallest unit of Bitcoin, one hundred millionth of a coin, is called a satoshi in honour of the pseudonymous founder. - What is the study and collecting of coins and banknotes called?
Numismatics Numismatics comes from the Greek word nomisma, meaning coin or current money. Philately is stamp collecting, deltiology covers postcards and cartophily is the collecting of cigarette and trade cards. A 1933 Double Eagle gold coin sold for 18.9 million dollars in 2021, making it the most expensive coin ever auctioned at that time. - Which company, founded in 1950, issued the first independent multi-purpose charge card?
Diners Club Diners Club was founded in February 1950 by Frank McNamara, reputedly after he forgot his wallet at a New York restaurant. Its cardboard card could be used at multiple merchants rather than a single store. American Express did not launch its own charge card until 1958, the same year Bank of America issued the BankAmericard that later became Visa. - The word dollar comes from the thaler, a silver coin first minted in the early 1500s in Joachimsthal, a town in which modern country?
Czech Republic Joachimsthal, now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic, began striking large silver coins around 1518 that were known as Joachimsthalers, shortened to thalers. Dutch and Low German traders turned the word into daler, and English into dollar. Spanish pieces of eight circulated so widely in the American colonies that the new United States chose the dollar as its unit in 1792. - Which currency is widely described as the oldest still in continuous use, with origins around the year 800?
Pound sterling Sterling traces back to silver pennies struck in Anglo-Saxon England around 800, with 240 pennies weighing one pound of silver. No other currency in use today has such an unbroken history. Britain only decimalised in 1971; before that a pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence, giving 240 pence to the pound.
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