Russian Roulette
A revolver, as used in Russian roulette.
Russian roulette (Russian: Русская рулетка, Russkaya ruletka) is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger. "Russian" refers to the supposed country of origin of the game and roulette to the element of risk-taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder being reminiscent of spinning a roulette wheel.
The form of the game can be as varied as the participants or their motives (displays of bravado, boredom, suicide, etc.), but typically a single round is placed in a six-shot revolver resulting in a 1/6 (or approximately 16.67%) chance of the revolver discharging the round. Regardless of any player's position in the shooting sequence, his initial odds are the same as for all other players. The revolver's cylinder can either be spun again to reset the game conditions, or the trigger can be pulled again. Using revolvers with fewer chambers or increasing the number of rounds are variations that increase the risk of being killed in any given round of play.
History
Several teen deaths following the release of the film The Deer Hunter caused police and the media to blame the film's depiction of Russian roulette, saying that it inspired the youths.[1]
Variations
It is assumed, probably solely based on some cinematic depictions, that two players either take turns spinning and firing the revolver so that each successive turn has an equal 1/6 probability of failure or that the players simply take turns without spinning the cylinders until one is shot. If playing with more than two players, without re-spinning, the initial probability of each player for being killed is 1/6th, but the probability of being killed changes every time the trigger is pulled. The second player has a 1/5th (20%) probability of being killed, and the probability of the third player 1/4th (25%). Until player #6 when the chance of being killed is 1 (100%) assuming the bullet properly works.
In the former case, where they respin the chamber, the game could continue indefinitely and gamblers could presumably only wager on which players will survive and how many turns the game will last.
A common joke at the expense of Poland is that "Polish Roulette" is played with a semi-automatic handgun (i.e., the weapon will automatically load a round into the chamber until the magazine is empty, ensuring that all players die).
Demographics
A retrospective study in Kentucky, USA showed that about 80% of the victims of Russian roulette were white, all of them male, the average age was 25 years and alcohol drinking played a much bigger role than in other cases of suicide by shooting.[2]
References
Links
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Kablamo, a tongue-in-cheek board game with a Russian roulette theme.
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Gimp Roulette, a Shockwave webpage game that simulates Russian roulette.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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