Money

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Money is a major gameplay mechanic featured in the Counter-Strike series. In most game modes, players use money as a currency to purchase various weapons and equipment from the buy menu in the buy zone.

Overview

Players start out a match with a specified amount, and will receive more as the match goes on, with the maximum possible amount a player can amass set to $16000. Money is provided for completing rounds regardless of being the victor or loser, but more currency is awarded for winning a round. On servers that use plugins to give players large cash reserves, money management is less important than in servers that do not artificially adjust them.

When looking at a player's saved loadouts on the buy menu, any loadout that cannot be fully-purchased with the player's current cash reserve will be slightly grayed-out, as will specific weapons and items in the categories of equipment. Often times, players may be forced to pick a different weapon selection than they prefer due to financial restrictions.

The amount of money the player owns is retained between rounds, and is only lost when the player buys equipment or incurs a penalty (such as injuring/killing hostages). The player's money cannot go into negative value even if the player incurs penalty while already having $0. (But continued penalty acts may result the said player auto-kicked from the server depends on the settings.)

In most games and Global Offensive Competitive, the default starting money for a game is $800. In Global Offensive Casual, the default starting money for a game is $1000. Additionally, at the start of the warmup, players will have their money set to the money cap of the game mode.

The money system has been slightly updated in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to award differing reward amounts for getting kills with certain weapons and currently any money gain/loss is noted above the player's health in the HUD with text notifying what the change was for (such as "$300 awarded for planting the C4" or "$300 awarded for neutralizing an enemy with the M4A4"). In addition, if playing a Casual Mode game, all money awards for kills are halved.

Counter-Strike to Counter-Strike: Source

Rewards

Kill reward

• In all modes, killing an enemy player rewards $300 to the killer.

Objective rewards

• In Hostage Rescue, Interacting with a hostage as a Counter-Terrorist rewards $150 to the player, but only the first time they interact with that specific hostage.
• Rescuing a hostage as a Counter-Terrorist rewards $1000.

Round end rewards

• In Bomb Defusal, the winning team receives $3250 if they won by eliminating the enemy team.
• In Bomb Defusal, all Counter-Terrorists receive $3250 if they won running down the time.
• In Bomb Defusal, all Counter-Terrorists receive $3600 if they won by defusing the bomb.
• In Bomb Defusal, all Terrorists receive $3500 if they won by detonating the bomb.
• In Hostage Rescue, the winning team receives $3600 if they won by eliminating the enemy team.
• In Assassination, all Terrorists receive a $2500 reward if they won by killing the VIP.
• In Assassination, all Counter-Terrorists receive a $2500 reward if they won by successfully guaranteeing the escape of the VIP.

• The losing team receives:
  • $1400 after losing the first round
  • $1900 after losing 2 rounds in a row
  • $2400 after losing 3 rounds in a row
  • $2900 after losing 4 rounds in a row
  • $3400 after losing 5 or more rounds in a row

• If the team that wins two consecutive rounds beforehand loses then they receive:
  • $1500 after losing the first round
  • $2000 after losing 2 rounds in a row
  • $2500 after losing 3 rounds in a row
  • $3000 after losing 4 or more rounds in a row

After the condition of a team winning two consecutive rounds is satisfied then the loss bonus money changes to above where their first loss means they receive $1500 and not $1400.

• In Bomb Defusal, if Terrorists were able to plant the bomb but lose the round, all Terrorists receive an $800 bonus.
• In Hostage Rescue, all Counter-Terrorists receive an $850 bonus for every hostage they rescue, even if they lose the round.

Penalties

• Every time the player injures a hostage the player will receive a -$150 penalty
• Killing a hostage will result in a penalty of -$1500
• Teamkilling will result in a penalty of -$3300, including killing the VIP as a CT

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

All information below only applies to Classic Modes (Casual and Competitive) as Arsenal and Deathmatch do not use money. The Money cap in Casual Mode has been changed to $10000 as opposed to $16000 in Competitive.

Rewards

Kill rewards

Weapon/Equipment	Casual	Competitive
Knife	$750	$1500
Pistol	$150	$300
- CZ75-Auto*	$50	$100
Submachine gun	$300	$600
- P90*	$150	$300
Shotgun	$450	$900
Rifle & Machine gun	$150	$300
- AWP*	$50	$100
Grenade	$100	$300
Zeus x27	$0	$0
* indicates exceptions.

Objective rewards

• In Bomb Defusal, defusing or planting the bomb awards a $300 bonus for the player that defused / planted.
• In Competitive Hostage Rescue, all Counter-Terrorists receive a $600 reward for picking up a hostage.
• In Competitive Hostage Rescue, all Counter-Terrorists receive a $600 reward for rescuing a hostage.
• In Casual Hostage Rescue, all Counter-Terrorists receive a $500 reward for picking up a hostage.
• In Hostage Rescue, the player who picks up the hostage receives a $300 bonus.
• In Hostage Rescue, the player who rescues the hostage receives a $1000 bonus.

Round end rewards

Objective	Competitive	Casual	Wingman
Winning by Team Elimination (Bomb Defusal)	$3250 + $300 if bomb planted as T	$2700	$2750
Winning by Team Elimination (Hostage Rescue)	$3000	$2000 for T or $2300 for CT
Winning by Time Win (Bomb Defusal, CT)	$3250	$2700
Winning by Time Win (Hostage Rescue, T)	$3250	$2000
Winning by Bomb Defusal (CT)	$3500	$2700	$3000
Winning by Bomb Detonation (T)	$3500	$2700
Winning by Hostage Rescue (CT)	$2900	$3000
Losing pistol round	$1900 + $800 if bomb planted as T	$2400 + $200 if bomb planted as T	$2000 + $800 if bomb planted as T
Losing (loss count†: 0)	$1400 + $800 if bomb planted as T		$2000 + $800 if bomb planted as T
Losing (loss count†: 1)	$1900 + $800 if bomb planted as T		$2300 + $800 if bomb planted as T
Losing (loss count†: 2)	$2400 + $800 if bomb planted as T		$2600 + $800 if bomb planted as T
Losing (loss count†: 3)	$2900 + $800 if bomb planted as T		$2900 + $800 if bomb planted as T
Losing (loss count†: 4)	$3400 + $800 if bomb planted as T

†: Round loss bonuses are based on the count of a team's round losses. The count increases by one after every loss, and decreases by one after every win (minimum 0, maximum 4). Teams begin a half with the loss count at 1.

Penalties

• When the player injures hostages, the player will receive a -$30 penalty for every point of damage dealt to the hostage.
• In competitive mode, teamkilling will result in a penalty of -$300.
• To discourage "denying" (prevent the enemy from getting a kill award by committing suicide), players who committed suicide or disconnected mid-game will cause an enemy player to receive compensation equal to the kill award that could have been gained.
• In Bomb Defusal, surviving Terrorists will not receive any round-end money if the round is lost by running out of time.

Other

game_money entity from CS GO SDK.

• Custom maps can reward or penalize the player by inserting game_money entity on the map.
  • The entity also allows map developers create custom text awards like "$XXX: [custom text here]" ( only)

Danger Zone

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Money functions differently in the Danger Zone mode of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In Danger Zone, players do not receive money by kills or achieving objectives. Instead, money is a physical in-game item, which are scattered across the map and needs to be picked up by players individually. When a player dies, they drop all their money, alongside their items.

Money is used through the Tablet to purchase items and equipment.

Two Money bonuses, Exploration Money Bonus and Bomb Wave Money Bonus, are found in the mode.

Exploration Money Bonus

Exploration Money Bonus icon

“Grants extra money for each hex explored.”
―Danger Zone description

The Exploration Money Bonus, or simply Bonus Explore $ (bonus_explore_money), is a $100 bonus a player receives when they travels into another hexagonal zone and stays there for a certain amount of time. The player will have a visible exploration money bar, that starts empty and increases as the player stays in a new hexagon zone. The bonus is received when the bar fully fills. Traveling into another hexagonal zone prior to the bar filling up will restart the bar progress.

Bomb Wave Money Bonus

Bomb Wave Money Bonus icon

“Grants extra money for each danger zone expansion wave survived.”
―Danger Zone description

The Bomb Wave Money bonus, or simply Bonus Wave $ (bonus_wave_money), is a bonus awarded for surviving after the wave of Danger Zone missiles are fired.

Gallery

Bomb Wave Money Bonus HUD icon

Update History

March 13, 2019

[GAMEPLAY]

• Adjusted round loss bonuses with the goal of reducing a negative feedback loop following streaks of losses.
• Round loss bonuses are now based on the count of a team’s round losses. The count increases by one after every loss, and decreases by one after every win (minimum 0).

— With 0 Losses: $1400

— With 1 Loss: $1900

— With 2 Losses: $2400

— With 3 Losses: $2900

— With 4+ Losses: $3400

– Previously, a win would reset the round loss bonus. Now, a win reduces the loss counter by one.

– Teams still begin the half with a loss count of 1.

– This is enabled by default and can be controlled using the mp_consecutive_loss_aversion server setting.

– The round loss bonus is still limited to mp_consecutive_loss_max multiplied by cash_team_winner_bonus_consecutive_rounds.

October 9, 2018

• Adjusted the start-of-half economy with the goal of reducing the impact of a pistol round win on subsequent rounds.
• In Competitive Matchmaking, both teams are now considered to start the half with a one-round ‘losing streak’ that is reset following a round win. Instead of $1400, the Round 1 loser receives $1900, then $2400 for a subsequent loss, etc.
• The start-of-half losing streak can be adjusted via “mp_starting_losses”

Achievements

• Counter-Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Special

War Bonds Earn $125,000 total cash.

Spoils of War Earn $2,500,000 total cash.

Blood Money Earn $50,000,000 total cash.

The Frugal Beret Win 10 rounds without dying and not spending any cash.

Team Tactics

War Bonds Earn $50,000 total cash.

Spoils of War Earn $2,500,000 total cash.

Blood Money Earn $50,000,000 total cash.

The Frugal Beret Win ten rounds without dying or spending any cash in Classic mode.

Gallery

HUD

Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Counter-Strike: Source

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Trivia

• The currency used in all of the Counter-Strike games is the U.S. Dollar.
• In some maps, such as Vegas and Miami, money can be seen as unobtainable props.
  • In addition, in map like Office, the player may interact with a vending machine by inserting a coin to dispense a water. But no money is lost in progress.
• The money cap of $16000 can be exceeded with customization of a server.