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Heads or Tails is a coin-tossing game.
Most coins have a side where the imprint of a person, such as a current
or former head of state, is impressed Ч this side is called the
"Head" side (since the embossing is of the head of a person).
The other side may have any imprint, or none, and is called the "Tail"
side.
The rules of Heads or Tails game are very simple. Generally, one
person throws the coin up in the air, and the second person must predict
which side of the coin will lay face up after it rests back on the
ground. A correct prediction results in a win. Another variation has the
person catch the coin in one hand and slap it on the back of their other
hand. Traditionally, the second person calls out "heads" or
"tails" while the coin is in the air.
The name may have originated from the British Ten Pence coin, the
reverse of which shows a heraldic lion passant guardant with its tail
raised.
The Australian game of Two-up is closely related to Heads or Tails,
and involves traditionally two half-pennies. Coin flipping as a game was
known to the Romans as "navia aut caput" (ship or head), as
some coins had a ship on one side and the head of the emperor on the
other.
A related to the Heads or Tails game, Cross and Pile, was played
in England for many centuries. The cross was the major design element on
one side of many coins, and the Pile was the bottom part of the die used
to cast the other side of the coin (see hammered coinage). Cross and
Pile is derived from the Greek pastime called Ostra Kinda, played by the
boys of ancient Greece. Having procured a shell, they smeared it over
with pitch on one side and left the other side white. A boy tossed up
this shell, and his antagonist called white or black (In the Greek, nux
kai hemera, that is, 'night or day') as he thought proper, and his
success was determined by the white or black part of the shell being
uppermost.
In Italy Heads or Tails game is called Testa o croce ("head
or cross"). In Germany the game is called Kopf oder Zahl ("head
or number", because the other side shows the coin's value). In
Ireland it is usually called Heads or Harps, since the obverse side of
Irish coins (both Euro and the former currency, the Irish punt) always
shows a harp. In Brazil, it is called Cara ou Coroa - ("face or
crown"). On Brazilian coins, one of the sides are called
Cara(marked with a face); the other side is called Coroa(crown, or
another symbol). In Mexico it is called Aguila o Sol (Eagle or Sun). In
Russia it is called Орел или
решка (Orel ili reshka - eagle, or another
symbol). In Hong Kong, it is called like "Head or word". On
Hong Kong coins, the obverse side of the coin is basically words that
said the amount of the coin. The reverse side, however, is flower.
Although the reverse side is not a head anymore, Hong Kong citizens
still use that term to call the game.
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