#1749: Half-Penny

I’m always interested in the small scale measures necessary to ensure fairness in games and sport.

Today’s invention is a way to guarantee that a coin toss is actually fair.

For any given coin (grey) a close-fitting, moulded shell is made in two halves and of the same material as the coin itself (blue).

These halves are clipped onto the coin so that its orientation is unknown by the caller when ready to toss and so that any asymmetry in its motion is removed.

On landing, a neutral party removes the top half of the case to reveal the result (or it might break off on impact with the ground).