At the conclusion of the memorial services, it was hard to keep the Australians sad for too long. After a pleasurable lunch at Banjo-Patterson’s, everyone ran up to the local club for a game of Two-Up.
Two-Up is a gambling game that has long historic roots. The object of the game is to flip three coins off a special flat stick and to bet whether two of the three will land heads up or tails up. The game is legal in Australia only one day a year – ANZAC Day, and only until sundown! You bet by holding your money on top of your head to indicate you believe the next toss will be heads. Anyone can match your heads bet with a tails bet. There’s a LOT of screaming and yelling bids across the room till its time to toss. Should the flip of coins come up heads, you win and keep the wager. If it comes up tails, you give the winnings to the person who bet against you.
Two-Up is a fast moving game that is played at a frenzied pace. People are yelling “Heads”… “Tails”… “Go Go”… “Yeah Yeah” and so on for hours on end. The riotous noise is deafening and unrelenting. After sundown everyone is drunk on having consumed prodigious amounts of beer, wine, and whisky. And the money has flowed equally fast and furious. In fact, I have never seen an ATM machine emptied of cash so quickly and left wide open in disgorgement.
