Hard count is one process for counting coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

s in a casino

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

 or bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

. The hard count room

Count room

A count room or counting room is a room that is designed and equipped for the purpose of counting large volumes of currency. Count rooms are operated by central banks and casinos, as well as some large banks and armored car companies that transport currency.A count room may be divided into two...

s are usually among the most secure places due to the large amounts of cash that can be on hand at any one time.

Typically, coins are not counted on a piece basis. Instead, they are separated by denomination into containers and weighed using large scales. Each scale is preprogrammed so that it can automatically derive the value of the container's contents from its weight. An exception to this is in casinos, where high denomination casino token

Casino token

Casino tokens are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection molded plastic or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines...

s (for example, $25 and above) may be counted by hand.

The opposite of hard count is soft count

Soft count

A soft count is one process for counting banknotes in a casino or bank. The soft count rooms are usually among the most secure places due to the large amounts of cash that can be on hand at any one time....

 in which banknote

Banknote

A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

s are counted.

Football

In Gridiron Football, "hard count" is a strategy used by offenses, often to convert on fourth down with less than five yards to go. In this situation, an offense will take the full time on the play clock with the quarterback utilizing an irregular, accented (thus, the term "hard") cadence for the snap count in the hope that the defense will jump offside, giving the offense the five yards needed to convert the first down. However, if the defense does not go offside, the offense will either call a time out or take a five-yard penalty for delay of game and punt the ball away.

Some offenses utilize the "hard count" throughout the game in order to confuse the defense. However, the offensive line must be disciplined and in step with the quarterback to avoid a false start.