Coin Toss

How to flip a coin online

Tap the coin, press Flip coin, or press the Space bar. The coin spins in the air and lands on heads or tails. The counters keep a running total of heads and tails, the percentage of heads, your current streak, and your last 20 results. Press Reset stats to start counting again.

Is the online coin toss fair?

Yes. Each flip uses your browser's secure random number generator to choose heads or tails with exactly a 50% chance each. In fact, research by statisticians has shown that a real coin flipped by hand is very slightly more likely to land on the same side it started on – about 51% of the time – so a virtual coin is, if anything, fairer.

Streaks and the "gambler's fallacy"

If you flip five heads in a row, is tails "due"? No. A coin has no memory, so the next flip is still exactly 50/50. Believing otherwise is called the gambler's fallacy. Streaks are actually more common than most people expect: in 100 flips, a run of 6 or more of the same side in a row happens more often than not. Try it – flip 100 times and watch the streak counter. Over many flips, the heads percentage will usually settle close to 50%, even though short runs can look lopsided.

When to use a coin toss

• Sports: decide who bats or bowls first in gully cricket, or who kicks off in football – just like the captains do before a real match.
• Quick decisions: pizza or biryani? Movie or walk? Let the coin decide.
• Games: choose who goes first in chess, carrom or a card game.
• Maths class: run a probability experiment and compare real results with the expected 50%.
• Settling friendly arguments: a coin is neutral, so nobody can complain.

Need to choose between more than two options? Use the spinning wheel or the dice roller.

Frequently asked questions