Pre-War money (Fallout 3)

Pre-War money is a miscellaneous item in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

Background
Pre-War money is the currency of the former United States and no longer the official currency of the wastes. Despite its former status, no contemporary individuals or organizations use pre-War money as a form of currency, but instead treat it as a low-value collectable item, yet it can still be used as a high-value trading item. Since the holograms at the Sierra Madre Casino were programmed before the war, they still use pre-War money as their primary basis of exchange.

Characteristics
In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, pre-War money appears as a stack of indistinguishable bills. The item is valued at 10 caps per stack and is affected by the player's Barter skill. Pre-War money is somewhat plentiful. It can be found nearly anywhere money might be found in real life such as cash registers, safes, suitcases and desks. As it has lost almost all value to the inhabitants of the Wasteland, it can also be found in garbage cans.

Uses
In both games, the primary usefulness of pre-War money is as a trade item, owing to its weightlessness and relatively high value.

Within Fallout 3, pre-War money can be used as ammunition for the Rock-It Launcher. Although not as potent as other items when used with the weapon, pre-War money is the only zero-weight item besides alien crystals which can be loaded into the Rock-It Launcher.

In the first add-on for Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Money, pre-War money can be exchanged for (or from) Sierra Madre chips while inside the Sierra Madre Casino. The exchange rate is 1:1 — one chip for one (stack of) pre-War money — making it a potentially profitable source of income given the availability of the Sierra Madre chips.

Locations
Pre-War money is found throughout the Capital Wasteland, The Pitt, Point Lookout, Adams Air Force Base, Mojave Wasteland, Sierra Madre, and Zion National Park. In the Capital Wasteland pre-War money is often found in cash registers. Within the Mojave Wasteland, there is a lot in Searchlight Airport, the REPCONN headquarters, suitcases in Black Mountain and the bank within the Atomic Wrangler casino.