There Russian roulette It is a gambling frompotentially fatal outcomewhich consists in bringing the temple a pistol loaded with fewer bullets than those that the drum could contain (generally, with a single bullet) and press the trigger. In this way, the possibility that the weapon disappears – and therefore kills the “player” – is completely random. Russian roulette, despite the name, It was not born in Russia: although it was mentioned for the first time in a novel by a Russian author in 1840, the “game” became known all over the world after the publication of a story by a Swiss-American writer, Georges Surdezin 1937. Its origins, therefore, remain uncertain.
What is Russian roulette and what it consists of
Russian roulette is one fatal challengebecause it can end with the death of one of the participants: it consists in inserting a single bullet in the drum of a gun and then rotate it, so that the position of the bullet is of all random. Later the participants, in turn, bring the gun to the temple and press the trigger, challenging the fate: the weapon disappears the blow when the drum, rotating, will have reached a specific position. There are also some variants: for example, more than a bullet is inserted into the weapon, but leaving at least an empty space in the drum, or you can rotate the drum after each attempt.
In all cases, the possibility of dying is very high: imagining a “game” with a pistol with a six -shots drum, the first to press the trigger will have one chance out of six to shoot, that is, 16.7% probability. The percentage will descend to the subsequent participants, because they come into play only if those who pressed the trigger before them found the chamber empty and did not shoot: in a hypothetical “match” six, with six shots drum, the last player has 6.7% of the possibility of being killed.
How did Russian roulette come about, and was it really born in Russia?
In spite of the name, there is no evidence that Russian roulette originated in Russia. What we know is that this deadly challenge was described for the first time in a novel by a Russian author, Michail Lermontov, A hero of our timepublished in 1840 The weapon does not fire and Vulic remains alive. The game described by the novel, however, is quite different from the “roulette” rendered popular by the cinema, also because in 1840 there were still no revolters to six shots.
The name “Russian roulette” dates back to almost a century later: it was introduced in 1937 by the Swiss-American writer Georges Surdez In a story published in the magazine “Collier’s Magazine”, and entitled Russian Roulette. The author reports the alleged stories made by a Russian sergeant to a German soldier regarding the habits of the officers of his army during the First World War (which for Russia had a disastrous outcome). Russian roulette is described in these terms:
Their officers (i.e. the Russian officers) felt that not only were they losing the prestige, money, family and the country, but also that they were dishonored in the eyes of the allies. Some of them, wherever they were, sitting at the table of a coffee with friends, extracted the revolver, removed a bullet, made the drum run and, after pointing the gun in the head, they pressed the trigger.
The story, however, is completely invented and there is no evidence that Russian officers really practiced this “game”. In short, in the current state of knowledge, the origins of Russian roulette remain uncertain.
The “popularity” of Russian roulette
After the publication of Surdez’s story, the expression “Russian roulette” spread all over the world. This risky practice has been made famous by the cinema, because it appears in some very popular films, such as The hunterplayed by Robert De Niro, e IRRATIONAL MANdirected by Woody Allen and played by Joaquin Phoenix. In Italy, a scene of Roulette Russian is present in an episode of the television series Gomorrah, as well as in some comic films for parody.
Unfortunately, there are also those who really “play” us, with often fatal results: according to a recent study, the age group in which the risk of practicing such an extreme act is greater one. The last victim is a American child 12 years old, residing in the state of Mississippi, who died in 2022.
