Left or Right visual featuring an overhead arrangement of movie snacks, coffee, tea, keys, headphones, shopping items and walking shoes

Left or Right

A minimal directional coin: flip and go left or right. That's the whole idea.

LeftRight
Start deciding
Left
Right

Tap, press Space, or swipe up

About this tool

About the Left or Right

Left or right is the purest two-way choice there is — no pros, no cons, just two directions. This coin keeps it that simple: flip, read the side, turn that way. It was made for coin-flip walks, where you flip at every intersection and let chance route you somewhere you have never bothered to go.

The same flip covers anything arranged side by side. Two doors, two queues, two identical items on a shelf, the left or right seat, which hand is hiding the sweet. Whenever the options are literally positioned left and right, this coin answers in the exact vocabulary of the problem.

Four quick steps

How to use it

  1. Stand at the fork — literal or otherwise.
  2. Flip the coin.
  3. Go the way it says: left is left, right is right.
  4. On a coin-flip walk, flip again at every new intersection.

Starting options

What the two sides mean

Neither side carries an argument here, only a direction, so what matters is agreeing which way you are facing before the coin goes up.

Left
Turn left at the fork, join the left-hand queue, open the left door, pick the left hand. On a coin-flip walk that is the entire instruction for this side.
Right
Turn right, or take the right-hand option. Left and right swap depending on which way you are pointing, so fix your facing before the toss rather than arguing after it.

Useful moments

Good for

  • Take a randomized walk and rediscover your own neighborhood.
  • Pick a supermarket queue or airport security lane without agonizing.
  • Choose between two identical items on a shelf.
  • Play guess-which-hand with kids using a referee that can't be accused of cheating.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do I do a coin-flip walk without going in circles?

Set two rules before you leave: flip only at genuine junctions, and never take the way you have just come from. A time limit works better than a distance one. Flip until the halfway point, then navigate home normally instead of flipping your way back.

What if there are three ways to go?

A coin has two faces, so either rule one route out yourself and flip on the remaining pair, or use a wheel instead and type the three directions in as entries. Entries can be renamed or removed at each junction as the options in front of you change.

Does flipping actually pick the faster queue?

No, and it does not pretend to. Nothing about the flip knows how full the trolleys are or who is about to need a price check. What it does is end thirty seconds of comparing two queues that are usually within a minute of each other.

Is there a way to flip without tapping the screen?

Press the spacebar. It flips exactly as a tap does, which helps when the phone is propped against something, your hands are full of shopping, or you are flipping repeatedly on a laptop and would rather not keep reaching for the mouse between junctions.

Keep deciding

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