Pebbles are the money of over the hill — the currency that discoveries and objectives pay and that merchants and mechanics take — and the most romantic way to earn them is to go and fetch a rock that fell out of the sky. Meteorites are among the game's listed discovery types, they can be hauled rather than merely admired, and the achievements built around them trace the currency's whole economy. This guide covers how Pebbles are earned, what meteorites are and how hauling one works, the loops that pay best, and where the money should go — with a deliberate absence of exact figures, because no reliable ones exist yet.
At a glance
Pebbles sources: Discoveries (cabins, viewpoints, landmarks), completed objectives, recoveries and hauling work like meteorites
Meteorites: Fallen rocks found in the wild; they can be towed and recovered, and they pay
The economy's shape: The Pebbles achievements come in three tiers — a handful, a sack, a mountain — with unlock rates falling from most players to a few percent
Spending: Upgrades, equipment and cosmetics at merchants and mechanics (the upgrades guide owns the priority order)
Numbers policy: No verified price or payout tables exist at launch; this guide teaches loops, not arithmetic
1. Pebbles: the discovery currency
Most currencies in driving games come from winning. Pebbles come from arriving. The official loop pays the wallet for the things the game is about: reaching a cabin, standing at a viewpoint, finding a landmark, completing an objective. That design choice matters more than it sounds — it means the economy and the exploration are the same activity, and a player who simply travels attentively is never poor.
The achievement structure (readable in the global unlock data) sketches the intended scale in three tiers: an early handful tier that most players reach (its unlock rate sits above three quarters of the player base), a sack tier far rarer, and a mountain tier in the low single digits. Read qualitatively, the message is that Pebbles begin as pocket money and end as a long-term accumulation goal — the economy is sized for the same long campaign as the fleet and the compendium.
2. Meteorites: the sky pays cash
Among the official discovery types — remote cabins, scenic viewpoints, natural landmarks — the list ends with fallen meteorites, and they are the discoveries with a job attached. A meteorite is not a photo opportunity: per the fan wiki's how-to coverage and the achievement trail (the basic meteorite achievement is one of the game's more common ones; the deeper space-rock achievements fall to a few percent), a found meteorite can be towed and recovered, and recovery is what pays. Think of it as kin to the game's lost-vehicle recoveries — a stranded object, a tow, a delivery — except the stranded object fell from orbit.
The practical method, assembling what is verified:
Find one. Meteorites rest where they fell, out in the wild and often off the friendly lines — they reward the wandering the game is built on, and the night sky is thematically theirs (more than one achievement concerns stars and wishes).
Treat the haul as a recovery job. Approach with the full kit, plan the tow line the way the winch guide teaches, and expect the route back to be the real content — heavy work in low gear, anchors pre-thought.
Deliver and get paid. Recovery completes the objective, and the wallet notices.
Honesty markers: the towing detail above descends from one source family plus the achievement data — the mechanics are consistent with the game's confirmed recovery systems, but exact per-rock payouts are precisely the sort of figure nobody has reliably published, and this guide will not be the first to invent one.
3. The loops that pay
Ranked by reliability rather than raw yield — because yield figures are exactly what launch week cannot verify:
The cabin chain. New-area cabin hunting is simultaneously fast travel, time control and income; discoveries pay as you scaffold. Nothing else in the game triples like this.
Objectives in clusters. Challenge trails, recoveries and area objectives pay on completion, and they cluster geographically — one valley's afternoon can complete several.
Recovery work. Lost vehicles and meteorites are the hauling economy: slower per hour than discovery chains, but they pay in the currency of the long tiers, and they rehearse exactly the skills the hard trails examine.
Wide, slow travel itself. Viewpoints and landmarks dot every route; the player who drives attentively between objectives earns the whole way. In over the hill, the scenic route is not the slow way to get rich — it is the way.
4. Spending: the short version
Pebbles cash out at merchants and mechanics as upgrades, equipment and customisation — and the full framework lives in this collection's upgrades guide, so here is only the shape: performance lines first (engine, tyres), water protection when your map demands it, an inventory slot early, cosmetics whenever the wallet shrugs. Two economy-specific notes belong here. First, remember the second supply chain: upgrades and equipment are also found in the world, so a balance is not your only wealth. Second, because unlocks are personal (per the official FAQ, covered in the co-op guide), your Pebbles are yours alone in multiplayer too — a convoy shares anchors and repairs, not wallets.
5. The hauling family: meteorites and lost vehicles
Meteorites belong to a family of work the game builds several systems around: towing heavy, stranded things back to civilisation. Its confirmed sibling is the lost-vehicle recovery — hauling a stranded vehicle back to a cabin is one of the game's stated activity types — and the two jobs share everything except the cargo: the approach with a full kit, the low-gear tow discipline, the anchor planning, the route home chosen for towability rather than scenery. Learning one teaches the other, and a player building toward the currency's upper tiers will run both kinds of job in the same valleys. That is the economy's real shape: not a menu of minigames, but one hauling craft practised on whatever the wilderness — or the sky — leaves stranded.
FAQ
What is the fastest way to earn Pebbles? By structure rather than stopwatch: chain discoveries in new country — cabins first, then the objectives clustered around them. It stacks payouts while building the fast-travel network that makes every later loop shorter. Hauling work (meteorites, lost vehicles) is the best-paying variety, and the scenic route between objectives earns the whole way.
Where do meteorites come from? They are a discovery type that rests in the wild where it fell — off the main lines, found by wandering. Once found, a meteorite can be towed and recovered for its payout; treat the haul as a full recovery job.
Are Pebbles shared with my co-op partners? Per the official FAQ, progress and unlocks are personal to each player, so treat your wallet as your own. The convoy shares help — winching, repairs, navigation — not currency.
How many Pebbles does a meteorite pay? Nobody has published a reliably verified figure at launch, and we would rather leave the space blank than fill it with a guess. The three-tier achievement ladder (handful → sack → mountain) is the honest scale: hauling pays meaningfully, and lifetime accumulation is a long game.
Can I buy Pebbles with real money? No purchase of that kind appears anywhere in the game's launch material or editions — the Supporter Edition sells cosmetics, music and a campsite, not currency. Pebbles are earned by driving.
Related guides
over the hill Upgrades and Equipment: What To Buy First With Your Pebbles
over the hill Beginner's Guide: The Winch, Your First Upgrades and What To Do First
over the hill Vehicles Guide: Confirmed Cars, How Unlocking Works and the Fleet Owner Grind
over the hill Co-op Guide: How Multiplayer, Progress and Crossplay Work