Money Counting is a free online money game that runs in the browser with no download and no account. It puts you behind a till and asks the two things a cashier actually does. First, counting: a handful of mixed coins and notes lands on the counter and you say what it comes to. Then, change: an item costs $3.20, the customer hands over a five, and you build the $1.80 owed from the rack — exact, and in the fewest pieces. The fewest-pieces rule is the part that makes it more than addition, because it asks you to work downward from the biggest piece that fits rather than to pile up small ones. That rule is also checked rather than claimed: the coin set is a 1-2-5 system, where taking the largest piece that fits is provably the shortest answer, and the test suite verifies it against a full minimum for every amount up to fifty dollars. Get it wrong and the game says which way — short, over, or right amount but too many pieces. Twelve levels grow from four small coins up to a rack with notes and awkward totals.
How to play Money Counting
- Press Start. On a counting round, money is laid out on the counter and four totals are offered underneath — tap the right one.
- On a change round the line above tells you the price and what the customer handed over. The difference is what you owe.
- Tap coins and notes on the rack to drop them into the change tray. The tray shows the running total and how many pieces you have used.
- Tap a piece already in the tray to take it back out. Nothing is committed until you press Hand it over.
- The change has to be exactly right and in the fewest pieces. Too many pieces is rejected with the shortest answer shown, so the rule is always learnable.
- A rejected tray or a wrong total costs three seconds and explains what went wrong.
- Answer the level's quota before the clock empties to unlock the next level.
- Restart replays the same customers; New Till generates a different set at the same level.
Tips
- Count notes before coins, and count the biggest first. Starting from the largest piece is both faster and the rule the change rounds score you on.
- For change, work up to the nearest whole dollar first: $3.20 out of $5 is 80 cents to make $4, then a dollar note.
- The fewest-pieces answer is always found by taking the largest piece that still fits, then repeating. With these coins, that shortcut is never wrong.
- Watch the notes. A $20 note is two thousand cents, and reading it as twenty is the single most common miscount on the counting rounds.
- The running tally in the tray is there to be used — if it reads $1.30 of $1.80, the next piece you want is 50.
- Group coins into tens as you count: two 20s and a 10 is 50, and 50 plus 50 is a dollar. Counting in ones is where mistakes creep in.
- On the awkward levels, the change often ends in 1 or 2 cents. Fix the odd pennies first and the rest falls out neatly.
FAQ
Is Money Counting free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All twelve levels are included and unlock as you clear them.
Which currency does it use?
A generic 1-2-5 set of coins from 1 cent to 50 cents and notes from $1 to $20, deliberately not any single country's. The skill is the arithmetic, and tying it to one currency would make the copy wrong somewhere else.
Why is my change rejected when the amount is right?
Because it has to be the fewest pieces too. When that happens the game shows the shortest answer in full — for example "$1.80 goes in 4: $1 + 50c + 20c + 10c" — so the rule is always visible rather than guessed at.
Is "fewest pieces" always achievable by taking the biggest coin first?
With this coin set, yes, and that is checked rather than assumed: the test suite compares the greedy answer with a full minimum for every amount up to fifty dollars. A 3-cent or 25-cent piece would break it, and the test would fail rather than the game marking a correct answer wrong.
What age is this money game for?
The first levels use four small coins, which suits around ages six and up. The change rounds with notes and awkward totals are upper-primary work and stay a decent speed test for an adult.
How is this different from Coin Sort?
Coin Sort splits one pile of coins so that each drawer reaches the total printed on it — a partition puzzle. This one reads a mixed handful as a single amount and then builds an amount from nothing. Reading money and making money up are different skills.
Are the wrong totals just random amounts?
No. Each is a real miscount: a note counted as coins, one piece left out of the count, or ten cents adrift. The game names which one you picked.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Coins and notes are thumb-sized, the rack keeps a fixed column count so it never reflows mid-round, and every action is a single tap.