You can always call a judge to do the flipping. Rolling a dice doesn't help if they will allways roll a 6. They wheren't modified but made that way.

20 sided dice gets rolled, call odd or even. Seems just as fair and less likely that it can be controlled.

In general ... whoever flips the coin, the OTHER people calls it ... that's been the 'unwritten rule of coin flips' as far as I knew. Getting to call AND flip the coin is too big of a possible cheat. If someone brings a two headed coin to a con and flips it ... well, if your opponent always calls HEADS ... you didn't accomplish much ;)

As long as the flipper and caller are different people, it should be fine. And calling the in the air also means it's quite difficult to 'decide' the flip based on what the other person called.

So:

Call it in the air
Whoever flips, the other person calls

Those two things should be pretty much enough to make this fair.

is this really what passes for strategic discussion these days?

Vs. for the Masses. Finally.

I played my insanity deck today for the first time.

I can emphatically say I have never had a better time playing a deck.

I do not like the Arkham Inmates as characters, not a villain deck player really either. Having said that, flipping that coin for beside myself added a little levity to the match and netted me 8 cards to boot.

That's awesome. I can't wait to give Insanity a try.

if your not happy with the level of disscusion your quite welcome to start a new thread and talk about any thing you like stratergy wise.

Most secure but a bit troublesome flip:
Let the coin hit the floor

I remember a while back ... people were discussing the ethics of calling a judge on an opponent to try for the free win, and whether or not it is fair that both players get warning for one persons mistakes.

There fixed it for you.

Not really sure how this is a 'moral quandry'. A coin flip in this case represents a random event with a 50% chance of one of two results. If you devise a way to manipulate that outcome, it would go against the general 'don't be a dick' premise of VS tournament play. By knowingly attempting to manipulate the odds to anything other then 50% you are a cheater and an #######.


Is it ok to mark your deck? Is it ok to manipulate your shuflle? Would it be acceptable to bring a loaded die to roll for initiative? Why would this be any different?

It's like I tell my four-year old everytime I see her do something boarderline to another person, "Would you like it if someone did that do you?" That should be the only answer you need.

It's not unwritten. ;)

"Some effects may instruct you to flip a coin. To flip a coin, one player flips the coin, with the other player calling “heads” or “tails” while the coin is in the air. Rolling a die or another method of evenly randomizing is an acceptable alternative if no coin is available."


The part that the rules doesn't mention is after you catch the coin....Do you flip the coin over on the back of your hand (like most people do)? Most collegiate sports rulebooks clearly state that the coin IS NOT FLIPPED over after the catch. Catch and reveal!

Some sports officials do practice their coin flip. You would be suprised how many athletes want to see which side is facing up before the toss.

In pro football, that's required, isn't it? I'm fairly sure every match, if they show it, has the official show both sides of the coin to each team's captains ("This is heads, this is tails"), then put it on their thumb ready to flip and show both sides, then flip and let it hit the ground.

I don't think you can let it hit the ground easily in a tournament, though. It's too easy to roll off somewhere, and it's too crowded (heh) to easily find the coin sometimes. As long as it's flipped as the rules say (one tosses, one calls), and you show the coin to the opponent ("This is heads, this is tails") then the catch shouldn't matter.

I didn't know there was etiquette on flipping a coin.