![Painting of 2-up game](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Painting_of_2-up_game._Paddington%2C_Sydney._1890s.jpg)
Two-up is a traditional Australian
gambling game
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
, involving a designated "spinner" throwing two coins or pennies into the air. Players bet on whether the coins will fall with both heads (obverse) up, both tails (reverse) up, or with one coin a head and one a tail (known as "Ewan"). It is traditionally played on
Anzac Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
in pubs and clubs throughout Australia, in part to mark a shared experience with
Diggers
The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with agrarian socialism. Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard, amongst many others, were known as True Levellers in 1649, in reference to their split from ...
through the ages.
The game is traditionally played with
pennies
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...
– 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 (front) 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 (Tails) 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
Coin flipping, coin tossing, or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air and checking which side is showing when it lands, in order to choose between two alternatives, heads or tails, sometimes used to resolve a dispute betwe ...
, 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.
The predilection of the
convicts
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...
for this game was noted as early as 1798 by
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
'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 rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
es.
Two-up was played extensively by Australia's soldiers during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Gambling games, to which a blind eye was cast, became a regular part of
Anzac Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
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
Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...
gained popularity in illegal gaming houses as well as when poker machines (
slot machine
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
s) were legalised in clubs.
Legal two-up arrived with its introduction as a
table game Table game may refer to:
* Table game (casino), games of chance that are played against the casino and operated by one or more live dealers
* Tables game, a class of board game that includes backgammon
* Tabletop game, games that are normally play ...
at the new casino in
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
in 1973, but is now only offered at
Crown Perth
Crown Perth (formerly Burswood Island Casino, Burswood Island Complex and
Burswood Entertainment Complex) is a resort and casino located in Burswood, Western Australia, near the Swan River. The resort consists of a casino, a convention centre ...
and
Crown Melbourne
Crown Melbourne (also referred to as Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex) is a casino and resort located on the south bank of the Yarra River, in Melbourne, Australia. Crown Casino is a unit of Crown Limited, and the first casino of the n ...
. Two-up has also been legalised on Anzac Day, when it is played in
Returned Servicemen's League (RSL) clubs and hotels. Several tourist "two-up schools" in the Outback have also been legalised. Under the NSW Gambling (Two-Up) Act 1998, playing two-up in NSW is not unlawful on Anzac Day.
The table below show the current bets that can be made at
Crown Perth
Crown Perth (formerly Burswood Island Casino, Burswood Island Complex and
Burswood Entertainment Complex) is a resort and casino located in Burswood, Western Australia, near the Swan River. The resort consists of a casino, a convention centre ...
.
Gameplay
![Australia Day Celebration Boston 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Australia_Day_Celebration_Boston_2017.jpg)
The Ringie selects a player as the spinner (generally greeted to loud calls of "Come in spinner!" from the rest of the players). The spinner tosses the coins in the air using the kip until they win (and continue spinning), lose (and the kip is offered to the next player around the ring), or toss the kip (take their winning wagers and retire).
The basic format of the game:
* Two heads means the spinner wins.
* Two tails means the spinner loses both their bet, and the right to spin.
* Odds ("one them") means head or tail bets are frozen, and the spinner throws again.
The spinner is required to place a bet (usually on heads) before their first throw which must be covered (equaled) 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 (cost of running the game) 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 unlicensed games in most states, even when play is permitted (e.g. ANZAC day).
The other members of the school place side bets (bets against each other) on whether the coins will Head or Tail. These bets are offered by shouting the amount and preference (i.e. "Fifty dollars head!) 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 (i.e. Heads is thrown, and the combined bet is handed over to the head-better, or Tails is thrown and the combined bet is pocketed by the tail-better.) This usually results in the heavier/wealthier betters taking the "tails" bet, allowing them to cover a number of "heads" bets on each throw.
Variations
Some variations include:
* Throwing three coins, instead of two: As at least two coins will always match, this results in a decision on every throw (two heads or two tails, with the third coin being redundant - "sudden death"), and thus a faster game, with more action, as the bets are resolved on every throw - there is no pause in gambling when odds are thrown.
* The spinner only wins after a successive run of heads: I.e., if three heads are required before a tails, with any number of odds, then "odds, heads, odds, odds, heads, odds, heads" would be a win. Casinos pay this at 7.5 to 1. This speeds up play as the Spinner can't "Toss the Kip" after a single throw (selecting a new spinner takes time, interrupting play).
* If the spinner throws successive odds they lose: I.e., if five odds thrown before a tails loses while three heads are required to win, then "odds, heads, odds, odds, heads, odds, odds" would be a loss. Casinos use this rule to provide them with the edge they need to run the game, as the Casino collects all Head/Tail bets if five odds in a row are thrown.
* In Casino games the Spinner may bet on either heads or tails.
* In Casinos, no side bets are permitted; all bets are placed with the Casino as bank.
Popular culture
On 17 November 2004, the
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
remarked in the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
:
In 1978, the Australian group
Little River Band
Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums rea ...
released their fourth album ''
Sleeper Catcher
''Sleeper Catcher'' is the fourth studio album by the Little River Band, released in April 1978. It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 16 on the Billboard 200. The album was RIAA certification, cer ...
'', which featured the band and others on the cover playing the game. In the liner notes it says:
The protagonist of
C. J. Dennis
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...
' 1915 verse novel ''
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in '' The Bulletin'' between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was completed and published by Angus & Rober ...
'' suffers from an addiction to playing two-up.
The Australian rock group
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
has a song called "Two's Up" on their 1988 Blow Up Your Video album that references the game.
In the 1960 film ''
Hell Is a City
''Hell Is a City'' is a 1960 British crime thriller film based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Maurice Procter. Written and directed by Val Guest, it was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and filmed in Manchester. It was ...
'' set in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, 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". A thrower balances two pennies on two outstretched fingers and then tosses them high in the air to see how they land. The thrower wins with double heads and loses with double tails. Other men in the crowd cover his bets (bet against him), with a "boxer" handling the money and keeping track of the bets. Lookout men with binoculars and whistles sat by upper windows of nearby buildings to warn of police arriving.
The film ''
The Sundowners'' contains a sequence in which a group of
Australian drovers, including
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
'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
''Forty Thousand Horsemen'' (aka ''40,000 Horsemen'') is a 1940 Australian war film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film tells the story of the Australian Light Horse (mounted rifleman as distinct from cavalry) which operated in the desert at t ...
'', the three leads, played by
Grant Taylor,
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death ...
, and
Pat Twohill
Edmund Patrick Twohill (22 October 1915 – 7 October 1989) was a New Zealand actor and radio announcer who worked extensively in Australian film, radio and theatre. He is best known for his role in the classic war film in ''Forty Thousand Horsemen ...
, are introduced to us playing two-up in a market place.
The 1971 film ''
Wake in Fright
''Wake in Fright'' (initially released as ''Outback'' outside Australia) is a 1971 psychological thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff, written by Evan Jones, and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay and Jack Thomps ...
'' contains scenes where the main protagonist, a schoolteacher named John Grant, staying in a semi fictional mining town based on
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
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
Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include ''Breaker Morant'' (1980), ' ...
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 ''
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities'' 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
''The Doctor Blake Mysteries'' (also ''The Blake Mysteries'') is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm. The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Dr. Lucien Blake, who returns home t ...
'', series 3, episode 2, titled "My Brother's Keeper".
Notes
References
Australian gambling – Comparative history and analysis report published by the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority
External links
{{Commons category, Two-up
Description of two-up as played by 2/12th Commando Squadronon the
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
official website.
History of the two-up set used by NX203594 Private Milton George Heuston, 2/12 Commando Squadronon the Australian War Memorial official website.
Newspaper reportof a police raid on an illegal two-up school (The Advertiser, Adelaide: 12 December 1931, page 17).
Australian gambling games
Coin games
Sports originating in Australia
Military sports