Where Did Russian Roulette Get Its Name?

Russian roulette is a gambling game where a player spins a cylinder containing six chambers, each of which may contain a black, red, or green bullet. The player then pulls the trigger of the gun, and if the bullet is in the chamber that holds the shooter’s chosen color, they win the round.

If the bullet is in any other chamber, then the player loses that round.

The game got its name from a story about a group of Russian noblemen who were playing the game at a palace party. A random shot from one of the guns in the group killed an innocent bystander.

The horrified nobles stopped playing the game for fear that their luck might be responsible for another death. The term “Russian roulette” was first used in print in 1892.

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