Russian Roulette Puzzle - Spin or Pull? Played

How it works

A six-chamber revolver with two bullets in neighbouring chambers. The first player spins and survives. The story asks whether you should spin again or pull straight away. You pick one of four answers. Then you step through the answer and the breakdown.

How scoring works

This teaser checks your answer. A wrong pick is crossed out. You get two tries before the answer opens. A correct first try earns a ticket; a second try or opening the answer early is recorded but earns nothing. The story teasers share one lifetime unlock for free users.

The key insight

The cylinder is on one of the four empty chambers. Only the last empty one is followed by a bullet, so pulling straight away hits with probability 1/4. Spinning gives 2/6 = 1/3. Don't spin.

The full step-by-step solution lives at /brain-teasers/russian-roulette/solution.

A worked example

In firing order: E1, E2, E3, E4, B, B. After E1, E2 or E3 the next chamber is empty; after E4 it is a bullet. One in four.

Common mistakes

• Spinning because 'a fresh start' feels safer.

• Ignoring the empty click and saying it makes no difference.

• Using this answer when the bullets are placed at random, where spinning is better (2/5 against 1/3).

Why interviews test this

List the chambers in order and compare two numbers before deciding. The written solution is at /brain-teasers/russian-roulette/solution.

Play Russian Roulette on Outcry

Russian Roulette is free to play on Outcry, in the Brain Teasers section, and every run is timed and scored. Read the guide once, then play Russian Roulette and check your score against the strategy above. The guide book has a written guide for every other game, and the practice hub and mock assessments put the same skills under a real screen's clock.