Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against his or her head, and pulls the trigger. "Russian" refers to the supposed country of origin, and roulette to the element of risk-taking and the spinning of the revolver's cylinder being reminiscent of spinning a roulette wheel. Because only one chamber is loaded, the player has only one in n chance of hitting the loaded chamber, where n is the total number of chambers in the cylinder. So, for instance, in a revolver that holds six rounds, the chance is one in six; for a revolver that holds five, the chance is one in five.
Read more about Russian Roulette: History, Notable Incidents, In Magic and Mentalism
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“Other centuries had their driving forces. What will ours have been when men look far back to it one day? Maybe it won’t be the American Century, after all. Or the Russian Century or the Atomic Century. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, Phil, if it turned out to be everybody’s century, when people all over the world—free people—found a way to live together? I’d like to be around to see some of that, even the beginning.”
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