Two-up


Two-up is a traditional Australian gambling game, involving a designated "spinner" throwing two coins or pennies into the air. Players bet on whether the coins will fall with both heads up, both tails up, or with one coin a head and one a tail. It is traditionally played on Anzac Day in pubs and clubs throughout Australia, in part to mark a shared experience with Diggers through the ages.
The game is traditionally played with pennies – their weight, size, and surface design make them ideal for the game. Weight and size make them stable on the "kip" and easy to spin in the air. Decimal coins are generally considered to be too small and light and they do not fly as well. The design of pre-1939 pennies had the sovereign's head on the obverse and the reverse was totally covered in writing making the result very easy and quick to see. Pennies now are marked with a white cross on the reverse side. Pennies can often be observed being used at games on Anzac Day, as they are brought out specifically for this purpose each year.

History

The exact origins of two-up are obscure, but it seems to have evolved from cross and pile, a gambling game involving tossing a single coin into the air and wagering on the result. Two-up was popular amongst poorer English and Irish citizens in the 18th century.
In the 1960 film Hell is a City set in Manchester, Lancashire, UK, there is a scene in which robbers use stolen money to join in a gang of local men gathered on a hill behind the town to gamble 'The Toss. Play is one player balancing two pennies on two outstretched fingers and then tossing them high to see how they land. The thrower bets to double the wager and wins by having double heads, tails or a split. Men from the crowd take turns to bet against the last winner. Women and children had to keep away and lookout men with binoculars and whistles sat by upper windows to warn of police arriving.
Hell Is a City - IMDb
The predilection of the convicts for this game was noted as early as 1798 by New South Wales's first judge advocate, as well as the lack of skill involved and the large losses. By the 1850s, the two-coin form was being played on the goldfields of the eastern colonies, and it spread across the country following subsequent gold rushes.
Two-up was played extensively by Australia's soldiers during World War I. Gambling games, to which a blind eye was cast, became a regular part of Anzac Day celebrations for returned soldiers, although two-up was illegal at all other times.
As time passed, increasingly elaborate illegal "two-up schools" grew around Australia, to the consternation of authorities but with the backing of corrupt police. The legendary Thommo's Two-up School, which operated at various locations in Surry Hills, Sydney from the early years of the 20th century until at least 1979, was one of Australia's first major illegal gambling operations.
The popularity of two-up declined after the 1950s as more sophisticated forms of gambling like baccarat gained popularity in illegal gaming houses and poker machines were legalised in clubs.
Legal two-up arrived with its introduction as a table game at the new casino in Hobart in 1973, but is now only offered at Crown Perth and Crown Melbourne. Two-up has also been legalised on Anzac Day, when it is played in Returned Servicemen's League clubs and hotels. Several tourist "two-up schools" in the Outback have also been legalised. Under the NSW Gambling Act 1998, playing two-up in NSW is not unlawful on Anzac Day.
TermMeaning
SchoolThe collective noun for a group of gamblers playing Two-up.
RingThe area designated for the spinner to spin the coins. The Spinner must stand in the ring to spin, and the coins must land and come to rest within the ring.
SpinnerThe person who throws the coins up in the air. The opportunity to be the spinner is offered in turn to gamblers in the school.
BoxerPerson who manages the game, usually provides the equipment, monitors the betting, takes commission and does not participate in betting.
Ringkeeper Person who calls the validity of each throw and looks after the coins between throws. Places the coins on the Kip for the spinner when the betting round is complete and calls "Come in Spinner" to allow the throw to take place. Sometimes also known as the "Bender" - for bending down to retrieve the coins.
KipA small piece of wood on which the coins are placed before being tossed, sometimes the resting area for the coins is covered in canvass or leather to improve friction. In some games coins are placed tails up, in casino games the coins are placed with opposing sides up.
Toss the KipFor the Spinner to hand the kip back to the Ringkeeper before a losing throw, i.e. to retire after a winning throw.
HeadsBoth coins land with the "head" side facing up.
TailsBoth coins land with the "tails" side facing up.
Odds or "One Them"One coin lands with the "head" side up, and the other lands with the "tails" side up.
Odding OutTo spin five "odds" in a row.
Come in SpinnerThe call given by the boxer when all bets are placed and the coins are now ready to be tossed.
"Barred"The call when an illegal spin has occurred - the coins were not thrown higher than the head, or did not rotate in the air.
CockatooOnly used in the 1800s to late 1930s, due to legalisation of two-up on Anzac Day. It was the nickname of the look-out who warned players of incoming police raids.

The table below show the current bets that can be made at Crown Perth.
Bet TypeCasino EdgePayoutDescription
Single Head3.125%1–1Spinner spins a pair of heads before a pair of tails or odding out.
Single Tail3.125%1–1Spinner spins a pair of tails before a pair of heads or odding out.
Spinner's Bet3.400%15–2Only available to the current spinner. Spinner spins three heads or tails, before either tailing out or getting the other result.
5 Odds9.375%28–1Spinner spins five odds in a row before either a pair of heads or a pair of tails.

Gameplay

The Ringie selects a player as the spinner. The spinner tosses the coins in the air using the kip until they win, lose, or toss the kip.
The basic format of the game:
The spinner is required to place a bet before their first throw which must be covered by another player. If the spinner wins they keep the bet and cover, minus a commission which the boxer takes out of this bet. If the spinner loses, the entire bet goes to the player who covered the bet. This makes throwing the coins a slight losing proposition compared to a side bet, however this is balanced by the interest of throwing the coins and the chance of adding a personal "lucky" touch to the spin. The disadvantage is shared about the School by the Kip being passed about the Ring during subsequent spins.
As a betting round and subsequent spin takes about a minute, and is resolved win/loss on average every three spins, then the Boxer's commission on wins is paid on average ten times per hour. i.e. If the Spinners' average wager is $20, covered by $20, and the commission is 10% then the Boxer will take $40 an hour in commission. The taking of commission has been made illegal for unlicenced games in most states, even when play is permitted.
The other members of the school place side bets on whether the coins will Head or Tail. These bets are offered by shouting the amount and preference perhaps while tapping the money on their head, until another player who wishes to bet on the opposite coin approaches them to cover the bet. The combined amount of the bet is traditionally held by the tail-better until the bet resolves

Variations

Some variations include:
On 17 November 2004, the Premier of New South Wales remarked in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly:
In 1978, the Australian group the Little River Band released Sleeper Catcher, their fourth album. In the liner notes it says:
The protagonist of C. J. Dennis' 1915 verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke suffers from an addiction to playing two-up.
The Australian rock group AC/DC has a song called "Two's Up" on their 1988 Blow Up Your Video album that references the game.
The film The Sundowners contains a sequence in which a group of Australian drovers, including Robert Mitchum's character, play a game of two-up, with appropriate bets. One of the players calls out "fair go", which translates roughly as "play fair". Appropriately, the action in the game on-screen is rapid and without hesitations or false starts. In the 1940 film Forty Thousand Horsemen, the three leads, played by Grant Taylor, Chips Rafferty, and Pat Twohill, are introduced to us playing two-up in a market place.
The 1971 film Wake in Fright contains scenes where the main protagonist, a schoolteacher named John Grant, staying in a semi fictional mining town based on Broken Hill for one night, initially makes significant winnings in a game of two-up, before subsequently losing everything again.
The book Come in Spinner takes its name from the call. There is also a sequence in the film The Shiralee starring Bryan Brown which makes reference to the game.
During the broadcast recording of the 'Tin Symphony' segment of the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games there are two scenes of settlers playing two-up outside a tin home.
The Australian-themed 2002 video game Ty the Tasmanian Tiger features a tutorial area named "Two-Up".
In 2009, the television program shows men taking part in games of two-up. In one instance the police enter the establishment in which this is taking place and the contestants run and hide the equipment being used and money being gambled.
In 2014, the television program Peaky Blinders depicts a game of two-up, with a car and a horse used for betting.
On 20 February 2015, a game of two-up featured in The Doctor Blake Mysteries, series 3, episode 2, titled "My Brother's Keeper".