Rupee

"You got 1 Rupee. It's green! Don't spend it all in one place!"

- Text in The Minish Cap

Rupees (ルピー, Rupii) are the unit of currency within most of the Zelda universe, within circulation in the lands of Hyrule, Koholint Island, Termina, Labrynna, Holodrum and The Great Sea. Rupees are acquired primarily by defeating enemies, by cutting tall grasses or bushes, or by opening treasure chests, and used primarily to purchase items in shops, or to gain entrance to some mini-games.

Values
With the exception of The Adventure of Link and Four Swords Adventures, Rupees are included in all The Legend of Zelda titles. The value of a Rupee is denoted by its color, but the value of each color is inconsistent throughout the games. Generally, the greater the value, the harder they are to obtain, usually requiring more difficult tasks. In Four Swords and The Minish Cap, both size and color denote value. Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, and Oracle of Seasons specify the Rupee value through text rather than color, because the Game Boy palette was limited; however, in the Oracle games, Link could find a larger rupee by digging with his shovel. The Wallet’s capacity ultimately determines how many rupees one may receive even when finding Huge Rupees. The following lists Rupees by their values by the games they appear in.

The Legend of Zelda
In The Legend of Zelda, along with being used to purchase items, it costs 1 Rupee to fire the bow.
 * Yellow Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees

A Link to the Past

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees

Link’s Awakening
In Link's Awakening, all rupees that are found from cutting grass or digging are worth one Rupee, most likely because of the color graphic limitations on the Game Boy. In Link's Awakening DX, all rupees are colored blue, except for some red rupees in the Trendy Game Shop in Mabe Village, which are worth a little more.

If Link had at least 20 Secret Seashells and exchanges them for a L-2 Sword, then any chests that would contain leftover Secret Seashells will be replaced by 20 Rupees inside. If Link doesn't exchange his 20 Secret Seashells, then the chests will still contain Secret Seashells until then.

Ocarina of Time

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Purple Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Huge Orange Rupee, worth 200 Rupees (Obtained by defeating a Skull Kid as an adult and occasionally thrown during the Diving Game as a child in Zora's Domain)
 * Silver Rupee, worth 5 Rupees (Part of certain puzzles)

Majora’s Mask

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Purple Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Silver Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Huge Rupee, worth 200 Rupees

Oracle of Ages & Oracle of Seasons
Higher values are usually specified by in game text. It should be noted that using the shovel you can dig up huge Rupees that are worth 100 Rupees. Rupee values double when equipped with the Red Joy Ring or Gold Joy Ring.
 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Red Rupee, worth 5 Rupees

Four Swords

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Big Green Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Big Blue Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Big Red Rupee, worth 200 Rupees
 * Rupee Shards, worthless by themselves, collecting eight Rupee Shards creates a gem worth 500 Rupees
 * Black Rupee, removes a random amount of Rupees from the team’s wallet.

The Wind Waker

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Yellow Rupee, worth 10 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Purple Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Orange Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Silver Rupee, worth 200 Rupees (Only found from treasure charts)

Four Swords Adventures
There are no Rupees found in Four Swords Adventures, however there are Force Gems. These come in similar values, and in some places they can be used as currency.

The Minish Cap

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Big Green Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Big Blue Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Big Red Rupee, worth 200 Rupees

Twilight Princess

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Yellow Rupee, worth 10 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Purple Rupee, worth 50 Rupees
 * Orange Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Silver Rupee, worth 200 Rupees

Phantom Hourglass

 * Green Rupee, worth 1 Rupee
 * Blue Rupee, worth 5 Rupees
 * Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees
 * Big Green Rupee, worth 100 Rupees
 * Big Red Rupee, worth 200 Rupees
 * Big Gold Rupee, worth 300 Rupees
 * Rupoor, Rupoors come in five values: 5 Rupoor, 10 Rupoor, 30 Rupoor, 50 Rupoor, and 100 Rupoor, each one takes away the specified number of rupees of the number in its name.

Link’s Crossbow Training
By breaking certain pots in Link’s Crossbow Training an Orange Rupee will be released. These Rupees are initially worth 1000 points but their point value will decrease the longer it stays on-screen. Shoot at it quickly to gain better points.

Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
In Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Tingle uses Rupees as health. They come in similar values as in normal Zelda games. However, the colors don’t necessarily have specific values. When Tingle picks up a red, purple, or orange Rupee, he will usually get 20, 50, or 100 Rupees, respectively. However, it is possible to get a red, purple, or orange Rupee in other values, such as 21, 57, or 109.

A main part of Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland is negotiating. When Tingle is either paying for information or items, or receiving a reward or selling certain items, he is asked to negotiate a price. Negotiations are done-using a calculator on the touch screen. The amount of Rupees Tingle can receive can vary depending on his progress in the game.

Super Rupees and Master Rupee
During Tingle’s quest to reach Rupeeland, Tingle obtained the five Super Rupees and eventually the Master Rupee in the Auros Ruins. The Super Rupees have no value, but are said to contain mystical powers. The five Super Rupees are the Metal Rupee, the Aqua Rupee, the Leaf Rupee, the Earth Rupee, and the Magma Rupee.

Rupee Thieves
Rupee thieves appear in several games. When they come in contact with Link the will either cause his Rupees to fly out of his wallet onto the ground (like Thieves and Keatons), or will drain or steal the Rupees straight from his wallet (like Rupee Likes and Takkuri).
 * Known Rupee thieves:
 * Rupee Like
 * Thieves/foxes
 * Takkuri
 * Rupee Wraith
 * Keaton
 * Rats
 * Pickit Plant

Rupee Draining Items
Most items in the Legend of Zelda series can be used either without cost or until a finite supply is exhausted. These few, however will deplete Links rupee supply upon use:
 * The Bow in The Legend of Zelda, where firing an arrow costs one rupee.
 * The Magic Armor in Twilight Princess rapidly depletes rupees while equipped.

Rewards
Link will be rewarded simply for collecting high number of Rupees in the following games:
 * Oracle of Ages, and Oracle of Seasons. After collecting 10,000 Rupees Vasu will give Link the Rupee Ring.
 * The banker in Majora's Mask gives Link the Large Wallet after depositing 200 Rupees and a Piece of Heart after 5,000 have been deposited.
 * Four Swords rewards the player with the most Rupees with a Medal of Courage.

Trivia

 * In The Legend of Zelda, Rupee was spelt "Rupy". In the manual, it was "Ruby". Probably due to the fact that, in the German versions of the Zelda games, it is called a "Rubin", which means "Ruby".
 * The Rupee is the real-world currency of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Maldives. It used to be currency in Bhutan as well.
 * The Silver Rupee’s low value in Ocarina of Time is due to the fact that the Silver Rupee's only purpose in the game was as a puzzle element, and not an actual spending Rupee. These Rupee puzzles can be found in Ice Cavern, the Shadow Temple, the Spirit Temple, and inside Ganon’s Castle.
 * In Majora's Mask, there appear to be two differently-colored Huge Rupees: one given to Link by a Deku Scrub, and one earned by killing the Takkuri, although this one is not accompanied by text, so its title as a "Huge Rupee" could be debated.
 * In Majora's Mask, the probability of finding a Red Rupee in grass is high if Link has less than twenty rupees in his wallet.
 * When using the Salvage Arm in Phantom Hourglass, there may be a few valuable rupees in bubbles. If the back arrow is pressed before reaching the treasure chest and you choose to salvage the same spot again, all the rupee bubbles will be back. This is an effective way to get infinite rupees.
 * Four Swords Adventures is one of two Zelda games, the other being The Adventure of Link, that didn't include Rupees. Instead, it brings about a new collectible called Force Gems. However, Force Gems cannot be used as currency like Rupees, with a few minor exceptions. They are used to return the power to repel evil to the Four Sword.