Two-up rules: how the ring, the centre and the side bets work

Where the rules come from

The fullest official rule sheet we found is “Two-up rules” from Liquor & Gaming NSW, a document dated April 2007 and republished on nsw.gov.au on 12 June 2025. It is short, practical and, by its own first rule, optional. A venue can adjust the details, and on the day the ringkeeper’s word is final.

The rule sheet governs how the game is played. The law governs whether it can be played at all: which days, which premises, and whether anyone may take a cut. Those Acts differ from state to state, and we cover them on our page explaining why two-up is illegal outside its exceptions. Queensland’s law also requires the rules to be available to players (s 179).

The 19 NSW two-up rules, point by point

Here is every rule in plain English, with the regulator’s wording where it matters. Rules 3, 13 and 19 cover the ringkeeper’s authority, invalid tosses and the centre money. You can read the original on the Liquor & Gaming NSW two-up page.

1. The rules “can be used to govern the playing of Two-up, but are not mandatory”.
2. Definitions: the tail is the side marked with a white cross, the head is the other side, and “heads” or “tails” means both pennies showing that side on the floor of the ring.
3. The ringkeeper’s decision is final.
4. The ringkeeper passes the offer of the kip clockwise around the ring; the first to accept is the spinner.
5. The ringkeeper holds two sets of seven pennies and throws one set down inside the ring; the spinner picks two.
6. Only two pennies are used.
7. The ringkeeper decides when the pennies are changed.
8. The tail side of each penny is marked with a white cross.
9. The spinner places the pennies tails up on the kip.
10. After three heads in a row, the winning pair stays with the ringkeeper, and the spinner chooses two more from the other five.
11. “The spinner cannot take a dividend before three consecutive heads are thrown.”
12. If the spinner throws tails, they lose all the money in the centre and the right to spin.
13. The ringkeeper declares an invalid toss “no spin” or “barred” (the reasons are below).
14. “Centre monies shall be set in full before any side bets may be made.”
15. Only the spinner may be inside the ring during play.
16. After three heads in a row, the spinner may withdraw from the centre.
17. Nobody under 18 may be in the playing area while a game is on.
18. “Unseemly conduct or offensive language shall not be tolerated.”
19. The spinner hands the ringkeeper the stake they want to spin for; the ringkeeper holds it with an equal sum from a tail bettor.

Who holds the money

Two separate pots of money move around a two-up ring, and different people hold them. The centre belongs to the game itself. Under rule 19, the ringkeeper holds the spinner’s stake and an equal amount from a punter backing tails. In the old word recorded by the Australian National Dictionary, the centre is “set” once it is fully covered.

The spinner’s stake is always on heads. GambleAware NSW notes that if it is too large for one person, several players can cover it between them. Only once the centre is set can side bets begin. Tails backers hold their cash above their heads until a heads backer accepts, and that money stays between the two of them.

GambleAware NSW says side-bet money sits in front of the tails bettor, and the winner of the toss picks up both stakes. At a legal Anzac Day game in NSW or Queensland, nobody may take a commission (NSW s 7, Qld s 179). WA permits under s 81 allow up to 10%, and our odds page shows what a commission costs a spinner.

The calls you’ll hear

“Come in spinner” is the ringkeeper’s call once all bets are made. GambleAware NSW is precise about it: “No further bets can be made after the call.” The ANU’s Bruce Moore traces it back only as far as the Second World War; earlier rings spun on “fair go”. “Heads are right” announces two heads, according to the AIF glossary.

“No spin” and “barred” mean the toss doesn’t count. Rule 13 gives seven reasons for the call:

• either penny lands outside the ring;
• either penny hits a person or any object, inside or outside the ring;
• the pennies weren’t spun at least two metres above the spinner’s head;
• either penny hits the ceiling;
• the spinner wasn’t standing inside the ring as the pennies left the kip;
• the ringkeeper judges the pennies weren’t spun at all;
• any other reason the ringkeeper announces.

The call has to come before the pennies stop, and the ringkeeper then tries to disturb them before they come to rest. Sources give different heights, too. The NSW rules say two metres, GambleAware NSW says three, and the AWM’s 2/12 Commando account says “at least 10 feet”. More of the ring’s slang is in our two-up glossary.

What happens after each toss

Two heads win the toss, but the money stays in the centre until three heads come up in a row (rule 11). Then the spinner may walk out of the centre with the winnings (rule 16) or keep going with a fresh pair of pennies (rule 10). The War Memorial’s account gives the digger the same choice: give up the kip and take the money, or keep spinning.

Two tails end the spinner’s run. The spinner loses everything in the centre and the right to spin (rule 12), and the kip moves on clockwise, as GambleAware NSW describes it. One head and one tail, called odds, settle nothing. The NSW rule sheet has no rule for them; GambleAware NSW puts it simply: “If 1 of each is tossed, then the coins are tossed again.”

Two-up rules with three coins

Two coins are the standard. NSW rule 6 says “Only two pennies shall be used”. Western Australia’s two-up policy is just as firm: “Only two coins or two dice are to be tossed or thrown in the game of two-up”.

Three coins have a history too. Queensland’s Charitable and Non-Profit Gaming Act 1999 defines the game with the spinner tossing “two or three coins” (s 178). Casino Canberra’s published rules for Anzac Day 2024 allowed the same. In the Second World War, the War Memorial notes, a kip might carry two or three pennies, depending on the game.

GambleAware NSW explains why: three coins “speed the game up as there is always a result. A win is a majority heads and a loss is a majority tails.” The maths doesn’t change the fairness. Two or more heads out of three come up exactly half the time, the same even chance as two coins, only without the re-tosses. Our page on the kip and pennies covers the coins themselves.

Ring rules and casino rules

In a ring, players bet against each other and, with no commission taken, neither side has an edge. Casino versions work differently. According to GambleAware NSW, “All bets must be made with the casino.” The casino games that Wizard of Odds and Wikipedia describe also end a round on five odds in a row, when every heads or tails bet loses.

That single rule turns an even game into a house game; the numbers for each casino bet are on the odds page linked above. Crown Perth’s 1985 casino agreement lists two-up among its authorised games, yet the casino’s website showed no two-up table and no rules for one when we checked on 27 September 2026.

Etiquette at the ring

Most of the etiquette is written into the rules. Stay outside the ring unless you’re spinning. Let the centre be set before you make a side bet, and stop at “come in spinner”. Keep your hands off the pennies after a “no spin”. Take the ringkeeper’s call as final, even when you disagree, and keep your language clean.

The age limit is 18, and venues get checked. Before Anzac Day 2024, Liquor & Gaming NSW told venues it would check on games and asked them to “fully understand and observe the traditional rules”. Two-up is gambling, so set your limit before the first toss. For dates, start times and venues, see when and where each state allows a game on Anzac Day.