CoinFlipSim

The History of the Coin Flip

From Roman ship-or-head to the Super Bowl: three thousand years of letting a coin decide.

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Navia aut caput: Rome's daily toss

Coin flipping is old enough that Roman coins themselves record the game. Romans called it navia aut caput โ€” 'ship or head' โ€” because many Roman coins bore the emperor's profile on one side and a ship's prow on the other. Children and gamers alike would balance a coin on the knuckle, snap it, and call the face while it spun.

The practice outlived the empire. Medieval England played the same game as cross and pile, after the cross that dominated one face of its silver pennies and the 'pile' โ€” the hammered reverse โ€” on the other. The names changed with the coinage; the ritual never did.

Cross and pile to heads or tails

As portraits replaced religious iconography on European coins, 'cross and pile' faded and 'heads or tails' took hold โ€” the head for the monarch's profile, the tail for whatever the other side carried. By the eighteenth century the English phrase was established enough that Lewis Carroll's Alice could flip a coin 'heads or tails' for a snack in Wonderland without explanation.

Serious institutions adopted the toss along the way. Medieval Venetians are said to have settled disputes and even selections by lot, and the tradition of drawing lots โ€” coins among the tools โ€” runs through the Bible, Athens and every era that needed fairness without favoritism.

The modern toss

Today the coin toss opens the Super Bowl in front of a hundred million viewers, decides kickoffs in football and cricket, breaks tied elections in several countries, and settled the naming of Portland, Oregon (a three-way toss, won by Portland, Maine's namesake). In 1927 a coin flip even decided which of two friends would get the last seat on a charter plane out of a flooded mining town โ€” the loser, so the story goes, was Charles Lindbergh's rival for the first transatlantic flight.

Whether any of that is precisely true, the pattern is: wherever two claims are equal and one must yield, the coin has been humanity's neutral referee for three millennia. This page keeps the tradition running โ€” a fair golden coin, one tap away.

Frequently Asked Questions

๏ผ‹When was the coin flip invented?

Coin flipping is at least two thousand years old. The Romans played it as navia aut caput ('ship or head'), and it has been in continuous use ever since under names like cross and pile and heads or tails.

๏ผ‹Why is it called heads or tails?

Because coins typically bear a head โ€” a monarch's or leader's profile โ€” on the obverse, while the reverse face became known as the tail. The phrase standardized in English as portrait coins became the norm.

๏ผ‹What famous events were decided by a coin flip?

The naming of Portland, Oregon; numerous tied elections; the opening possession of every Super Bowl; and according to a popular story, which pilot got the last seat on the plane Charles Lindbergh did not take.