On April 25th, my birthday and also Australia's ANZAC Day (a sibling of Rememberance Day, but different) I went to the Clovelly Hotel to watch and play two-up. Two-up is a betting game that's only legal on ANZAC Day, because it was played by the "diggers"--the Australian and Kiwi dudes in the trenches in WWI.
The "spinner," any volunteer member of the crowd, throws two coins up into the air using a little wooden paddle. The dude in the green hat, the judge (there's a word for him too, but I don't remember it at the moment) looks at the coins, and if they are both heads he'll touch his head--if they're both tails, he'll touch his tail. Meanwhile, before the spinner throws the coins, the whole crowd has been waving money around frantically, shouting out bets, and if they're for heads, tapping their heads with the money they're betting. Bets are made informally between any two individuals--the one betting heads holds the money, and either gives it all back or keeps it depending on who wins. People bet in all kinds of denominations, there were even a few hundred dollar bills being thrown around.
Personally, I stuck to five dollar bets. I won $25, and lost $20. Success!
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