Coins and VanillaBucks
VanillaCity has two kinds of money, and you earn both in town. Coins buy nearly everything, and VanillaBucks buy the rarer items. Nothing in the game is sold for real money, and the city rules forbid trading for it.
Coins
Paid for odd jobs, fish, games of 8-ball and your shop's sales. New citizens start with 300. Spend them on clothes, furniture, materials, pets and train tickets.
VanillaBucks
A citizen's shop puts one in its till every 25 sales. They buy 174 special clothes, 52 pieces of furniture and 8 kinds of pet, and they only change hands at the bank.
Arcade tickets
Won at Vanilla Arcade & Billiards (2 coins a play) and spent at Benny's prize counter on prizes you can't get anywhere else.
Earning coins
Odd jobs
The Community Job Board is by City Hall's door. Each job pays every time you do it, up to a daily limit.
| Job | For | Coins | Pays up to | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take out the trash | VanillaCity Public Works | 4 a bag | 25 a day | All year |
| Help out at Peach Tree Cafe | Peach Tree Cafe | 3 a cup | 30 a day | All year |
| Story time at the library | The public library | 15 a story | 3 a day | All year |
| Rake the leaves | VanillaCity Parks | 3 a sack | 30 a day | Autumn |
| Shovel the snow | VanillaCity Public Works | 5 a drift | 30 a day | Winter |
| Walk Donna's dogs | Donna's Pet Pause | 25 a walk | 2 a day | All year |
Fishing
Buy a rod from Ken for 25 coins, or make one at his workbench from 2 wood, 1 nails and 1 cloth. Fish from the riverbank or the pier, and Marisol buys your catch at the Town Market's fish counter, up to 40 coins' worth a day.
| Catch | Marisol pays |
|---|---|
| Sunfish | 2 coins |
| Bluegill | 3 coins |
| Carp | 4 coins |
| Channel catfish | 6 coins |
| Largemouth bass | 8 coins |
| Rainbow trout | 10 coins |
| Golden perch | 60 coins |
| An old boot or a tin can | Taken off your hands for nothing |
And more
- 8-ball: winning a game against another citizen at Vanilla Arcade & Billiards pays 10 coins, up to 3 games a day.
- Your own shop: every sale goes in the till, at the prices you set; empty it at your counter.
- Gifts: friends can send you up to 1,000 coins in a gift from the Post Office.
- Reports: when staff act on a report you made, the police thank you with 25 coins (a few times a day at most).
VanillaBucks
VanillaBucks come from business. Every 25th sale in a citizen's shop puts one in its till, next to the coins. They pay for the rarer items:
- 174 pieces of clothing at Vanilla Threads, from 15 to 250 VanillaBucks.
- 52 pieces of furniture from Ken's showroom, from 8 to 70 VanillaBucks.
- 8 kinds of pet at Donna's: hedgehog 50, parrot 80, fox 120, raccoon 100, platypus 150, snake 70, gecko 45, spider 40.
VanillaBucks change hands only at the Bank of Vanilla: send them to a friend from your account there (10% fee). They can't go in a trade or a gift.
Arcade tickets
A play at Vanilla Arcade & Billiards costs 2 coins. The better you score, the more tickets the machine pays out, up to 600 tickets a day in all. Benny's prize counter has 116 prizes, from 40 to 2,400 tickets: clothes and furniture you can't get anywhere else. An arcade cabinet in your own apartment is free to play and pays 50% of the tickets.
What things cost
| What | Where | Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes | Vanilla Threads | 2,032 for 10 to 670 coins; 174 for 15 to 250 VanillaBucks |
| Furniture, ready-made | Ken's showroom | 444 pieces for 25 to 988 coins; 52 for 8 to 70 VanillaBucks |
| Materials | Ogeechee Hardware | Coins each: wood 6, nails 2, cloth 8, stuffing 6, paint 10, glass 12, metal 10 and bulbs 8 |
| Pets | Donna's Pet Pause | For coins: dog 220, cat 180, rabbit 120, duck 100, ferret 160, hamster 60, turtle 90, frog 70. For VanillaBucks: hedgehog 50, parrot 80, fox 120, raccoon 100, platypus 150, snake 70, gecko 45, spider 40 |
| A fishing rod | Ken's | 25 coins, or made at the workbench |
| A train ticket | Johnny's window, at the station | 5,000 coins a ride |
| A play at the arcade | Vanilla Arcade & Billiards | 2 coins |
| Postcards | The Post Office and the blue mailboxes | Free |
| A police ticket | Wherever you are | 50 to 200 coins, by the rule broken |
The bank
The Bank of Vanilla, on the corner of Ogeechee and Main, keeps your coins and VanillaBucks in an account of your own. Tony deposits and withdraws for free, and your wallet and account balances both show at the top of the screen.
- Send money to another citizen from your account for a fee of 5% on coins and 10% on VanillaBucks (at least 1). You can send up to 100,000 at a time, and 20 sends an hour.
- A police ticket is paid from your wallet, never from your account.
Your bag
What you buy and catch goes in your bag: materials, goods from citizens' shops, fishing rods, fish and train tickets. A bag holds 4 to 30 stacks depending on which one you wear, and a stack is up to 50 of one thing. Clothes go in your wardrobe and furniture stays at home, so neither takes room. Vanilla Threads sells bigger bags.