Odds and evens

Odds and evens, also known as swords, choosies, pick, odds-on poke, or bucking up, is a hand game played between two people, used to decide an issue. This zero-sum game, a variation of the ancient Morra and par-impar, is played internationally, especially among children.

The individuals prepare by deciding who will be assigned odds and who will be evens. Then, one or both people say "One, two, three, shoot!!" or "one, strikes, three, shoot!" As the word "shoot" is said, the two people quickly and simultaneously thrust a fist into the center, extending either an index finger, or both the middle and index finger, indicating one or two. The sum total of fingers displayed is either odd or even. If the result is odd, then the person who called odds is the victor, and can decide the issue as he or she sees fit. Often, the participants continue to shoot for a best two out of three.

In a single game, the chance of either person winning is 50%.

See also

Odds and Evens (film)

Odds and Evens (Italian: Pari e dispari also known as Trinity: Gambling for High Stakes) is an Italian action-comedy movie directed in 1978 by Sergio Corbucci.

In 1979 it was awarded with the Golden Screen Award along with Superman and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Plot

Johnny Firpo, a Navy soldier, is competing in many competitions in Miami, including American football and speedboat racing. Charlie instead is a truck driver making deliveries in various places and ultimately must carry a tank full of dolphins. The two characters meet when some miscreants sabotage Johnny's speedboat. He thinks that it was Charlie who was eating a plate of beans, but in the end they discover that the real culprits are a gang of illegal bookmakers, led by a man known as Paraboulis 'The Greek', who are controlling and rigging every gambling competition in Florida.

The Navy asks Johnny to infiltrate and dismantle the gang of bookmakers, giving him the tip to seek help of former gambler Charlie Firpo. Johnny eventually meets Charlie and proposes to work with him, but first Charlie disagrees because his acquaintance seems a clever, witty trickster and for his simple taste. In the end, however, the two combine to sabotage the gangsters' plots with gleeful fisticuffs in the ensuing melee. Amongst this backdrop, Charlie, in despair, finds out he is the illegitimate brother of Johnny during an escapade of his father—still alive unbeknownst to Charlie—who pretends to be blind in order to collect a pension. After Johnny was passed off as a runner with the horses and Charlie took part in a second meeting, the two brothers find out which houses the boss of the gang of bookmakers and Johnny will have to play with him and his henchmen in a poker game. Johnny wins but the boss does not intend to make it go away, so Charlie and Johnny greet the members of the band with a new and more powerful punch and brawl.

Evens

The Evens (English pronunciation: /əˈvɛn/) (formerly known as the Lamuts a term meaning "ocean people" in Even) (эвэн, pl. эвэсэл in Even and эвены in Russian) are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in some of the regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of the Lena River. According to the 2002 census, there were 19,071 Evens in Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 22,383 Evens in Russia. They speak their own Even language, one of the Tungusic languages. The Evens are close to the Evenks by their origins and culture. Officially, they were considered to be of Orthodox faith since the 19th century, but the Evens managed to preserve different forms of non-Christian beliefs, such as shamanism. Traditional Even life is centred upon nomadic pastoralism of domesticated reindeer, supplemented with hunting, fishing and animal-trapping. There were 104 Evens in Ukraine, 19 of whom speaking Even. (Ukr. Cen. 2001)

The ancestor of the Evens were believed to have migrated from the Transbaikal area to the coastal areas of eastern Siberia. The Ewen herders also rode their reindeer. The economy was supplemented by winter hunts to obtain wild game. Hunters sometimes rode reindeer, sometimes moved along on wooden skis.

Evens (disambiguation)

The Evens are an ethnic group of Siberia and the Russia Far East.

Evens may also refer to:

People with the surname Evens include:

See also