Russian roulette
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Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game in which participants place a cartridge in only some—typically one—of the several chambers of a revolver. The cylinder is spun and closed so that the location of the round or rounds are unknown. Participants would then aim the revolver at their own heads and pull the trigger, risking a likely death from the gunshot wound. It was famously portrayed in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter as a form of gambling, but the extent of real life gambling based on this activity is unknown.
The roulette in the name is in reference to the real gambling game of roulette since it also involves risk taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder is 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 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, increasing the odds with every trigger pull; 1/3 (33%) for the second trigger pull and 1/2 (50%) for the third etc, going to for the 6 shot 1/1 (100%), if it reaches that point there is almost certain death. Using revolvers with fewer chambers (typically five) or increasing the number of rounds are other variations that increase the risk.
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[edit] History
Legends abound regarding the invention of Russian roulette. Most of these, predictably, take place 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.
The earliest known use of the term is from "Russian Roulette", a short story by Georges Surdez in the January 30, 1937, issue of Collier's Magazine. A Russian sergeant in the French Foreign Legion asks the narrator,
| “ | "Feldheim… did you ever hear of Russian Roulette?" When I said I had not, he told me all about it. When he was with the Russian army in Romania, around 1917, and things were cracking up, so that their officers felt that they were not only losing prestige, money, family, and country, but were being also dishonoured before their colleagues of the Allied armies, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, anywhere, at the table, in a cafe, at a gathering of friends, remove a cartridge from the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head, and pull the trigger. There were five chances to one that the hammer would set off a live cartridge and blow his brains all over the place. Sometimes it happened, sometimes not. | ” |
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 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. However, it holds seven cartridges and not six, which throws some doubt on the accuracy of the reference in Collier's. It is possible that Russian officers shot six and kept the seventh cartridge live. Due to the deeply seated bullets 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 which a similar act is performed by a Serbian soldier in the story The Fatalist: the dare however is not named as "Russian roulette".
[edit] 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 probability of failure (1/6 or 17%) or that the players simply take turns without spinning the cylinders until one is shot. In the latter case however, each players has an equal chance of success or failure (50%) and one player will die with the contest lasting at most 6 turns. In the former case the game could continue indefinitely and gamblers could presumable only wager on which players will survive and how many turns the game will last.
[edit] Semi-automatic pistol
Using a semi-automatic pistol, unlike a revolver, will automatically load and fire a round eliminating any chance. Use of a semi-automatic pistol is usually due to misunderstanding. Firing a semi-automitic pistol thinking it is empty when in fact it was loaded would not constitute a variation of the Russian roulette, but a mere shooting accident.
The humorous Darwin Awards, who grants the 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 an automatic pistol, apparently unaware that his odds of the firearm discharging were not one in six but 100%.[1]
[edit] 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 (such as the Maverick Rev-6 [1] ), 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.
[edit] Metaphor
The term is also used in reference to any potentially lethal form of risk taking, where the person is in effect gambling with their life. See the story of the three Cambodians in Notable Russian roulette incidents where a land mine was used.
[edit] Drinking game
A six pack of canned beer instead of a revolver is used in a slightly more humorous version known as "beer hunter", an homage to the movie Deer Hunter. 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 beers 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. This game is most often played in public where the loser is openly ridiculed.
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. [1]
[edit] Notable Russian roulette incidents
There are numerous reported incidents[vague] of Russian Roulette. Many are teenagers, with some players as young as 14.[2]
- Russian Avant-Garde poet Vladimir Mayakovsky played Russian Roulette with himself on April 14, 1930, and died at 10:15am. In observance of the Russian superstition that before death a man must put on clean linen, he changed his shirt before playing. (cited in The Bedbug and Selected Poetry by Vladimir Mayakovsky edited by Patricia Blake et al.)
- 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."[3]
- 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 wasn't afraid to die. In the epilogue to the book, Alex Haley states that Malcolm X revealed to him that he palmed the bullet.
- 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[4] 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.[citation needed]
- On June 12, 2001, Clinton Pope, a 16-year-old with a criminal record who had been drinking for the night, fired a bullet into his face while playing Russian roulette before his friends in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. He was sent to a hospital and was in critical but stable condition.[5]
- 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.[6]
- 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"[7] 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.
[edit] Depictions in fiction
[edit] In film
The 1948 film Unfaithfully Yours features a dream sequence where the main character challenges his wife's lover to a game of Russian Roulette.
In Ingmar Bergman's comedy Smiles of a Summer Night, 1955, Count Carl Magnus Malcolm challenge his wife's lover, lawyer Fredrik Egerman, to a game of Russian Roulette. The lawyer loses, but the count have loaded his service revolver with a blank cartridge.
The 1970 Mexican film El Topo portrayed Russian Roulette as a religious practice. Each member of the congregation would fire the gun at his head, and it was declared a miracle when the firearm did not discharge. (It was later revealed that the bullet was a blank.)
The 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, meaning "Flames", depicts Russian roulette. Angry with his three colleagues for their cowardice, Gabbar Singh empties three out of six bullets by firing the gun into the air, spinning the chamber between each round to give all 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?").
Russian Roulette was made famous worldwide three years later with the movie The Deer Hunter, the Best Picture winning movie that followed the lives of three men from a small steel town as they enlist in the Vietnam War. The men are played by Robert De Niro, John Savage, and Christopher Walken. The film shows very little combat footage, and cuts to the men being captured by Viet Cong soldiers and forced to play Russian Roulette as their captors gambled on the results. They are caged and forced to play against each other. 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. According to one website claiming to offer insight into the practice of Russian roulette, Valerie Douglas, whose father's cousin and father were in the Vietnam War states that Russian roulette occurred both for gambling and murder. [2][verification needed] 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.[citation needed]
In the director's cut of the 1994 film Leon, Natalie Portman uses Russian roulette as part of an emotional game with Leon, loading a chamber into Leon's gun and telling him if she died from it he wouldn't have to worry about her anymore, but if she survived he'd be responsible for her. Before she pulls the trigger, she in tears says "I love you." Leon at the last minute pushed the gun away from Mathilda's head as it discharged into the room, saving her life.
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 a suspect 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.
An interesting 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.
For the 2006 noir film 13 Tzameti, director Géla Babluani invented a different version of the game, 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. This version bares closer resemblance to Russian Poker, than Russian Roulette.
In the Venezuelan film Secuestro Express. Budu play some kind of Russian Roulette called "Ruleta Criolla" (Venezuelan Roulette in Spanish). The rules of the game according to Budu (the bad guy in the movie) are the following: One bullet 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.
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.
[edit] In television
Russian roulette inspired a 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. This then opened, dropping the player from sight.
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), and 24 (season three). In the Argentine crime fiction series Epitafios, one character is depicted playing Russian Roulette in order to earn money in several episodes.
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 the season 4 episode of Alias, Nocturne a Russian roulette scene was shot but later omitted from the final cut. The extended scene is available on the DVD box set.
[edit] In video games
In the video game Metal Gear Solid III: Snake Eater, a young Revolver Ocelot plays a variation of Russian Roulette on his victims. A bullet 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 bullet in it. The player and Ocelot then rush to one each of the guns lying on the floor, and both start firing until the loaded weapon discharges.
Illusion of Gaia features a "Russian Glass club" in Watermia, which has a high-stakes variation of Russian roulette. Five glasses are placed, one of which contains deadly poison, and two players take turns drinking them.
Russian roulette also features in the video game Killer7.
A foot version of the game can be played in "Torn City," a criminal like game. Players take turns shooting a R&W Revolver at the 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
[edit] In music
- 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..." at 2:37 into the song.
- "Choke On This", by Senses Fail on the album Let it Enfold You, with lyrics "...Play Russian roulette as we kiss...".
- "My Last Words", by Thrash metal group Megadeth, on their album Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
- "Not Good Enough For Truth In Cliché", by Post-Hardcore band Escape The Fate, on their album "Dying Is Your Latest Fashion".
- "Full Clip and Russian Roulette" (song) by Skacore band Weapons Of Brass Destruction.
- 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".
- Battle scene from SBX...Lord Finesse ft. Percee P American mc's freestyle battle. Lord Finesse mentions Russian roulette in the line Playing Russian roulette with automatics.
- 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 not only to Russian Roulette, but the song Resistansen (The Resistance) even describes a cellar where it is played every Friday. During the song Rulett a game of Roulette is actually taking place, and the song Fra Sjåfør til Passasjer (From Driver to Passenger) suggests that a player named Tony, who was the brother of the driver and son of an apparent mafioso, died. The song Bak Et Halleluja (Behind a Hallelujah) reveals that an employee of the family named Dominique, who got Tony to play, was apparently taken to be dumped in the ocean with cement shoes.
- British Punk Rocker Billy Idol's song "Don't Need a Gun" includes the lyrics, "Don't need a gun / Russian routlette 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 the song "This Suffering" feature the lyrics "She's a bullet in Russian Roulette"
[edit] In literature
- In the grotesque tale Les Cataleptiques, written by Alexis Tchkotoua and published in the French literary revue La Roulette russe, the principal character plays Russian roulette in front of a mirror, leaving to his reflect the first shooting.
[edit] See also
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.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b 2000 Darwin Award: Gun Safety Training. www.darwinawards.com (2000). Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
- ^ Holly Strother, Curiosity about guns can kill, April 1, 2003.
- ^ A Writer at Work, 15 August 1969, Radio 4, BBC website.
- ^ "Really Old School", Washington Post, December 25, 1998
- ^ Teen Wounded Playing Russian Roulette, St. Petersburg Times, June 31, 2001.
- ^ Transistorized!, Public Broadcasting Service, 1999.
- ^ Roulette gun stunt 'a hoax'. BBC News (2003-10-07). Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
[edit] External links
- The Deer Hunter death roll
- Teen Wounded Playing Russian Roulette
- Man, 18, Dies in Russian Roulette
- "Russian Roulette" Olympics Death
- Kablamo, a tongue-in-cheek board game with a Russian roulette theme.
- Gimp Roulette, a Shockwave webpage game that simulates Russian roulette.
- 1999 Darwin Award, Fatal Footsie: Russian roulette with a landmine.
- 2000 Darwin Award, Gun Safety Training: Russian roulette with a semiautomatic pistol.
- 2002 Darwin Award, Losing Face: Russian roulette with lit fireworks.
- Deathmatch Sudoku EmptyChambers.combg:Руска рулетка
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