Have you ever played the Russian Roulette game before? Have you ever seen a movie where the game was played? The rush of adrenalin and tension that the game creates can be compared to no other game. This is why the stakes and payouts are always extremely high. What is Russian Roulette? The best way to define Russian Roulette is by describing how it works. The game usually involves two players and a revolver with a single bullet. Instead of a dice or a slot machine, the gun is the object and spinning the cylinder can be compared to rolling the dice. When it’s your turn, you have to point the gun on your head and fire. If you die, you’ve lost and the person standing takes it all.
If you don’t die, the next person has to take a chance. In some cases, both players are expected to keep trying until one person eventually dies. There is an 83.3% probability of surviving. However, if more than one bullet is added, this probability reduces significantly. The more the bullets, the lower your chances. The payout can be from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars depending on hosts. This is why it’s not a game that people always willingly play. Most people only take a chance when they have absolutely no choice or when they are being bullied. Sometimes, others place bets on which of the players will die and which one will survive. You may be wondering how the Russian Roulette was invented and who could come up with such a deadly game of chance.
History of Russian Roulette Creation
The Russian Roulette is said to have originated from Russia hence the name. The word Roulette refers to the risk involved in spinning the cylinder and hoping to live. It is similar to spinning a roulette in the casino. However, instead of placing a bet on a number, you will be betting on your life. While there aren’t many records of the inventor of this game, the first reference was made by Mikhail Lermontov, in 1840 when he wrote a book called “The fatalist”. Keep in mind that even if the name of the game was first mentioned in that book, it was created by Georges Arthur Surdez. There simply wasn’t a name for it initially. Even before Surdez invented the gambling moniker of the game, it was already a suicidal gun game in Russia.
In the novel, “The Fatalist”, the protagonist called Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin placed 20 pieces of gold on the table and challenges another character, Vulič to a bet. In acceptance of Pechorin’s challenge, Vulič picks up a revolver, pours gun powder into it and points it to his head. After that, he says “Gentlemen! Who will pay 20 gold pieces for me?” Those in the room were a little confused. They didn’t know what his next move was going to be. To complete the bet, he tells Grigory to throw a card and says he will pull the trigger immediately the card touches the fall. After he pulls the trigger, nothing happens because he doesn’t die. He subsequently targets an object in the room and this time, the gun goes off.
Following what happened in “The Fatalist”, Russian Roulette became a top game that soldiers played as a test of courage in garrisons. It was a fun but unnecessarily risky way to keep them busy whenever they were in the barracks or garrisons. To the Russians at that time, the Russian Roulette was more efficient in proving your strengths than the duel was. Gradually, it became more than a game and evolved into a method of settling disputes. As time passed, the game started taking different forms. It progressed from a two-player game to a game involving multiple players. In some cases, instead of pointing the revolver on your head, the player next to you will target you. You will have to point yours on the player after you. All players would form a cycle with each one pointing a gun at the head of the other. It was a source of entertainment for the rich and influential members of society. Those watching would place bets and whoever is left standing at the end of the game would get a significant chunk of the winnings.
How to Calculate the Odds in Russian Roulette
Indeed, Russian Roulette is not for the faint-hearted. However, if you’ve mustered up the courage to play the game, you’ll be happy to know that there are strategies that will help increase your chances of winning just like with every other gambling game. Keep in mind that each revolver has six bullet chambers and the typical game only requires filling one cylinder. In this case, the probability of winning is pretty high, about 83.3% as stated above. This still means that there is a solid 16.7% chance that you’ll lose, which, in this case, means dying. If you don’t die, you move to the second round and the cylinder is rearranged again ahead of round two.
In some cases, the cylinder is not spun to tweak the odds. If this happens, there is a 75% chance that the gun will go off. If you’re placing a bet on someone who is about to pull the trigger, your chances of winning will be higher if the cylinders near the adjacent chambers are the ones loaded. This should help you calculate the odds. If there is more than one bullet in the cylinder, this means that one and two would be next to each other and number four would be empty. In this case, the odds of survival are lower than when it’s a single bullet.
Keep in mind that in the third round, there is little to no chance of surviving whether the cylinder is not spun in all three rounds or not. If, on the other hand, there are no restrictions on where the bullets should be placed, and they are kept in random places, the chances of the bullet going off will still be significantly lower. In this case, it would primarily be left to chance. There is no way to strategize or work around it. The gun will either go off or it will not. You have to leave it to chance.
Bottom Line
Over the years, many people have died playing Russian Roulette. In some parts of the world, this game is seen as an attempted suicide. If someone else is present or if someone else pulls the trigger, it is seen as assisted suicide. However, due to the gruesome nature of the game, it’s not usually on the list of games in a typical casino. So, don’t expect to simply step into a casino and ask to play the Russian Roulette. You’re more likely to find it in an underground casino run by a mob. So, getting in maybe extremely tricky. If you’re eager to play the game and you can’t find a place to play it, you can look for people like you who might be willing to risk their lives to become rich. However, it’s never a good idea to play Russian Roulette.
