That´s easy to explain. The plaque shown in the picture is denominated in Zimbabwean dollars, not in Rand. When these plaques ($5,000, $10,000, $25,000) were first issued, they were worth a considerable amount of money. This also explains the huge size of the plaques. Until last year, the official exchange rate was about 50 to the US$, and has since been adjusted to 800. Plaques are only available against foreign currency, and hotels obviously don´t give good exchange rates. Go to xe.com (link also on my website) for currency conversions. There are also plaques for $500 and $1,000, which are much smaller. Highest denominations of chips and plaques currently in use are $25,000´s. Just to give you some more information on Zimbabwe: a newspaper currently costs $1,000, a loaf of bread is $2,500, the average monthly salary stands at $150,000. Zimbabwean dollars, of course!! On my last day in Zimbabwe, I played a bit of roulette at the Makasa Casino, and - I won about $70,000 (ZimDollars). When I wanted to leave the casino, I was appoached by two innocent looking young Zimbabwean girls, who wanted me to join them. "Will only take a few minutes. You surely won´t need your ZimDollars in your country, will you?". I reluctantly declined their generous offer... (With the HIV rate in that region, all odds are against you!)