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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, suicide) 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. The player holds the revolver with his or her finger on the trigger and places the barrel against the temple. The player then pulls the trigger once. 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
It is believed that the game originated in 19th century czarist Russia. Prison guards forced the prisoners to play the game, and they would place bets on the outcome. Although the true history of the practice is very difficult to prove, many scholars maintain that it was there the game developed, thus earning the name Russian roulette. Throughout the next hundred years - and particularly during the violent periods of the Russian Revolution - unstable and suicidal Russian officers would play the game in front of other officers. What is even more surprising is that otherwise sane and perfectly healthy officers engaged in the practice merely to prove their bravery.
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 the sixth player when the chance of being killed is 1/1 (100%) assuming the cartridge works (however, since the probability of the 6th player getting to pull the trigger is equal to the probability of the first five not being killed, the initial probability of him being killed is (5/6) * (4/5) * (3/4) * (2/3) * (1/2) = 1/6, the same as the first player`s chance).
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.
It is worth considering that the number of chambers and number of cartridges are not the only variables involved in the probability of being killed playing Russian Roulette.
As the mass of the bullet and cartridge is not centred in the cylinder of the revolver, the effect of gravity will increase the tendancy of the bullet to come to rest in the lowest chamber if the cylinder is spun when the weapon is held horizontally. This will decrease the probability of the first pull of the trigger discharging the round. This effect will be most pronounced if the cylinder is free-spinning and not on a ratchet.
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.[1]
Notable Russian roulette incidents
Numerous incidents have been reported regarding Russian roulette.
- 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".[2]
- 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[3] attribute this to Russian roulette, though witnesses to the shooting have claimed it was actually an accident after Ace had been playing with his weapon.
- John Hinckley, Jr., the man who attempted to murder President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was known to play Russian roulette, alone, on two occasions.[4] Hinckley also took a picture of himself in 1980 pointing a gun at his head.[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" made it clear that the incident was a hoax.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Shields LB, Hunsaker JC, Stewart DM (March 2008). "Russian roulette and risk-taking behavior: medical examiner study". Am J Forensic Med Pathol 29 (1): 32–9. doi:10.1097/PAF.0b013e318160675e. PMID 19749614.
- ^ A Writer at Work, 15 August 1969, Radio 4, BBC website.
- ^ "Really Old School", Washington Post, December 25, 1998.
- ^ Garbus, Martin (2002-09-17) [2002] (in English). Courting Disaster: The Supreme Court and the Unmaking of American Law (hardcover ed.). Times Books. ISBN 978-0805069181. http://books.google.com/books?id=2b0HP0PCNzAC&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=john+hinckley+russian+roulette&source=bl&ots=iTcVqMyt7p&sig=YiXJ19FmsPMsCvrMIFQVUiXvpOM&hl=en&ei=-IgzS_r_FMuQlAecg62iBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBsQ6AEwBjgU#v=onepage&q=john%20hinckley%20russian%20roulette&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
- ^ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinkleygun2.jpg
- ^ Transistorized!, Public Broadcasting Service, 1999.
- ^ "Roulette gun stunt 'a hoax'". BBC News. 2003-10-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3169388.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
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