Heads or tails · a fair draw

One quarter, two faces, and nothing at stake.

A large US quarter, drawn and tossed by this page. The face is decided first, by your browser’s cryptographic generator — an even chance, every time; the toss, the bounce and the wobble then show it.

Choose one of seven coins, a size, a regular flip or a long one, and press Flip — or tap the coin.

US Quarter
Last: no flip yet
QuarterA fair coin flip
Size
Flip
Sound
Record · US QuarterNo flips yet
0Heads · –
0Tails · –
Flips
0
Current streak
–
Longest streak
–

The last 20 (newest first)

    Past flips do not change the next one. Each is an even chance, whatever came before; no face is ever “due”.

    Method

    The draw, honestly.

    The draw

    When you flip, the page asks your browser’s cryptographic generator (crypto.getRandomValues) for one byte and keeps its lowest bit: 1 is heads, 0 is tails — exactly even, before the coin moves. The result is recorded at once; the flight only shows it. The game’s code never calls Math.random for the draw or the flight.

    The flight

    Then a flight is composed to end on that face: the height of the toss, the spin, the number of turns, the axis and its drift, the tumble, where it lands, how many times it bounces and how long it wobbles are each drawn fresh from the same generator, so no two flips look alike — and none of them decides anything. If your system asks for reduced motion, the flip is short and gentle.

    The coins

    Seven coins, each with its own metal, size, thickness and edge: a US quarter, a 24k gold bullion coin, a .999 silver round with a mirror field, a two-tone gold eagle, a worn hand-struck Roman denarius, a bimetal Israeli 10 shekel and a gold-plated crypto coin with a lettered edge. Real diameters set their relative size. The quarter: a quarter-dollar in cupronickel, drawn in WebGL: the Washington profile with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and the year on one side, the eagle with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM and QUARTER DOLLAR on the other, and 119 reeds round the edge. Every relief is drawn by the page itself, not photographed or traced; the other coins’ textures are made in the background after the first one shows.

    Sound

    Made by the page as it plays — filtered noise for the spin, a ring for each strike, short ticks as it wobbles down — with no recording behind it. It is off until you switch it on, and the switch is remembered.

    What leaves your browser

    Nothing. The size, the flip mode, the sound switch and the record are kept in this browser’s local storage under labs.quarter.v1 and nowhere else. The page loads nothing from any network once it has loaded.

    Keyboard

    Space or Enter flips from anywhere on the page (or on the Flip button); Tab reaches the coin, the sizes and the modes. On a phone, tap the coin or swipe up on it.