ANZAC Day!

For those who aren't in the know - April 25 was ANZAC day!

So, having just lived through the experience, I will attempt to share all the excitement.

ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps, and so here in Australia (and maybe NZ as well?) it's a national holiday. Originally marking the first major action of the ANZAC forces in WWI, now it more generally commemorates all those who have fought and died in military action. In my experience, it is one of the most poignant and important holidays on the Australian calendar.

The run-up to ANZAC day was noticeable, active and former service men and women, all dressed up the nines were to be seen aplenty. As with all national holidays, a majority of Australians have the day off of work, and so traditions have sprung up to fill the free time. All across the country, early-morning marches set out from memorial parks (of which Australia has plenty!) - we are talking about 5:00 AM early here. Upon the return to the memorial park, how else do the Australians celebrate, than with beer and food!

Around noon, the real fun starts.

Two Up!

Again, for those who aren't in the know, Australians love to gamble. And drink. So, with that in mind, once a year (ANZAC Day!) a very specialized and interesting gambling game is made legal, and pubs all over the nation host a party for the event. Having the day off of work ourselves, we decided to go along for the ride, and experience our first game of Two Up!

Two Up, apparently, is synonymous with ANZAC Day. In this game, which in my eyes must have been carefully formed over generations, a large ring or square is erected on the floor in an open room. Inside the box, one or two 'callers' help facilitate the game, while a chanting, hollering, cheering (and drinking!) crowd lines the outside. A person from the crowd is selected to be the 'spinner', which is replaced every round, or as often as someone else wants a shot at it.

I've just placed a bet...

In Two Up, the spinner is given a paddle, on which three coins are placed. With one hand, and just one hand, the spinner flips the paddle, sending the coins spinning in the air. Prior to this spin, a round of betting takes place. The betting is simple: Do you think that the majority of the coins will fall on heads, or tails?

With a big crowd around the ring, there are plenty of people willing to take either side of the coin, on each round of betting. The betting itself, and seemingly the game as a whole, is highly de-centralized and unregulated. While there are specific rules, all of the betting is facilitated directly between the gamblers themselves. Given the aforementioned drinking, its easy to see why this is limited only to a special once-a-year celebration.



Here the 'spinner' is sending the coins up.

The betting itself is simple. There is no 'house' in Two Up, as the gamblers enter a free-for-all of money changing amongst themselves. In our experience, bets ran from $10 on the low end, to $200 on the high end. When you would like to place a bet, you grab whichever bills you are betting, lets say a $10 note, and tap it against your head if you want to bet on heads, or your bum if you want tails. Meanwhile, you scan the crowd to identify someone who is tapping the same denomination note, against the opposite part of their body. IE: I'm tapping $10 on my head, I look for someone tapping $10 on their rump. We make eye contact, perhaps nod to one another. This is all that is needed to solidify the bet. More formally, the person betting on heads will collect the other persons bet, and set it on the ring. Now all the money is all on the table, and a bet is clearly and safely agreed on, thus limiting the opportunity for disagreements, which in Australia means fighting.

The coins are flipped, and as long as they have gone high enough into the air, and none of them have touched or gone outside of the box, the majority is called for heads or tails, and the next round of betting ensues. When heads wins, the winner generally has the money at their feet, they bend over and grab it. When tails wins, there is a minor melee as the winners go to meet up with the losers who hold their money. Since it is a 1 to 1 bet, and there is no house, its basically a game of double-or-nothing, with 50% odds. Bet $10, win $10 more. That's as good as it gets in gambling, which makes this game fun. This generally will run from 12:00 noon, until 6:00 PM.

'Callers' collecting the coins after a spin.

Well, I think that was a pretty good description of what goes down. What I couldn't really describe, is the yelling, hollering, and general fun and goodwill. Despite the clearly visible opportunity for some fairly serious fights (I mean, who bets $200 on heads or tails, in a completely de-regulated environment, with 100 other people confusing things!?) it was a great experience. People were all having fun, and we didn't see any arguments, let alone fights.




After a long day of drinking and gambling, the weary Australians head home for an early night, in the hopes of making it to work the next day. (to middling success)