Russian roulette

From ArticleWorld

Russian Roulette is a game involving placing one round of ammunition in the cylinder of a revolver without looking at its’ position, and pulling the trigger with the gun aimed at one’s own head. There are several variations of the game. Some increase the number of rounds inserted in the gun, some use toy guns and are methods of gambling, while others involve aiming the gun at another persons’ head.

History

The true origins of Russian roulette are unclear. Many legends attempt to depict the history of Russian roulette. Most of them are said to take place in Russia, and mostly concern Russian soldiers or Russian prisoners of war. There is no real evidence to support this, and many believe the term Russian roulette was an invention of early 20th century fiction. The closest thing to Russian roulette, that we know did happen on occasion, was a game called ‘’cuckoo’’. One Russian officer would stand on a table or chair in a dark room. Other officers would hide around the room and call out, ‘’cuckoo’’. The officer with the gun would fire randomly at the sound.

Variations

Russian Poker is one variation of Russian roulette, where the procedure is the same, with the exception that the gun is aimed at another person’s head. Belgian roulette is played with all but one chamber having a bullet in it, making the chance of death much higher. Polish roulette, so called because of the stereotype of the Polish being of lower intelligence, is played with a semi-automatic pistol. It is assumed that the player is unaware that a semi-automatic pistol will fire the round, no matter which chamber holds the bullet.

Reality

There have been many famous incidences of Russian roulette over time. American blues musician, Johnny Ace shot himself in 1954. John Hinckley, Jr. was known to play on at least two occasions. Teens tend to be frequent victims of the game, with numerous deaths occurring between the year 2000 and present. Many attribute these deaths to the large number of modern movie scenes depicting Russian roulette.