Russian Roulette (game show)

Russian Roulette is an American game show created and executive produced by Gunnar Wetterberg that ran for two seasons on Game Show Network from June 3, 2002, to June 13, 2003. The show was hosted by Mark L. Walberg (excluding the April Fool's Day episode that was hosted by Todd Newton) and announced by Burton Richardson.

Russian Roulette
GenreGame show
Created byGunnar Wetterberg
Directed byLenn Goodside
Presented byMark L. Walberg
Narrated byBurton Richardson
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes131
Production
Executive producersGunnar Wetterberg
Michael Canter
ProducerHoward C. Bauer
Production locationsTribune Studios
Hollywood, California
Running time22 minutes
Production companiesGunnar Wetterberg Productions
Columbia TriStar Domestic Television
(seasons 1–2)
Sony Pictures Television
(season 2)
Game Show Network Originals
Release
Original networkGame Show Network
Original releaseJune 3, 2002 (2002-06-03) 
June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13)

Gameplay

The Russian Roulette set consists of a circle with six trapdoors (referred to as "zones" by the host). Four consecutive positions are occupied by the contestants, each of whom has a slot-machine handle within easy reach. Throughout the game, zones are lit in blue or red to designate them as "safe" or "drop" zones, respectively. The first question of each round is played with one drop zone, and another zone is added on each subsequent question to a maximum of five.

Contestants are given $150 each at the start of the game.

First round

One contestant is randomly chosen as the first challenger and asked a question, then must choose one opponent to answer it. That opponent is then given three answer choices and has 10 seconds to respond. A right answer awards $150 and makes them the challenger for the next question. However, a wrong answer or failure to respond in time forfeits all their money to the challenger and forces them to play Russian Roulette to determine whether they stay in the game. The opponent pulls the handle at their position to spin the arrangement of safe/drop zones around the six trapdoors. If a safe zone lands at the opponent's position, they become the challenger for the next question; if a drop zone lands at their position, they are eliminated and the trapdoor opens, allowing them to fall through the stage and out of sight.

The round ends when one contestant has been eliminated or time runs out, whichever occurs first. In the latter case, if one contestant is in the lead alone, they step off their zone and pull a handle at center stage to spin one drop zone among the other three contestants. If there is a tie for the lead, all four contestants are in danger and Mark pulls the handle. The eliminated contestant's money (if any) is evenly divided among the other three.

Second and third rounds

The second round is played similarly to the first, with the three remaining contestants answering questions that have four answer choices and are worth $200 each. The high scorer from the first round becomes the first challenger; in case of a tie, a random draw decides who will start.

The third round follows the same rules as the second, with questions now worth $300 (season 1) or $250 (season 2). Now, however, the challenger may either pass a question to the opponent or try to answer it directly. The last contestant standing keeps their money and advances to the bonus round; if time runs out, the low scorer forfeits their money to the high scorer and is automatically eliminated. Ties are broken as in the first two rounds.

Bonus round

The champion has 60 seconds to answer a set of questions, with one drop zone opening at the end of every 10 seconds, starting with the one to the champion's left and moving clockwise. They may pass a question and return to it after playing through all others if time permits, but drop immediately on an wrong answer or if time runs out. Money is awarded for each correct answer given before the champion drops.

The number, type, and value of questions are as follows.

  • Season 1: Five brain-teasers are asked, involving challenges such as math problems, unscrambling or anagramming words, and general-knowledge questions. The clock begins to run as soon as Mark began to ask the first question, and the champion may think aloud but must say "My answer is..." before responding. Each right answer awards $500.
  • Season 2: Ten multiple-choice questions are asked, each with three similar-sounding choices. The clock begins to run after Mark finishes asking the first question. The contestant is no longer required to say "My Answer Is" in this part of the round. Each right answer awards $300.

Correctly answering all questions before time runs out increases the champion's total for this round to $10,000. They may either stop playing at this point and keep all winnings, or give up the $10,000 and play one final round of Russian Roulette, using the number of drop zones that opened during the question round. If a drop zone lands at the champion's position, they drop with no further winnings; if a safe zone lands at their position, they win $100,000. Three contestants won this top prize over the entire run of the series.

The champion's main-game winnings are not at risk, and any money won in the bonus round is in addition to this total.

International versions

On all versions of Russian Roulette outside of the U.S., the UK, Argentina, Portugal, and Poland (in season two), there are also displays of the contestants' heart rates on the screen (examples include Russia's, Poland's (season one), and Hong Kong's versions), and most versions even have the contestants themselves asking questions to their opponents. There is also a camera underneath each of the trapdoors to catch footage of the contestant dropping from another angle. Some may also have a maximum time limit of 15 seconds instead of 10 to answer questions. The Polish version has 30 seconds to answer the question in season one and 20 seconds in season two. Most versions of the show (except for the versions in the U.S., Greece, Taiwan and India) run for an hour rather than a half-hour. As of 2013, there are no versions of the show still in production internationally. However, China's regional broadcaster Shandong TV revived the show in the Spring of 2015 as a substitute for the previous edition using the format of The Million Pound Drop. This version uses a slightly different format – the daily prize fund always starts at RMB¥50,000, and each correct answer before the final round adds RMB¥1,000 to the final pot. The Chinese version is broadcast live on weekdays and runs for 65 minutes (including commercials).

CountryNameHostChannelPrizeAir dates
 Argentina Decisión Final Horacio Cabak América AR$100,000 June 6, 2003
 Brazil[1] Roleta Russa Milton Neves Rede Record R$500,000 October 31, 2002 – October 31, 2003
 Bulgaria Руска pулeткa
Ruska ruletka
Nikolay Georgiev BNT 1 100,000лв April 2003 – March 2004
 Chile[2] Ruleta Rusa Diana Bolocco Canal 13 $100,000.000 May 5, 2013
 China 让梦想飞·智命一击
Rang Meng Xiang Fei · Zhi Ming Yi Ji
Yang Bo Shandong TV No limit for top prize March 16, 2015 – 2016
 Egypt الدائرة
El Daera
Ayman Kaisouni ERTU1 £E250,000 September 2010
 Greece
 Cyprus
Ρωσική Ρουλέτα
Rosiki Rouleta
Miltos Makridis Mega Channel 100,000 2002–2003
 Hong Kong[3]; 一觸即發 Dayo Wong TVB Jade HK$500,000 May 24, 2002 – September 27, 2002
 India Bachke Rehnaa Zara Sambhalna Mohnish Behl SET Rs.1,000,000 September 9, 2002
 Indonesia Russian Roulette Dede Yusuf Trans TV Rp100,000,000 September 4, 2002 – December 31, 2003

 Poland[4]

Rosyjska ruletka Henryk Talar
Krzysztof Ibisz
Polsat 100,000 September 3, 2002 – April 7, 2004
 Portugal[5] Decisão Final José Carlos Malato RTP1 €30,000 May 28, 2012 – January 13, 2013
 Romania[6] Ruleta Rusească Răzvan Exarhu
Florin Mihoc
TVR 2 10,000,000,000 old lei (2003-2004)
1,000,000 new lei (2005-2006)
2003–2006
 Russia[7] Русская рулетка
Russkaya ruletka
Valdis Pelsh
Maxim Galkin (25 December 2002)
Channel One 1,000,000 April 2, 2002 – August 6, 2004
 Serbia and Montenegro Ruski rulet!
Руски рулет!
Irfan Mensur RTV Pink 3,000,000 RSD
€2,000
March 12, 2003 – September 23, 2004
Ruski Rulet Show!
Руски рулет шоу! (VIP version)
Milan Kalinić €2,000 September 15, 2003 – July 16, 2005
 Serbia
 Croatia
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Montenegro
 Slovenia
 North Macedonia
Ruski rulet!
Руски рулет!
Dragan Marinković Maca RTV Pink
Pink BH
Pink M
€2,000 April 17, 2007 – September 4, 2007
 Singapore 灵机一洞 Hsu Nai-lin MediaCorp TV Channel 8 S$10,000 2003–2004
 Spain Decisíon Fínal Luis Crespo Telecinco €100,000 March 18, 2002
 Taiwan 俄羅斯輪盤 Kevin Tsai (Cai Kangyong) Star Chinese Channel NT$1,000,000 Unknown
 Turkey Rus Ruleti Berkun Oya Star TV 1,000,000YTL April 12, 2008
 United Kingdom[8] Russian Roulette Rhona Cameron ITV £10,000 October 31, 2002 (Pilot)
April 1, 2003 – April 22, 2003

See also

References

  1. "Video". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  2. "Ruleta Rusa | Área Comercial - Canal 13". www.13.cl.
  3. "Official Website (Hong Kong)". www.tvb.com. Archived from the original on 2002-06-02. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  4. "Video". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  5. Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de. "Decisão Final - Concursos - RTP". www.rtp.pt.
  6. "Florin Mihoc TVR 2". TVR2.TVR.RO.
  7. Группа любителей шоу «Русская Рулетка» | VK. m.vk.com.
  8. "Russian Roulette - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com.
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