Coin Flipping - in Fiction - Coin Landing On Its Edge in Fiction

Coin Landing On Its Edge in Fiction

A coin toss has a theoretical third outcome, in which the coin comes to rest upright on its edge, rather than falling to either heads or tails. Such an outcome is nearly impossible in reality, but is seen in fiction, often for comedic effect. Such an outcome usually results in either a tied coin toss, or victory to a person who successfully called "edge".

Examples

In the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a state governor has to select an interim Senator, and he is being pressured by two opposing factions to choose between their respective candidates, Mr. Hill and Mr. Miller. Unable to choose, he flips a coin in the privacy of his office, but it falls against a book and lands on edge. Consequently, he makes neither choice and chooses Mr. Smith.

In The Twilight Zone episode "A Penny for Your Thoughts," the main character buys a newspaper, and flips a coin into the collection pan, where it lands on its edge. As a consequence, he can hear people's thoughts, but at the end of the day he knocks the coin off its edge when dropping another coin into the pan, which causes him to lose his telepathic ability.

In the American comedy film Mouse Hunt, out-of-work brothers Lars and Ernie toss a coin to decide who gets to sleep in the only bed in the inherited house. The coin ends up spinning on the floor and coming to rest on edge, so the brothers share the bed.

The Hong Kong-made film Shaolin Soccer contains a scene in which one of Sing's brothers is being asked to join Sing's soccer team, and he refuses because he mathematically predicts the team will fail; he uses a coin toss to demonstrate his point, saying it has zero chance of landing on its edge. When the coin is carelessly dropped later in the scene, the brother is amazed to discover that it has, indeed, landed on its edge and become stuck inside a small crack in the asphalt.

In an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Malcolm decides to flip a coin in order to resolve a dispute about keeping a potentially offensive cardboard cut-out up in the store that he works in (citing that logic wasn't good enough). The coin is shown to land on its edge, leaving Malcolm uncertain what to do.

In Scrubs episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby", protagonist J.D. and Kim cannot decide whether or not to keep their baby after an accidental pregnancy. When all else fails, they flip a coin, which lands on its edge.

In How I Met Your Mother episode Blitzgiving, Steve Henry flipped a coin just as Barney left the room. The coin landed on its side and remained there until Barney returned.

In The Simpsons episode "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh", A city inspector asks Homer to call a coin toss, to which Homer calls as the last moment as side, proving to be correct.

In the video game Soul Reaver 2, Kain proposes the possibility of a coin landing on its edge when discussing a fateful outcome critical to plot development.