Game Theory: The Bolts in Ratchet and Clank are Worthless!

Ratchet and Clank is a 3D platformer mixed with third-person shooter featuring an alien feline character named Ratchet and his polite robot sidekick Clank. They become heroes of the galaxy with people seeking their assistance in future titles.

• Started gaming life as a Sony kid playing Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger • Ratchet and Clank was one of the absolute favorites from that era • One of the few Sony mascots still active today

• Known for punny dialogue and slightly risky game titles • Games like Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal featured edgy humor • European versions were renamed as simply Two and Three due to risky titles

Host aims to answer a childhood question about the real-world value of bolts in the Ratchet and Clank universe and explore the in-game economy.

• Ratton: makes enemies dance • Sheepinator: turns everything into sheep • RYNO: the ultimate weapon and most iconic tool of the series

In the first game, the RYNO costs 150,000 bolts but is available on just the seventh planet out of 19. By that point, players are only buying weapons costing 7,500 bolts, creating a difficult decision between forgetting about the weapon or grinding significantly.

Host wondered as an 8-year-old how much bolts would actually be worth in real-world currency and whether players were being scammed since 2002.

Focus will be on the first four games where bolts are represented by shape rather than color, since the Rhino isn't purchasable in later games.

• Original games: bolts represented by shapes (hexnut, spring, gear, etc.) • 2016 remake onwards: bolts represented by color (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) • Different values for different shapes in early games

Tools like the Bolt Grabber and metal detector can draw bolts toward the player from far away and even underground, indicating bolts are made of magnetic material.

• Initial options: silver, iron, nickel, cobalt, steel, gadolinium, dysprosium • Gadolinium and dysprosium: too soft and malleable to keep shape after explosions • Cobalt: brittle and shatters easily • Nickel: causes allergic reactions with prolonged exposure

• Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, making it stronger than pure iron • Steel changes from dirty gray to metallic silver when carbon is added, matching bolt appearance • Tempering steel to certain temperatures creates red and blue tints seen in some bolts • Most cost-effective option for a galactic government

Weight equals density times volume. Steel has a set density of 7.85 grams per cubic centimeter.

• Traditional pixel measurements insufficient due to bolt complexity • Used Blender 3D software to extract and accurately measure game models • Standard bolt volume: 0.0254 cubic meters or 0.898 cubic feet

• Standard bolt weight: 1,999.5 kilograms or 4,413,958 pounds • Steel costs approximately 74 cents per kilogram • Single bolt value: $147.55

• Bomb Glove ammunition refill: $738 • Glove of Doom: $1,166,125 • RYNO weapon: $22,132,500

In the next two games, bolt color changed from various shades of silver to gold, requiring identification of a new magnetic material.

• Neodymium is the only tough, magnetic, and golden material suitable • Density of neodymium: 7 grams per cubic centimeter • Single bolt weight: 177.816 pounds

• Neodymium costs $92.51 per kilogram, 125 times more than steel • Single bolt in Games 2 and 3: $1,448.128

• Gravity Bomb ammunition: $22,400,289 • RYNO 2: $16,448,280,000 • RYNO 3: $49,343,840,000

• Hexnut: worth $15,684 instead of 5 times the bolt value • Star nut: worth only $7 more despite being valued 20 times higher • Gear: only 3.5 times more valuable than single bolt instead of 50 times

• Double-capped bolt is highest-valued but only worth $95,516.58 • Would need 3 million single bolts or 56,600 double-capped bolts for RYNO 3 • System breaks internally within minutes due to misalignment

Acorn nut is most expensive by weight at $136,700.13 but game considers wing nuts three times more valuable despite being only half the weight.

Bolts operate as fiat currency where arbitrary assigned values don't correlate to actual worth, similar to modern paper money systems rather than gold standard.

Bolts serve both as currency and as construction materials for spaceships, gadgets, and repairs, making the economy more complex than pure fiat currency.

• People may hold bolts for emergency repairs or construction needs • Creates artificial shortages in the market • Drives up prices of goods using bolts as resources

When bolts are tied up in commercial production, currency supply decreases, causing value fluctuations based on how much currency circulates at any given time.

• Bolts found throughout the galaxy in robot enemies, hidden stashes, and abandoned mining planets • Sudden discovery of scrap metal increases currency in circulation • Similar to California Gold Rush that caused 30% average price inflation

• Devastator, Mini Rocket Tube, and Annihilator perform similar functions • All fire auto-aiming rockets but prices skyrocket across games • Demonstrates forced inflation in the economy

• Steel contains iron which oxidizes when exposed to water or oxygen, producing rust • Neodymium also oxidizes, giving it the golden color but weakening over time • Makes bolts unfit for physical or currency use as they degrade

• Planets like Quantos with high humidity speed up oxidation • Dank swamps of Orxon also accelerate deterioration • Regional differences affect currency durability

As bolts deteriorate, less currency remains in circulation, lowering bolt value while prices continue rising through the roof.

Ratchet and Clank's biggest threat isn't Dr. Nefarious, dimensional intersections, or Captain Quark—it's themselves, as they destroy the economy while blowing up everything in their path.

The bolts are called worthless because their assigned values don't align with actual material worth, they degrade over time, and they're both currency and construction material.

• Uncontrolled supply increases from discoveries cause inflation • Currency degradation reduces circulation and lowers value • Hoarding creates artificial shortages and price spikes • Dual-purpose system creates supply shocks

The bolts in Ratchet and Clank are economically worthless because the heroes themselves unknowingly destroy the monetary system through their actions and the inherent flaws of using a commodity that both degrades and serves multiple purposes.