What Are My Credits Worth?

A System of Coin Denominations & Galactic Credit Values for the Star Wars Universe

In the world of Star Wars, we see many different types of coins, but apart from a few exceptions, their value is often unclear. The value of specific coins is kept obscure, probably so that writers and directors don’t have to worry about making sure every line and scene is square on the detail.

Names for different credit values do appear in the lore, but they are random and unsystematic. The Clone Wars has characters talking about 'dimes'; the Solo Visual Dictionary labelled one coin as a 'Decicredit'; in the Lando Calrissian adventures from Legends, characters add 'microcredits' to the Sabacc pot. In Skeleton Crew, a stall-keeper asks for payment of a 'dec' - perhaps a unit of 10 credits. There is definitely the suggestion of some kind of system in place, but it has never been properly defined or built out.

A detailed system of coin types and currency would be useful for those of us who appreciate world-building details. In the absence of an official system, we decided to develop our own system for naming credit coin types.

GALACTIC CREDITS - STANDARD DENOMINATIONS

What follows is our concept for a general system of common currency denominations, which were used between the regimes of the Republic, Empire and New Republic to remain stable and familiar to the citizenry. It uses Latin and Greek number prefixes derived from the IUPAC Chemical nomenclature system to name chemical compounds.

The first group of credit types are 'Particredits' - coins with a value less than 1 credit. Particredits include Microcredits (worth less than 0.10 of a credit) and Decicredits (worth between 0.10 and 1.00 credit).

The second group of credit types are Multicredits - coins with a value of more than 1 credit.

The third group of credit types are Decacredits - coins with a values greater than 10 credits.

The fourth group of credit types are Kilocredits - coins with a value of 1000 credits or greater.

The final group of credit coin types are Crystalline Vertex coins. Introduced in the WEG roleplaying game, Crystalline Vertex was described as a name for valuable gemstone materials, used as an alternative currency used by the Corporate Sector. In the prequal era, Crystalline Vertex was the basis of Chancellor Palpatine's All Planets Relief Fund. In the new canon, Crystalline Vertex coins appear as Sabacc coins, chips and tokens in the Solo film, at the Galaxy's Edge Resort, and as merchandise on the Halcyon Starcruiser experience. The crystal parts of these coins come in a variety of colours, and are shown with etched emblems and logos, though no writing or credit values. Often, the metal parts are plated in bronze, silver and gold like regular credits.

You can use this system to organise your own credit collections, introduce a bit of specificity into your fan fiction or RPG scenarios, or any other place it would be useful to talk about your credits with more specificity!