Russian roulette

Russian roulette is a lethal game of chance in which participants take turns pointing a revolver at themselves and pulling the trigger, with one chamber loaded.

Revolver: A repeating firearm with a rotating cylinder that holds ammunition and aligns each cartridge with the barrel. Its cylinder supplies the chambers on which the game’s stated odds depend.
Russian roulette in literature: The use of Russian roulette as a plot device or image in written works. Literary appearances helped establish the phrase and its association with Russian soldiers.
Suicide: The act of intentionally causing one’s own death. Russian roulette may involve suicidal intent, though intent can vary between participants.
Russian roulette in popular culture: The use of Russian roulette as a recurring image in popular media and public speech. The game’s name often describes danger metaphorically rather than a literal firearm act.
The Deer Hunter: A 1978 film directed by Michael Cimino about American steelworkers affected by the Vietnam War. Its Russian roulette scenes became among the best-known fictional depictions of the game.
Probability: A mathematical measure of how likely an event is, expressed on a scale from zero to one. Chamber count can describe a theoretical chance, not predict an individual outcome.
The Decembrists: Russian military officers and nobles who led an unsuccessful uprising in 1825. A later origin story connects the game to these officers, though evidence is lacking.
Suicide prevention: Efforts to reduce suicide risk through support, treatment, and crisis intervention. A person considering or engaging in the game needs immediate, practical intervention.
Metaphor: A figure of speech that describes one thing in terms of another. The phrase transfers the game’s life-or-death uncertainty to other kinds of risk.
The Deer Hunter Russian roulette scenes: Scenes in The Deer Hunter that depict prisoners forced to play Russian roulette. They turn the game into a portrayal of coercion and psychological trauma.

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