Russian roulette (Русская рулетка) 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 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 the spinning of the roulette wheel.
The form of the game can be as varied as the participants or their motives (displays of bravado, suicide etc.), but typically a single round is placed in a six-shot revolver resulting in a 1/6 (or approximately 17%) chance of the revolver discharging the round. 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 (typically five) or increasing the number of rounds are other variations that increase the risk.
Legends abound regarding the invention of Russian roulette. Most of these, predictably, are set in Russia or occur among Russian soldiers.
In one legend, 19th century Russian prisoners were forced to play the game while the prison guards bet on the outcome. In another version, desperate and suicidal officers in the Russian army played the game to impress each other.
Whether Tsarist officers actually played Russian roulette is unclear. In a text on the Czarist officer corps, John Bushnell, a Russian history expert at Northwestern University, cited two near-contemporary memoirs by Russian army veterans: The Duel (1905) by Aleksandr Kuprin and From Double Eagle to Red Flag (1921) by Pyotr Krasnov. Both books tell of officers' suicidal and outrageous behaviour, but Russian roulette is not mentioned in either text. If the game did originate in real life behavior and not fiction, it is unlikely that it started with the Russian military. The standard sidearm issued to Russian officers from 1895 to 1930 was the Nagant M1895 revolver. A double-action, seven chambered revolver, the Nagant's cylinder spins clockwise until the hammer is cocked. While the cylinder does not swing out as in modern hand-ejector style double action revolvers, it can be spun around to randomize the result. It is possible that Russian officers shot six and kept the seventh cartridge live. Due to the deeply seated rounds unique to the Nagant's cartridge and that the primers are concealed, it would be very difficult to tell from the outside where the live round was and which were spent; this would add to the uncertainty of the results.
The only reference to anything like Russian roulette in Russian literature is in a book entitled A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov (1840, translated by Vladimir Nabokov in 1958) in the story The Fatalist.
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 probability of failure (1/6 or 16.6%) or that the players simply take turns without spinning the cylinders until one is shot. In the latter case however, the player who takes the first turn has a significantly higher risk than the second player when only playing with two players, because the first player is more likely to take more turns when there are an odd number of chambers. If playing with more than two players, still without re-spinning, the latter players can better predict their odds when it becomes their turn. If playing with six players and the game lasted to the sixth player his probability of losing would be 100%. 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.
Unlike a revolver, using a semi-automatic pistol
, if a round is chambered, cocking and pulling the trigger will fire the chambered round and load another round, if available, making the odds 100%. Use of a semi-automatic pistol in Russian roulette is usually due to misunderstanding. Firing a semi-automatic pistol, thinking it is empty, when in fact it was loaded, would not constitute a variation of the Russian roulette, but an accident.
The humorous Darwin Awards, which grant their dubious honor to those who have "removed themselves from the human gene pool because of an act of extreme foolishness," awarded a man who played Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic pistol, apparently unaware that his odds of the firearm discharging were one, or 100%.
Simulation (toy gun)
A toy gun that simulates the game and game conditions (rotating cylinder with six "chambers" or chances of "firing") can be employed as a non-lethal version of the game. Examples include cap guns
with a rotating cylinder and a single loaded cap, a Nerf
gun with a rotating cylinder, (most often the revolver-shaped Maverick) an electronic toy gun similar to those used for laser tag
, or a video game light gun
connected to a computer programmed for Russian roulette simulation. There is also a toy version available in Japan that uses a balloon, with one chamber containing a pin used to pop the balloon. All players put money in the pot
. Each player in turn pulls the trigger, and when the gun discharges, the person holding the gun is eliminated from the game. The last player remaining wins the pot.
The term is also used in reference to any potentially lethal form of risk taking, where the person is in effect gambling with his life
A six pack of canned beer instead of a revolver is used in a slightly more humorous version known as "beer hunter" (a play on the title of the film The Deer Hunter
which extensively features Russian Roulette). This version of Russian roulette is made popular by Bob and Doug McKenzie
on their Great White North
album. A third party removes a random can from the six pack and shakes the can of beer vigorously and places it back in the six pack, then two contestants who have no knowledge of the shaken beer's placement draw a beer from the six pack. They place the can of beer as close to their head as possible and open the pop top. The shaken beer will spray the loser while the other five beers are uneventful.
In a more lethal drinking game, a Darwin Award
was given to a group of men playing Russian Roulette with fireworks. The men placed fireworks in their mouths and lit the fuses; the "winner" was the individual who delayed the longest before spitting out the firework.
is a sport invented somewhere in the 2000s in Russia
, where instead of playing Russian roulette with a human life a darts
board is used. Each person has a turn, before which he places a cartridge
in three chambers of a revolver
, and in his turn he shoots three times in a row. The winner is the one getting the most points at the end of the game.
Notable Russian roulette incidents
Numerous incidents have been reported regarding Russian roulette. Many are teenagers, with some players as young as 14.
- British author Graham Greene claimed that in his youth he often played Russian Roulette as a means to provide "excitement and get away from the boredom." But he later decided that "it was no more exciting than taking aspirin for a headache.
- In his autobiography, Malcolm X says that during his burglary career he once played Russian roulette, pulling the trigger three times in a row to convince his partners in crime that he was not afraid to die. In the epilogue to the book, Alex Haley states that Malcolm X revealed to him that he palmed the round.
- On December 24, 1954 the American blues musician Johnny Ace killed himself in Texas after a gun he pointed at his own head discharged. Many sources, including the Washington Post attribute this to Russian roulette.
- John Hinckley, Jr., the man who attempted to murder President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was known to play Russian roulette, alone, on two occasions. Hinckley also took a picture of himself in 1980 pointing a gun at his head.
- PBS claims that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, had attempted suicide by playing a solo game of Russian roulette.
- On October 5, 2003, psychological illusionist Derren Brown played Russian roulette on British television Channel 4. The stunt was broadcast live with a slight delay allowing the program to cut to a black screen if anything had gone wrong. The stunt was condemned by some as being irresponsible, and a statement by the police that they had been informed of the arrangements in advance and were satisfied that "at no time was anyone at risk made it clear that the incident was at least partially a hoax. However, it was proved on the prerecorded segment of the program that at point blank range even a blank cartridge is potentially lethal, and may cause concussion to the head, deafness or burns. Exactly what precautions Brown took to avoid this are still unknown.
- A man nicknamed "Zero," one of the members of the Manson Family, was said to have shot himself playing Russian roulette. However, it is speculated as to whether this is true or if he was murdered by the other members of the Family in the room at the time.
- Former professional football player Herschel Walker admitted in his book Breaking Free that he had played Russian roulette with a loaded pistol while sitting in his kitchen.
Depictions in fiction
The 1948 film Unfaithfully Yours features a dream sequence where the main character challenges his wife's lover to a game of Russian roulette.
At the end of the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon short Ballot Box Bunny, Bugs and Yosemite Sam play Russian roulette. Bugs loses and a shot is heard after the picture irises out, then the iris opens again to reveal Bugs saying "I missed!", followed by a pan over to reveal a singed and blackened Sam. (This scene is almost always cut from the cartoon when it is shown on television.)
In Ingmar Bergman's 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night, Count Carl Magnus Malcolm challenges his wife's lover to a game of Russian roulette. The count wins, having loaded his service revolver with a blank cartridge.
The 1970 Mexican film El Topo portrays Russian roulette as a previous religious practice. Each member of the congregation fired the gun at his head, and it was declared a miracle when the firearm did not discharge. (It is later revealed that the round was a blank.)
While not technically Russian roulette, the two scenes in 1971's Dirty Harry where Harry Callahan delivers his famous speech ("Do you feel lucky?") share similar features to the game. In both cases, the criminal Callahan aims his weapon at is forced to ask himself whether "six shots or only five" have been discharged from Callahan's magnum.
The 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Sholay depicts a form of Russian roulette. Angry with his three colleagues for their cowardice, Gabbar Singh fires his gun into the air, spinning the chamber between each round to give each a 50-50 chance. He aims at each of the three in turn, threatening the last, "Tera Kya hoga re Kalia?" ("What will happen to you, Kalia?")
In the movie Jaan Baaz directed by Feroz Khan Anil Kapoor plays Russian Roulette in a club and eventually caught by his cop brother played by Feroz Khan.
Russian roulette was made famous worldwide with the 1978 movie The Deer Hunter, which features three soldiers who are captured during the Vietnam war and forced to play Russian roulette as their captors gamble on the results. Their captors demand an especially brutal variation of the game: the game is played until all but one contestant is killed. The game takes place in a bamboo room above where the other prisoners are held, so that the losers' blood drips down on future contestants. Several teen deaths following the movie's release caused police and the media to blame the film's depiction of Russian roulette, saying that it inspired the youths.
A game of Russian roulette in the 1993 Japanese film Sonatine turns out to be a joke when the gun is found to not be loaded.
Emir Kusturica's 1993 "Arizona Dream" movie features Johnny Depp pulling the revolver's trigger multiple times while playing Russian roulette.
In the director's cut of the 1994 film Léon, Mathilda (Natalie Portman) uses Russian roulette as part of an emotional game with Léon. Léon pushes the gun away from her head at the last minute and it discharges into the room.
In the alternate ending to the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance John McClane (Bruce Willis) plays a form of Russian roulette with Simon (Jeremy Irons) which involves a small Chinese rocket launcher with the sights removed, meaning it cannot be determined which end is which. McClane then asks Simon some riddles similar to the ones he played in New York. When Simon gets a riddle wrong, McClane forces him at gunpoint to fire the launcher, which fires the rocket through Simon, killing him.
In the 1997 movie "Bad Day on the Block" (a.k.a Under Pressure), the decorated fireman Lyle Wilder (Charlie Sheen) terrorizes his noisy neighbours by playing Russian roulette with them.
Several films feature Russian roulette being used as an interrogation technique. Both 1997 film L.A. Confidential and 2003 film A Man Apart feature law enforcement playing Russian roulette with suspects until they reveal information. This is spoofed in 2004's remake of Starsky and Hutch; and again in the 2005 comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, in which Harry (Robert Downey, Jr.), due to his ineptitude, does not palm the round and ends up killing his hostage with the first shot.
In 2000's The Way of the Gun, Abner Mercer (Geoffrey Lewis) places a revolver with a single loaded cartridge into a bag containing more revolvers, jumbles them a bit, and pulls one out as his telephone rings. He places the gun to his head and appears to be mulling over answering the phone or pulling the trigger. After a few rings, he pulls the trigger, and nothing happens. He then answers the phone. Russian roulette also plays a pivotal role in the climax of Danny Boyle's 2000 film adaptation of The Beach, wherein beach community leader, Sal, (Tilda Swinton) holds Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) at gunpoint at the behest of the island's marijuana farmers, who placed this ultimatum upon her in order to keep the island's existence a secret.
The 2001 film Intacto features a game of Russian roulette between two supernaturally lucky men at its climax, using a revolver with five loaded chambers and one empty chamber.
In the 2005 Venezuelan film Secuestro Express, the villain Budu plays "Ruleta Criolla" (Venezuelan Roulette). His rules: One round is loaded into an empty gun, the only one participating in the game is the victim, Budu keeps rolling the cylinder and firing at this person until theres one winner, and eventually this "winner" will be the victim.
For the 2006 noir film 13 Tzameti, the game is played as a means of underground high-stakes gambling where players stand in a circle and discharge their firearms into the successive player's head, one hammer pull per round with each round increasing in the number of cartridges in the revolver's chamber.
The 2007 film Live! by director Bill Guttentag depicts a television station's attempt to launch a game show based on Russian roulette. Six contestants can win 5 million dollars each if they play Russian roulette on live television. Also, in American Pie: Beta House, The Deer Hunter is parodied when Dwight Stifler challenges Edgar in a Greek Olympiad event where each of them plays a version of Russian roulette wearing military clothes, headbands, and being slapped by a neutral judge. However, instead of loading the chamber with a live round, a canister of 'old-aged horse semen' is loaded instead. The players are to place the nozzle in their mouths prior to pulling the trigger. At anytime, the number of canisters can be increased. The loser is the one actually 'shoots' himself with horse semen, which, in this case, falls to the unfortunate Edgar.
Russian roulette inspired the Game Show Network
's TV game show of the same name
. Players stood on trapdoors, arranged in a circle, and following rounds of answering questions, a spotlight would travel around the circle (mimicking the spinning of the cylinder of a revolver) before stopping on one of the trapdoors. If a player stood on a lighted spot, the door was triggered and opened, dropping the eliminated player into a circular shaft below where they would fall on a cushioned floor.
In an episode of Moonlighting, two office workers play a variation of Russian roulette with a water cooler. They take turns filling paper cups with water. When the air bubble releases in the container, the person filling their cup loses.
In the first season of Mission: Impossible, Episode 10: "The Carriers", has a scene where the enemy agent tries to extract information from the captured IM team using a revolver and a single round.
In the Tales From The Crypt episode "Cutting Cards," Russian roulette is one of the games played.
Russian roulette features in several animated series, including spirits playing in Dragon Ball Z, and comic animation Drawn Together (The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist, Part II, 2005).
Russian roulette also features in several television series, including The X-Files (Pusher, 1996), Veronica Mars (Ahoy, Mateys!, 2005), and 24 (season three). In the Argentine crime fiction series Epitafios, one character is depicted playing Russian roulette in order to earn money.
Russian roulette is referred to in several comedy series. In an episode of King of The Hill, Dale lies and tells his wife he was playing the game. She then asks him if he won, and he replies "You're not familiar with the game, are you? Yeah, I won."; while in the Scrubs episode "My Screw Up", Dr. Cox suggests to Jordan a Russian roulette in which rounds are placed in all the chambers of the revolver, thus "everybody wins." In an episode of Family Guy, in which Peter Griffin, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire are fighting over possession of a trophy, Peter proposes that they settle the dispute by Russian roulette. The "last man standing" keeps the trophy. Peter initially plans to go first, but then stops and says this is crazy. He then suggests that Quagmire go first.
In the Alias episode "Nocturne", a Russian roulette scene was shot but later omitted from the final cut. The extended scene is available on the DVD box set.
UK Psychologist and Magician, Derren Brown played a live version of Russian Roulette. It was broadcast late in the evening from the Isle of Jersey (where the possession of firearms is allowed) The format followed Brown and a member of the public as he played a solo game. The member of the public selected a chamber at will, and loaded a bullet. He then closed the gun and sat behind a protective screen. Brown played the game by guessing through psychology and reading which chamber it was loaded. Brown succeeded and proved it by firing into a sandbag. However days later, it was revealed that the bullet in the gun was not live. However the impact of this show drew many audiences and launched Derren Brown in the public eye.
In the episode of Dilbert "The Off Site Meeting", when the Pointy-Haired Boss is asking about icebreaker games for the off site meeting, Dilbert says "How about Russian Roulette?" during the meeting.
In an episode of Las Vegas "The Chicken Is Making My Back Hurt", a body was found in a dumpster, which turned out to be a fatality of a big-stakes Russian roulette game. Players have the option of using one bullet for $20,000, two bullets for $40,000, and so on.
In an episode of The King Of Queens, Doug returns home, drunk, after partying with Russians the previous night. While trying to recap the happenings of the previous night, he mentioned playing Russian Roulette.
In video games
- In the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater a young Revolver Ocelot plays a variation of Russian roulette on his victims. A round is inserted in the cylinder of one revolver, at which point it is juggled with two other (unloaded) revolvers. As he juggles the guns, he starts to pull triggers at random intervals six times, or until the loaded weapon discharges. At the end of the game he also presents the player with two revolvers, one of which has one round in it. After the player chooses a gun, he and Ocelot fire at each other until the loaded weapon discharges.
- In "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow" Sam Fisher makes a comment in Jerusalem about opening up a suspected container of the "Smallpox" virus, saying "I could just open it here" instead of continuing to a point at which the container will be taken back to the United States for analysis, to which Lambert replies "And you could play Russian roulette with a clip-loading pistol".
- Illusion of Gaia features a "Russian Glass club" in Watermia, which has a variation of Russian roulette. Five glasses are placed, one of which contains deadly poison, and two players take turns drinking them.
- Russian roulette features in the video game Killer7. Principal Benjamin Keane of Coburn Elementary School plays with Garcian Smith. If Garcian loses, he has to kill the United States President; if he wins, Keane will reveal to him the secret to hitting on women with 100% success. The game proceeds with Keane hesitating before each pull of the trigger and Garcian not flinching at all. Keane gets lucky on the 5th pull and tells Garcian he lost. Garcian, in turn, takes the revolver and pulls the trigger again, puts the gun down, and states that he's a professional and knows that that type of revolver holds 7 rounds. Keane then proceeds to kill himself after stating that all women are the same.
- Russian roulette is a level in the James Bond game The World Is Not Enough. In the level, the player does not actually play Russian roulette, but blackjack.
- A foot version of the game can be played in Torn City. Players take turns shooting an R&W Revolver at their left foot, and the player that loses is sent to the hospital, losing his part of the money pot.
- In the game Conflict: Vietnam one of the levels is named Russian Roulette and starts off with captured GI's being forced to play the game by the Viet Cong, partially inspired by the film The Deer Hunter.
- In Final Fantasy X-2, the gun-wielding character, Logos, uses a special attack called Russian Roulette. It is a reference in name only, as Logos' move puts a random bad status effect (blind, poison, etc.) on the character it hits, rather than some being any sort of game of death.
- In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Final Fantasy VI, and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, there is an attack named 'Roulette'. A cursor hovers over everyone on both teams, and the character it stops on will then be killed.
- In the opensource casino videogame 'GPC-Slots 2' a player can gamble with his life to win 25 points if he has less then 1000 points, 250 points if he has 1000 to 10000 points, 2500 points if he has 10000 to 100000 points etc. This is usually used if the player has lost all his points at ther slot machines, roulette wheel, and dice games.
- Ice MC has a song called "Russian roulette" with Alexia in the chorus, where emphasizes the danger of playing this lethal game:
"It's a Russian roulette, it's a game and you're playing with fire, so don't be crazy, be at peace of mind when you go with the one you desire, your life is in danger".
- In "Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliche" by Post-hardcore band Escape the Fate, they sing ("Sitting in this room playing Russian roulette, finger on the trigger to my dear Juliet")
- British Acid House outfit Bomb The Bass aka Tim Simenon in their major hit "Beat Dis" uses the sampled line "You play Russian roulette this way..."
- In "Choke On This," Senses Fail sing, "...Play Russian roulette as we kiss...".
- In "Truth Dare," Insane Clown Posse say, "...Play some Russian roulette with a loaded crossbow..." as a double dare.
- In rapper Eminem's song "Business", he describes how a duet with Elton John at the Grammy Awards was "career-Russian roulette."
- Enrique Iglesias included a song called "Ruleta Rusa" (Russian Roulette) on his 1998 album Cosas del Amor. The song talks about his relationship with a woman called Reina, which he likens to playing Russian roulette. The song was released as a single in Argentina.
- "My Last Words" by Thrash metal group Megadeth tells the story of a game of Russian roulette, "six to one's the odds."
- Skacore band Weapons Of Brass Destruction plays "Full Clip and Russian Roulette."
- The opening theme to the classic Anime "Dirty Pair" is named "Russian Roulette".
- "Sugar" by System of a Down from their self-titled album mentions Russian roulette in the lyric "I play Russian roulette every day / Its a man's sport, with a bullet called life".
- Australian band British India have a song called "Russian Roulette" on their 2007 album Guillotine. The chorus has the repeated line of "I can show you how to win at Russian roulette".
- German band Accept has a song called "Russian Roulette" on their 1986 album Russian Roulette.
- The album Ompa til du dør by Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra contains numerous references to Russian Roulette. Their song "Resistansen" (The Resistance) describes a cellar where it is played every Friday. Through the lyrics of the song "Rullett", it is revealed that a game of Russian roulette is being played.
- British Punk Rocker Billy Idol's song "Don't Need a Gun" includes the lyrics, "Don't need a gun / Russian roulette no fun / I don't need a gun / I just need / someone."
- Shredder Yngwie Malmsteen's "Russian Roulette" on his Unleash the Fury album.
- Punk supergroup Lords of the New Church released a track on their self-titled album (1982) called "Russian Roulette".
- Canadian punk group Billy Talent, in their song "This Suffering" feature the lyrics "She's a bullet in Russian roulette."
- "Russian Roulette" is a song on the album The Ultimate Escape by the band Tsunami Bomb.
- There is a Japanese rock and roll song called "Russian Roulette" which was performed by the Japanese rock singer Tomoyasu Hotei. This song was also featured in Capcom's video game Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny.
- Northern Irish singer Van Morrison performs a song called "Russian Roulette."
- American singer Moby's hit song, Alice, opens with the line, "My head keeps turning turning like Russian roulette."
- American nu metal Group, Limp Bizkit, in their Mission Impossible theme sing "Its like Russian roulette when you're placing your bet."
- American punk band Hot Water Music has a song entitled Russian Roulette which states ...she lives like a Russian roulette. Barrel up to the head.
- Junkie XL's song Love Like a Razorblade begins with a dialogue between two strange voices which are going to play to the Russian roulette. One of the voices has a Russian accent and teach to the other how to play. After explanations, the song get started while we can hear the characters beginning to play. When it is time for the fourth shot, an explosion is heard and then the beats follow.
- Marilyn Manson's "Count To Six And Die (The Vacuum Of Infinite Space Encompassing)" which chorus consists of "and it spins around 1...2...3, and we all lay down 4...5...6, some die fast, some do it better in smaller amounts"
- The American band 10 Years has a song titled "Russian Roulette" on their second CD titled, Division, which does a subliminal comparison of Russian roulette to drug usage.
- Lady Gaga - Poker Face "Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun, and baby when its love if its not rough it isn't fun...."
- Eighteen Visions have a song called "Russian Roulette With A Trigger Happy Manic Depressive" off of their "No Time For Love" 7" and full length album titled "The Best Of Eighteen Visions" in which the lyrics read "watch the rounds spin, pull the trigger, it's so complex, and I can taste the lead on my lips".
- Warren Zevon wrote Carmelita, which has the lyrics "Well I'm sitting here playing solitaire / With my pearl-handled deck"
- In the grotesque tale Les Cataleptiques, written by Alexis Tchkotoua and published in the French literary revue La Roulette russe, the main character plays Russian roulette in front of a mirror, leaving to his reflection the first shooting.
- In the book Just Shocking, Andy Griffiths and Danny Pickett start playing Lemonade Roulette with six cans of lemonade from a party. Eventually, Mr and Mrs Griffiths and Mr and Mrs Bainbridge come back from a game of golf and decide to have a can of lemonade with Andy and Danny, unaware that they are playing Lemonade Roulette. Eventually, Mr Bainbridge gets drenched with lemonade and starts talking about playing Lemonade Roulette as a child.
- In the short story "The Last Spin" by Evan Hunter, the two main characters, members of rival gangs, are volunteered by their "clubs" to settle the score once and for all through a game of Russian roulette.
- In the Torchwood novel "Another Life" by Peter Anghelides, Owen plays Russian roulette in a 3D virtual game created by Tosh where the player appears to be living in the game.
- In the first chapter of the manga series Gunsmith Cats, the main character interrogates an intruder by playing a version of Russian Roulette where she pulls the trigger five times, bragging about her ability to time her spin so she knows where to stop.