This article is about the game of throwing coins against a wall. For the game of throwing coins into a box, see Penny in the hole.
Mill boys pitching pennies on the street, 1916

Pitching pennies is a game played with coins. Players take turns to throw a coin at a wall, from some distance away, and the coin which lands closest to the wall is the winner.

In Britain the game is also known as pap or penny up, and it is referred to as pitch-and-toss in Rudyard Kipling's poem If—. In Scotland it is called keeley and chipsy, in Wales nippy, and other names include chucks, quarters, tinks and jingies.

The history of the game is ancient, and it is known to have been played by Ancient Greek children using bronze coins.[1]

In 1998, basketball player Michael Jordan played the game against security guard John Michael Wozniak, an event depicted in the documentary The Last Dance.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ Gulick, Charles Burton (1902). The Life of the Ancient Greeks: With Special Reference to Athens. New York, NY: D. Appleton & Co. p. 77. OCLC 415193.
  2. ^ "Security Guard John Michael Wozniak Does the Shrug After Playing Michael Jordan in a Coin Toss Game". YouTube. May 16, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  3. ^ "How Michael Jordan hustled a security guard (and lost!) when betting on the 'pitching pennies' game". The Chicago Tribune. May 5, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2024.

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