Players: 2-6 | Type:Social | Drink:ClearAlcohol | Good Times: 😉 😉 😉
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How to Play Russian Roulette Drinking Game
Fortunately, there are no guns involved in the Russian Roulette Drinking Game. It’s definitely a lot more fun than the “loaded” version. Basically, the gun = 6 shot glasses and the bullet = alcohol.
Russian Roulette is a lethal gambling game, but there are some fun variants that you can play at home without risking your life. The rules are relatively simple and easy-to-understand. However, roulette offers a surprisingly high level of depth for serious betters. We, at CryptoGames are offering a variant called 'European roulette', which is being played on a 37-number wheel, with one zero only.
Get ready to learn how to play this fun adult drinking game – we’ve got step-by-step instructions, variations, pictures, and plenty of videos.
How to Play Russian Roulette – Overview
- Video #1:Russian Roulette with Liquor
- Video#2:Russian Roulette with Beer
- Video #3:Alcoholics Hippopotamus Play Russian Roulette
4 Things You Need to Play
- A Six-Sided Die
- Numbers 1- 6 from a deck of Cards
- Any clear alcohol (vodka, tequila, peppermint schnapps, etc.)
for How to Play Russian Roulette Drinking Game
#1. Line up six shot glasses.
#2. Fill one with clear alcohol and the remaining 5 with water.
#2. Move around the shot glasses to make sure nobody knows which one has the booze.
#3. Then, place cards on the table, lining them up in a row.
#4. When you put a shot glass on top of each card, you’re good to go.
Step-by-Step Instructions
for How to Play Russian Roulette Drinking Game
#1. First, the beginning player rolls the die and drinks the amount of shots corresponding with the number on the card.
#2. If the player get a water shot, play continues to the next player’s turn.
#3. If the next player rolls the same number as the first one, they must keep re-rolling until they get a different number.
#4. Play continues to go around the table until some gets the shot glass filled with booze. Then it’s time to drink up!
After someone drinks up the alcohol, that round is over. Follow the set-up steps again and repeat.
When Does Russian Roulette End?
The beauty of this drinking game is that you can play as long as you want, unless you run out of alcohol.
Video Demo #1 How to Play Russian Roulette with Liquor
Variation #1 – Click and Bang Russian Roulette
In this variation of the Russian Roulette Drinking game, you don’t need to use any dice. Instead, you just start at one end and work your way down, until one of the players gets the alcohol (“bullet”).
When someone drinks a shot of water, they say “click,” like the empty chamber of a gun. If a player ends up with the alcoholic shot, they say “bang” to indicate that it was a “bullet.”
The rest of the game play is just like regular Russian Roulette.
Variation #2 – Everyone Takes a Shot Russian Roulette
If you have plenty of shot glasses each player could have their own “gun.” Game play would be the same as in variation one but each person will have a shot each round because everyone has his own shot!
Russian Roulette Gambling Game
Variation #3 – Casino Russian Roulette Drinking Game
For the third variation of the Russian Roulette Drinking Game, you’ll need to buy a casino type version. As you can see in the game pictured on the right, it’s a circular spinning device with holders for shot glasses.
There are 16 numbered shot glasses and each player chooses or is assigned a number. One of the great things about the spinning-wheel Russian Roulette Drinking Game is that every shot glass is filled with alcohol.
If a player’s number comes up after spinning, they drink the shot.
Another perk of this version is that you aren’t limited to just clear alcohol. Because there’s a lot more drinking!
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Variation #4 – Beer Russian Roulette
For Beer Russian Roulette, you need a can of beer for each player for every round you play. (All of the beer has to be the same brand/type.)
First, a player chooses a single can and shakes it super hard. Then, they mix up the beers and pass them out to each player.
Everyone then must open their beer at the same time, and you can guess what happens… One unlucky soul is sprayed in the face with beer, while the other players get to leisurely sip their own beers.
Variation #5 of Russian Roulette Drinking Game
The first few steps are exactly the same as the previous Beer variation.
After this, everyone chooses a beer at random and puts it on top of their head. At the count of 3, everyone opens their beer at exactly the same time. Unsurprisingly, the player with the exploding beer is eliminated.
Naturally, everyone must finish their can of beer before starting the next round. (It’s best to set a time limit to finish, like 10 minutes or so.)
At the next round, it’s the same set up as before, except there’s one less beer since one person has been booted out of the beer drinking game. This makes a fantastic backyard drinking game, since it’s very messy.
Important Note: The player who did the shaking of the beer gets the beer left over after everyone else has selected one.

3 More Fun Drinking Games You’ll Love
If you like Russian Roulette, why stop there? Here are 3 alcohol games you and your friends will love:
How to Play Gilmore Girls Drinking Game with Rules
Landmines Drinking Game
Kings Rules
Which Variation to Choose?
Russian Roulette Drinking Game
Now that you know all of the variations, it’s up to you! It all depends on your own style, and whether or not you want to get messy. (The beer versions of the Russian Roulette Drinking Game are incredibly messy.)
Online Russian Roulette
The Casino version is always a hit, and a great choice for a party. Although the good old original version is just fine, too. Most importantly, and drink responsibly. Cheers!
Video #3: Acoholics Hippopotamus
Back to Overview
When Did Russian Roulette First Emerge?
The game of Russian roulette has origins in the mid-nineteenth century. This was a time when the revolver handgun was first invented and went into heavy production. Russia at this time remained a relatively cut-off corner of the world, and the first evidence we have of the lethal game being played is from the letters of early adventurers describing this deadly game of chance. During the early 20th century Russia entered a period of civil war – according to the Swiss writer and adventurer Georges Schulz – Tsarist officers were known to randomly pull out their pistol, remove all but one cartridge, then spin the cylinder and pull the trigger with the barrel pressed against the side of the head.
If you’re not in the mood to put your life on the line but want to enjoy the much safer and legal version – check out online roulette games we have reviewed. If you are worried about risking your money on the game, you can also check out our beginners’ guide to roulette rules, or our roulette strategy tips.
The early days of Russian roulette were played by just removing one cartridge from the cylinder. Obviously this does not give a very good chance of survival, around 83.5% chance of blowing your brains out in fact. The game was altered as it spread through contemporary Europe. A lower chance of death means increased playing time for the daredevils and lunatics brave or crazy enough to even participate, thus giving more excitement. The “safer” version is what remained, and eventually gripped American popular culture, popping up in fictionally literature, Hollywood movies and music immediately after the Second World War.
Notable Appearances of Russian Roulette in Pop Culture
Once the American public became aware of the brutality of the Second World War, pitching a dark folklore tale around the game of Russian Roulette became a lot easier. In those days people were hungry for a good tale, a bit of excitement, and the seeming craziness and sinister nature of this game enticed people in the early days. Film directors and producers were smart enough to latch onto this sentiment and quickly set to work dramatizing and bringing this undiscovered concept to the big screen. With the game becoming an integral part of American popular culture, it has been portrayed across a variety of mediums. From art-works, cartoons, poetry, literature and music the game began being referenced: but the most significant impact was in Hollywood on the big screen, below are some worthy titles featuring Russian Roulette.
- Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
- Mirage (1965)
- El Topo (1970)
- The Street Fighter (1974)
- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Malcolm X (1992)
- Leon: The Professional (1994)
- One Eight Seven (1997)
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
- The Art of Negative Thinking (2006)
- American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007)
- Irrational Man (2015)
Whether it be sinister, comedic or factual depictions of the lethal game, Russian roulette history is deeply rooted in the plot lines of all the above movies. The game plays on the compulsive gambling urges that many punters will know all too well. The only difference is the opportunity cost of this game is your life. This fascination with the risk involved has claimed the lives of many, and the true death toll attributed to Russian roulette may never be fully known. In the following section, we’ll talk about the well-known incidents that resulted in Russian roulette ending in fatality.
Notable Fatalities in Russian Roulette History
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Russian Roulette has sadly claimed the lives of several public figures over the past century. Although it is sometimes difficult to attribute the death as Russian Roulette or suicide, there have been some high-profile deaths unequivocally determined to be from bad luck in a game of Russian Roulette. It is estimated that there have been around 2200 deaths in America alone from Russian Roulette in the last 80 years. There are also isolated occurrences in the UK, like the story of a teenager who died playing the game in 2018. Below, we discuss some of the more well-known incidents.
Ana Julia Lima Clemente

One of the most recent incidents in the public is the death of Brazilian teenager Ana Julia Lima Clemente, 15. In 2007 the young girl was tragically killed by playing Russian roulette with her uncles .38 revolver. According to her friend and eyewitness, Clemente held the gun to her head and pulled the trigger twice, before fatally shooting herself on the third attempt.
Terry Kath
The founding member and lead guitarist of the rock-band Chicago tragically died in 1978 whilst fooling around with guns at a party. The Rockstar apparently picked up an unloaded revolver, put it to his head and pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. Then trying to replicate the trick with a semi-automatic pistol that turned out to have a live round in the chamber, he died instantly. Kath’s last words to his wife were “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded.”
Ivan Cole
Successful MMA fighter Ivan Cole died in 2016 reportedly playing Russian roulette. The fighter was found dead in his Dallas apartment by police in a scene that appeared he was playing Russian roulette. The fighter left behind his wife and a four-year-old daughter.
Final Thoughts
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Russian roulette is clearly a game that shouldn’t be played by anyone. It stems from deep pain and disregard for the longevity of life and we obviously deplore anyone glamourizing this sickening act. Nonetheless, public attention has romanticized the act for several decades, and it remains an area of fascination amongst historians and popular culture critics. There have been many insane gambles throughout history beside the deadly game of Russian roulette – discover here the craziest bets made by gamblers.