The Binding of Isaac (Series)



The Binding of Isaac series prominently features coins as common pickups that primarily serve as currency for shops and as payment for various machines and beggars. Coins, along with bombs, keys, and hearts, are essential pickups that are bound to appear in any playthrough. Some items also consume coins in order to be activated. The "Keeper" character, as well has his "Tainted" counterpart, rely on coins as their only form of health.

Additionally, certain trinkets and items can also be referred to as "coins". As such, they will be included on this page. This page will go from type of item. The order is pickups, trinkets, and items. Pickups will be ordered by which expansion they were added in while item IDs in Rebirth and its expansions determine the order of trinkets and items.

Pennies
Pennies are the most common form of currency in The Binding of Isaac series. They are small, yellow coins that feature a small ¢ symbol on both sides. They are shiny, as indicated by the white shine that will briefly appear They lie flat on the ground, and the player can collect the Penny by walking over it. Pennies are able to spawn in many different ways, whether it be destroying certain obstacles, opening chests, killing orange Champion enemies, getting hurt with a certain item or trinket, using Blood Donation Machines, using Sacrifice Rooms, shooting tears with the "Head of the Keeper" item, or even just finding them on the ground. Generally though, pennies appear when the player completes a room. They are one of the most common pickups to spawn after completing a room. As stated before, Pennies are generally used for currency. Like real pennies, they are worth one cent. They are the smallest unit of currency in The Binding of Isaac. The amount of pennies a character has is seen on the upper left side of the HUD. Multiple pennies are needed to buy items from the shop. A passive or active item is worth 15 Pennies, Sacks that contain multiple pickups are worth 7 Pennies, pickups like Bombs and Keys are worth 5 Pennies, and Hearts are worth 3 pennies. Certain items are able to reduce the price of items in the shop, with some even allowing one or multiple items to be taken for free. Shops appear on every floor from Chapters 1 through 3. Shops can only appear on chapters after this point if certain trinkets are collected that allow for them to. Pennies can also be used on Donation Machines, Slot Machines, Fortune Tellers, Restock Machines. The player can donate as many pennies as they want until the machine either jams or explodes. Beggars, Battery Bums, Rotten Beggars, and Shell Games can also receive pennies. Arcades, rooms that usually contain beggars or machines, are unique in that their door must be opened with a coin rather than a key. They can give pickups after a certain amount is donated, and can even give items before fleeing. Bum Friend and Bumbo are able to collect Pennies and other coins that sit on the ground. Bum Friend has a chance to give the player a pickup after a certain amount of money is collected. Bumbo will evolve through four different stages. The third and fourth stage are able to hurt enemies. The fourth stage can also have a chance to drop pickups for the player if they collect enough money. Certain activated items, such as "Pay to Win" and "Portable Slot", only take Pennies in order to activate, rather than the standard Batteries or from charging up after a number of rooms.

The Greed and Greedier modes revolve around collecting as many coins as possible. Pennies spawn after each wave of enemies. The shops in these modes contain a significantly larger item pool than the normal game mode. Ultra Greed, the final boss of the mode, is able to heal from any coins left on the ground. In addition, Ultra Greed spawns different types of coins that have different effects and must be destroyed before a certain amount of time. Unlabeled coins will spin around the room until they are destroyed, Heart Coins heal Ultra Greed, Bomb Coins explode, and Key Coins can open doors around the room that unleash groups of Greed-like enemies that will chase the player. These coins cannot be collected. Keeper and Tainted Keeper are the only characters in the game that use Pennies as health. Keeper initially starts with 3 "coin hearts" if he previously beat Hush. Tainted Keeper only starts with 2. If they get hurt, they must find another coin to replenish their health. Hearts are turned into blue flies that will do nearly double the damage the player deals before dying. Pennies and other coins collected will only go to the counter if Keeper and Tainted Keeper have full health. A very select amount of items are able to increase the amount of coin hearts that they have, but these items are rare. Tainted Keeper is the only character in the game that must pay for items in Treasure Rooms and Boss Rooms. Additionally, both Keepers are able to pay for Devil Room items if they have enough money. Items that usually cost one heart are worth 15 cents, while items that are worth two hearts cost 30 coins. Alternate uses for pennies are only available with certain items. "Head of the Keeper" and "Eye of Greed" allow the player to use pennies as tears. When they hit an enemy, they can spawn more coins. The "PAY TO PLAY" item available in the Shop will make every door that requires a key instead require a coin, acting much like the doors to the Arcade.

The maximum amount of coins a player can hold is usually 99 coins, but the "Deep Pockets" item can increase that threshold to 999. Pennies are able to be doubled if the player has the "Humble Bumble" item or the "Equality!" trinket. Double pennies can also be found in special room layouts, but do not spawn naturally.

In The Legend of Bum-bo, Pennies and other coins serve much the same purpose, being used as currency. They are spent at a shop known as the "Wooden Nickel" that offers ways to gain stat upgrades, trinkets, Red Hearts, Soul Hearts, Needles, and more coins. The Wooden Nickel offers several different games to play. The Stat Wheel costs 15 cents to play, and the player can receive a random reward. The rewards available vary depending on the character. The Skull Game costs 5 cents, and the player can receive a random reward. Unlike the Stat Wheel however, there is a 1/3 chance that the player will receive nothing. Trinkets have a 1/3 chance to appear, Soul Hearts have a 1/6 chance to appear, and 4-6 coins have a 1/12 chance to appear. Finally, there's the Prick Pusher, which costs 2-8 cents. The Prick Pusher sells Needles that have different abilities. Generally, there are three out of five Needle types for sale. Shuffle Needles cost 2 cents, and reroll the mana cost of a chosen spell. Randomize Needles cost 5 cents, and replace a chosen spell with a new one. Damage Needles cost 5 cents, and increases the strength of a chosen spell by one. Charge Needles cost 8 cents, and reduce the recharge time of a chosen spell by one. Lastly, Mana Needles cost 8 cents, and reduce the mana cost for a chosen spell by one.

Lucky Pennies
Lucky Pennies are a variant of Pennies that increase the player's luck stat by 1 when picked up. They appear identical to normal Pennies, but have a green shine rather than a white one. Lucky Pennies first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth, and can be unlocked after donating one coin to a Donation Machine. They cannot be doubled by "Humble Bundle" or "Equality!". Bum Friend and Bumbo are able to pick up these coins, but will not increase the player's luck.

Golden Pennies
Golden Pennies are a variant of Pennies that spawn another Penny in a random spot when picked up. There is a 5% chance for them to disappear rather than reappear in another spot each time they're picked up. They are a brighter shade of gold than normal Pennies, and the ¢ symbol is dark yellow rather than black. They first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance and are unlocked by defeating Mega Satan with Tainted Keeper. Like Lucky Pennies, they can not be doubled, but they are able to reappear after being collected by Bum Friend and Bumbo.

Swallowed Penny
The Swallowed Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. When the player holds this trinket, a coin of any type will spawn if he gets hit. It appears as a normal Penny with saliva all over it.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth / Afterbirth / Afterbirth+ / Repentance
This effect will occur 100% of the time unless held by Keeper and Tainted Keeper. 0-1 coins will spawn if Keeper and Tainted Keeper hold this trinket. Swallowed Penny acts similar to the "Piggy Bank" item, but is not limited to Pennies. The Swallowed Penny can spawn naturally, but is also a rare drop from urns and special shopkeepers. Interestingly, Swallowed Penny has the internal ID of #1, making it the first item of the game. Despite this, the Swallowed Penny is not available from the start, and can only be unlocked after completing the 15th challenge of the game, "Slow Roll".

The Legend of Bum-bo
The Swallowed Penny reappears in The Legend of Bum-bo as a special trinket. It acts similar to how it does in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and its expansions, but now the effect happens only 25% of the time.

Butt Penny
The Butt Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. The Butt Penny differs from the normal Penny in that it's brown, has noticeable ridges on its edges, and has no ¢ on presumably either face. When the player holds this trinket, Isaac will fart any time he picks up a Penny. This can cause enemies and objects to launch away from Isaac. In Repentance onward, farts from the Butt Penny will inflict poison damage on enemies. Additionally, Pennies and other coins have a higher chance of spawning from Poop.

Bloody Penny
The Bloody Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb. It appears similar to a normal Penny, but is stained with a thick layer of blood. When the player holds this trinket, coins have a chance to spawn a half heart when picked up. Before Repentance, this chance would be set at 50%. From Repentance onward however, the chance is based on the value of the coin collected. Pennies have a 25% chance, Double Pennies have a 43.75% chance, Nickels have a 76.27% chance, and Dimes have a 94.37% chance. It can spawn naturally, but also has a chance to spawn after destroying special shopkeepers. This trinket is very useful for Greed and Greedier Mode, as coins are prevalent both before and during the fight with Ultra Greed. This trinket is unlocked after Samson defeats ???.

Burnt Penny
The Burnt Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb. It appears similar to a normal Penny, but is covered with soot, with smoke rising above it. When the player holds this trinket, coins have a chance to spawn a bomb when picked up. Before Repentance, this chance would be set at 50%. From Repentance onward however, the chance is based on the value of the coin collected. Pennies have a 25% chance, Double Pennies have a 43.75% chance, Nickels have a 76.27% chance, and Dimes have a 94.37% chance. It can spawn naturally, but also has a chance to spawn after destroying special shopkeepers and TNT Barrels. This trinket is useful for Greed and Greedier Mode, as coins are prevalent enough to where the player can obtain a sizable amount of bombs without having to pay for any. In the original Wrath of the Lamb expansion, this trinket is unlocked after completing the "Large Marge" challenge, but from Rebirth and onward, it is unlocked by completing the 13th challenge of the game, "Beans!".

Flat Penny
The Flat Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb. Deviating from the appearance of a normal Penny, it is a silver-colored coin that is crushed flat. When the player holds this trinket, coins have a chance to spawn a key when picked up. Before Repentance, this chance would be set at 50%. From Repentance onward however, the chance is based on the value of the coin collected. Pennies have a 25% chance, Double Pennies have a 43.75% chance, Nickels have a 76.27% chance, and Dimes have a 94.37% chance. It can spawn naturally, but also has a chance to spawn after destroying special shopkeepers. This trinket is useful in Greed and Greedier Mode, as coins are prevalent enough to where the player can obtain a sizable amount of keys without having to pay for any.

Counterfeit Penny
The Counterfeit Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb. It appears similar to a normal Penny, but is shinier as indicated by the sparkling effects that surround it. When the player holds this trinket, coins have a chance to increase their value by 1. Before Repentance, this chance would be set at 50%. From Repentance onward however, the chance is based on the value of the coin collected. Pennies have a 50% chance, Double Pennies have a 75% chance, Nickels have a 96.88% chance, and Dimes have a 99.9% chance. It can spawn naturally, but also has a chance to spawn after destroying Golden Poops, killing Beggars, and winning at a Shell Game. In the original Wrath of the Lamb expansion, the Counterfeit Penny was not included in the normal trinket item pool, and could only be found as a possible drop after destroying Golden Poops. Counterfeit Penny synergizes well with Keeper and Tainted Keeper, as it allows for them to gain the full value of a coin while healing. In addition, this trinket is useful in Greed and Greedier Mode, as it can serves to add onto the player's coin count. In the original Wrath of the Lamb expansion, the Counterfeit Penny would be unlocked after beating the "Isaac Was Good Today" challenge. From Rebirth onward however, it is unlocked after playing the Shell Game 100 times. Repentance also includes playing the Hell Game 100 times as an alternate method of unlocking it.

Rotten Penny
The Rotten Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ as part of its fifth Booster Pack. Like many additions to the Booster Packs, the trinket was based on a Steam Workshop item before it was put in the official game. The trinket takes on the appearance of an old and moldy Penny that has green sludge and a Fly hovering above it. When the player holds this trinket, coins will have a 100% chance to spawn a Blue Fly every time they are picked up. It can spawn naturally, but also has a chance to spawn after destroying Rotten Beggars in Repentance. The Rotten Penny can be unlocked after having 20 Blue Flies at the same time.

Blessed Penny
The Blessed Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. The trinket looks similar to the Counterfeit Penny, but has a glowing blue aura and blue sparkles. When the player holds this trinket, a half soul heart has a chance to appear whenever coins are collected. This chance, like most other Penny trinkets in Repentance, is based off the coin's value. Pennies have a 16.6% chance, Double Pennies have a 30.5% chance, Nickels have a 59.7% chance, and Dimes have an 83.3% chance. This trinket is very useful in Greed Mode, and acts similarly to the Bloody Penny in this way. Rather than being used to farm half red hearts, the Blessed Penny helps farm for half blue hearts. The Blessed Penny is unlocked after beating ??? with Bethany.

Charged Penny
The Charged Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. Like many additions to Repentance, the trinket was taken from the fan mod known as The Binding of Isaac: Antibirth. In the original mod, this trinket was called the "Electric Penny" and had a different sprite. In Repentance, the coin is similar in appearance to the other Penny trinkets, but has electric yellow energy coming from it. In both Antibirth and Repentance, the player has a small chance to gain one charge to their activated item if they collect any money while holding this trinket. This chance, like most other Penny trinkets in Repentance, is based off the coin's value. The chance is equal to 1/6 of the coin's value, and does not activate more than once per coin collected. The Charged Penny is unlocked after having a Battery Bum pay out with an item five times.

Cursed Penny
The Cursed Penny is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. the trinket looks similar to other Penny trinkets, but has an evil bubbling purple aura coming from it. When this trinket is held, the player will be teleported anytime they pick up a coin. The player is able to be teleported to any room on the map, including Secret Rooms. This trinket is useful for Tainted Keeper, as it allows him to farm infinite money. Since enemies drop coins when Tainted Keeper kills them, the player will inevitably be teleported when they pick up the coin. As such, it will reset the room that Tainted Keeper was in before, allowing for a slow but effective way to farm money. When the player holds the "Black Candle", the teleporting effect will be removed, effectively removing the trinket's purpose. The Cursed Penny is unlocked after beating Mother with Tainted Keeper.

Crooked Penny
The Crooked Penny is an activated item that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+. The Crooked Penny has similar features to normal Pennies, but appears to be much larger, has a bigger ¢ symbol, and is crooked at a 90 degree angle. The item has four charges, and has a 50% chance to duplicate all items, pickups, and chests in the room when activated. If the effect fails, all items, pickups, and chests will poof out of existence, and are all replaced by a single Penny. If the item is used and the effect occurs in a Shop or Devil Room, the duplicated items are able to be taken for free. Restock Machines are able to refresh rooms that had items disappear from the Crooked Penny. Before the first Booster Pack of Afterbirth+, the Crooked Penny could be used to make items appear from empty pedestals. Items spawned in Boss Rush are also able to be duplicated, but this will trigger Boss Rush. The 50% chance was originally predetermined after each use of the item, which allowed the player to amass a large amount of items if they force quit or used the "Glowing Hour Glass". This was modified in Repentance, as Crooked Penny's chances are now predetermined room by room. Crooked Penny will still advance an RNG step, and will re-roll the outcomes in other rooms. The advantageous effect is very similar to a different item in the game known as "Diplopia". "Diplopia" will always duplicate items however, at the cost of having a one-time use. This item can be spawned in Shops, Treasure Rooms, and as a possible reward from Beggars. It is unlocked after beating Delirium with Keeper.

Nickels
Nickels are small dark silver coins that feature a small ¢ symbol on both sides. Like Pennies, they are shiny, as indicated by the white shine that will briefly appear. They lie flat on the ground, and the player can collect the Nickel by walking over it. Nickels appear less commonly than Pennies and have a small chance to replace a Penny drop. Nickels have a higher chance to appear when destroying special shopkeepers, specifically ones with Nickels in their eyes, or in one decapitated shopkeeper's case, their throat. Nickels are worth 5 Pennies like their real life counterparts. Crane Games are the only machines that require at least one Nickel's worth of money to use. The "Golden Razor" is the only item that requires at least one Nickel's worth of money to use. The Golden Razor will increase the player's damage by 1.20 in the current room. As stated in the Pennies section, Bum Friend and Bumbo are able to collect coins on the ground. They have a higher chance of dropping an item after collecting a Nickel than they do after collecting a Penny. They are unable to be doubled by "Humble Bundle" or "Equality!".

Keeper and Tainted Keeper will usually receive full health after collecting a Nickel, as their health count can only go above three and two Coin Hearts respectively with a very small selection of items.

Sticky Nickels
Sticky Nickels are a variant to normal Nickels that will get stuck on the ground. They appear identically to normal Nickels, and are also worth five Pennies. They will flip upside down and get stuck when Isaac tries to collect them. The only way to collect them is to use a Bomb to blow it up off the ground. Bum Friend and Bumbo are both unable to collect Sticky Nickels until they are blown up, hovering over them. Sticky Nickels were introduced in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth and are unlocked by completing Boss Rush with Keeper.

Wooden Nickel
The Wooden Nickel is an activated item that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth. The Wooden Nickel appears substantially different than any other type of Nickel, as it is wooden, large, and features a bigger ¢ symbol on its face.

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth / Afterbirth+ / Repentance
The item has one charge, and has a 50% chance to spawn a coin. The coin can be a Penny, Nickel, or Dime. The item is based off souvenir items that are given out by certain American banks. Much like real wooden nickels, the Wooden Nickel does not provide the player with any monetary value on its own, and thus cannot be used to pay for things. The Wooden Nickel is the starting item for Keeper once he defeats Isaac. The Wooden Nickel is essential for Keeper, as it gives him a valuable source of health. The Wooden Nickel can spawn in Shops, and in Repentance, it is able to spawn in Wooden Chests. The Wooden Nickel can also appear in Treasure Rooms in Greed and Greedier Mode. It is unlocked after donating 30 total coins in the Greed Donation Machine at the end of Greed/Greedier Mode.

The Legend of Bum-bo
The Wooden Nickel returns as an item (spell). Unlike in Afterbirth, the Wooden Nickel is guaranteed to provide 1-2 coins and has an increased charge time of 2. Per the game's artstyle, the item is much less detailed than before, lacking any wooden texture.

Dimes
Dimes are small silver coins that feature a small ¢ symbol on both sides. Like Pennies and Nickels, they are shiny, as indicated by the white shine that will briefly appear. They lie flat on the ground, and the player can collect the Dime by walking over it. Nickels appear much less frequently than Pennies or Nickels, and have a very small chance to replace a Penny or Nickel drop. Dimes are worth 10 Pennies like their real life counterparts. Bum Friend and Bumbo are able to collect Dimes, and have a higher chance of dropping an item after collecting a Dime than they do after collecting a Penny or a Nickel. They are unable to be doubled by "Humble Bundle" or "Equality!". They first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb, where they had a 1% chance to replace Pennies or Nickels.

Keeper and Tainted Keeper will be fully healed when they obtain a Dime unless they reach above 10 Coin Hearts. As stated before, this is extremely uncommon to ever happen.

Miscellaneous
Coins that do not fit the categories of Pennies, Nickels, and Dimes have also appeared in the Binding of Isaac as items or trinkets.

Silver Dollar
The Silver Dollar is a trinket that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+. It is a small silver coin that features a large $ symbol. When held, it allows for Shops to appear in Chapter 4, which is comprised of the Womb, Utero, and Scarred Womb. In Repentance, holding this trinket also allows for shops to appear in Corpse, a new floor added to Chapter 4. In order for shops to appear, the player must be holding the Silver Dollar before entering Chapter 4. The Shop will remain after dropping the trinket in Chapter 4. It is presumably based upon real Silver Dollars, which existed as a form of American currency in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Silver Dollar is unlocked after beating Delirium with Cain.

A Quarter
A Quarter is a passive item. It is a shiny and large silver coin that prominently features the number 25, indicating its worth of 25 Pennies, much like real Quarters. When obtained, it will automatically add 25 Pennies to the player's coin count. Rerolling the item after obtaining it will still leave the player with 25 coins. The item does not provide any cosmetic changes to Isaac's sprite.

A Quarter is able to spawn as a possible drop from destroying urns or from killing Super Greed. Super Greed in particular can cause the item to be picked up more than once in a run. A Quarter is also able to spawn in many different item pools, which have changed in various expansions. Up until Repentance, A Quarter could appear in Treasure Rooms and Secret Rooms. The original Binding of Isaac as well as Repentance allow for the item to spawn in Devil Pools. Repentance also added the Quarter to Golden Chest item pools. Additionally, A Quarter can appear in Shops in every game except for Wrath of the Lamb if the Shop's item pool has been depleted. A Quarter will still cost 15 cents like any other item in the Shop, allowing the player to gain an additional 10 coins from the deal. This is also able to occur in the I AM ERROR room. In the original game, it could be unlocked after defeating Mom's Heart four times. In Rebirth and subsequent expansions however, it is unlocked after defeating Mom's Heart eight times.

Eye of Greed
Eye of Greed is a passive item that first appeared in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+. It is a small silver coin similar in appearance to a Dime. Despite this, it does not add any coins to the player's coin count. The coin is jammed into Isaac's eye as a cosmetic change.

When obtained, it will add one Penny tear for every 20 tears fired. This tear will cause enemies to turn gold, petrifying them for a few seconds. Shooting this tear comes at the cost of one Penny. The tear will still appear if Isaac has no money, but in Repentance onward, the tear will do the same amount of damage as his normal tears. In Afterbirth+, the tear does double the amount of damage of Isaac's tears. From Repentance onward however, it will do 1.5x + 10 of Isaac's tear damage if Isaac has money to spare. Enemies killed by the tear will drop 1-4 coins (1-3 coins in Repentance). If the tear hits an enemy in Repentance it will pay back with another coin. This tear will still appear as the twentieth tear regardless of what tear effects Isaac has. The gold tear is unable to be duplicated. The Forgotten is the only character to have two separate tear counts, with both The Forgotten and The Soul having their own counts.

Eye of Greed only appears in Secret Rooms. In Greed and Greedier Mode, it can appear as a Treasure Room item. It is unlocked after defeating Ultra Greedier with Keeper.

Trivia

 * The donation machine can hold up to 999 coins, and give prizes when you hit certain milestones. Hitting the donation machine with a bomb will make coins come out, but the amount of coins that come out of the machine is massively disproportional to the amount of coins lost. Because this effectively deletes coins from existence it is extremely frowned upon by the coin wiki higher ups, and any users caught doing this could suffer consequences depending on how much it has been done.
 * There is an item called, "A Dollar", that will give you 99 coins. How Isaac was able to turn paper money into coins is unknown. There is a $100,000 dollar reward (in coins) for the capture of Isaac, for this method of coin creation is very valuable, and we are very interested in researching the methods behind it.