Russian roulette

A revolver, specifically a Russian Nagant M1895

Russian roulette (Russian: Русская рулетка) is a lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against their head, and pulls the trigger. "Russian" refers to the supposed country of origin, and roulette to the element of risk-taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder being reminiscent of spinning a roulette wheel.

Because only one chamber is loaded, the player has a one in x chance of hitting the loaded chamber, where x is the number of chambers in the cylinder. So, for instance, for a revolver that holds six rounds, the chance is one in six. That assumes that each chamber is equally likely to come to rest in the "correct" position. However due to gravity, in a properly maintained weapon with a single round inside the cylinder, the full chamber, which weighs more than the empty chambers, will usually end up near the bottom of the cylinder when its axis is not vertical, altering the odds in favor of the player. This only applies to swing-out cylinder type revolvers, and only if the cylinder is spun outside of the revolver and allowed to come to a complete stop before locked back in.

History

In writing, the term "Russian roulette" was first used in an eponymous 1937 short story by Georges Surdez:

'Did you ever hear of Russian Roulette?' ... With the Russian army in Romania, around 1917, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, remove a cartridge from the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head and pull the trigger.^[1]

It is claimed that this practice was widely known in Russia in the early 19th century. However, there is only one written source before the 20th century: in Mikhail Lermontov's 1840 "The Fatalist", one of five novellas comprising his A Hero of Our Time, a minor character survives a version of Russian roulette.

Notable incidents

Numerous incidents have been reported regarding Russian roulette, where the number of pulls of the trigger before a round is expected to discharge is 3.5 (without spinning between the pulls) or 6 (with spinning between the pulls).^[2]

• A 1946 legal case in the United States: In Commonwealth v. Malone, 47 A.2d 445 (1946), a Pennsylvania teenager's conviction for manslaughter as a result of shooting a friend during a game of Russian roulette was upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court ruled that "When an individual commits an act of gross recklessness without regard to the probability that death to another is likely to result, that individual exhibits the state of mind required to uphold a conviction of manslaughter even if the individual did not intend for death to ensue."^[3] It is worth noting, however, that in the Malone case the teenagers involved played a modified version of Russian roulette in which they took turns aiming and pulling the trigger of the revolver at each other, rather than at their own heads. It has not yet been established whether simply participating in a game of Russian roulette in which another participant kills himself by his own hand would constitute manslaughter or some lesser form of conspiracy or homicide.
• 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.^[4] The incident is portrayed in the 1992 film adaptation of the autobiography.
• On December 25, 1954, the American blues musician Johnny Ace killed himself in Texas after a gun he pointed at his own head discharged. Sources including the Washington Post^[5] attribute this to Russian roulette but some believe that it was only an accident.^[6]
• Graham Greene relates in his first autobiography A Sort of Life (1971) that he played Russian roulette, alone, a few times as a teenager.
• In 1976 Finnish magician Aimo Leikas killed himself in front of a crowd while performing his Russian roulette act. He had been performing the act for about a year, selecting six bullets from a box of assorted live and dummy ammunition.^[7][8]
• John Hinckley, Jr., the man who attempted to murder President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was known to play Russian roulette, alone, on two occasions.^[9] Hinckley also took a picture of himself in 1980 pointing a gun at his head.^[10]
• 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.^[11]
• On October 5, 2003, psychological illusionist Derren Brown appeared to take part in a game of Russian roulette live on UK television. Two days later, a statement by the police said that they had been informed of the arrangements in advance, and were satisfied that "There was no live ammunition involved and at no time was anyone at risk."^[12]
• The BBC program Who Do You Think You Are? on 13 September 2010 featured the actor Alan Cumming investigating his grandfather Tommy Darling, whom he discovered had died playing Russian roulette while serving as a police officer in Malaya. The family had previously believed that he had died accidentally while cleaning his gun.^[13]
• In the episode "Venezuela" of Banged Up Abroad James Miles and Paul Loseby voice their utter shock and horror when they discover the prisoners playing Russian roulette. After having his appeal refused and facing a ten year sentence as well as due to the harshness of the prison life and complete lack of self-esteem James himself eventually participated in the game.^[14]

Drinking game

There exists a drinking game based upon the infamous game of chance. The drinking game involves six shot glasses filled by a non-player. Five are filled with water and the sixth is filled with vodka. Among some groups, low quality vodka is preferred as it makes the glass representing the filled chamber less desirable. The glasses are arranged in a circle and players take turns choosing a glass to take a shot from at random.^[15]

There is also a game called "Beer Hunter" (after the Russian roulette scenes in the film The Deer Hunter). In this game, six cans of beer are placed between the participants. One can is vigorously shaken, and the cans are scrambled. The participants take turns opening the cans of beer right under their noses; the person who opens the shaken can (and sprays beer up their nose) is deemed the loser.^[16]

In popular culture

Russian roulette has been portrayed in many different works of modern culture.

• Russian roulette was made famous worldwide with the 1978 film The Deer Hunter, which features three US 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.^[17]
• In 1986, the German heavy metal band Accept released an album entitled Russian Roulette.^[18]
• In 2001, in their debut album Ompa til du dør, Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra included numerable references to Russian roulette, most notably in the songs "Rulett", "Fra sjåfør til passasjer", and "Resistansen".^[19]
• In the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, Sam Shepard playing Garrison says of his local informant: "You know, the last one of these guys shot himself in the head playing Russian-Roulette in a bar".^[20]
• During the third season of television series 24, which aired in 2004, main character Jack Bauer is forced to play Russian roulette during a prison riot.^[21]
• In 2008, 10 Years released a song called "Russian Roulette" on their album Division.^[22]
• In 2008, Lady Gaga released a song called "Poker Face" which included the lyric 'Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun.' ^[23]
• In 2009, Rihanna released a song called "Russian Roulette".^[24]
• In 2010 the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops featured characters being forced to play Russian roulette, heavily inspired by the scene from The Deer Hunter.^[25]
• In 2014, Anthony Horowitz published Russian Roulette, prequel to his spy novel Alex Rider, focusing on the childhood and back-story of Yassen Gregorovich, the recurring assassin within the series.^[26]
• MAD Magazine once showed Russian "Russian Roulette" in which six men play the game without spinning the chamber of a revolver between turns. When the last (and doomed) man gets the gun he fires it back through the heads of the other five.^[27]

See also

References