Solved – In simple Russian Roulette how many times should you shoot before handing it off to the other person

game theoryprobability

I'm assuming a game of Russian Roulette where you have a gun with 1 bullet and six chambers, and two people playing.

The rules are:

  1. You must shoot at least once on your turn.

  2. After shooting once, you can continue shooting as many times as you want until you decide to pass it to the other player.

  3. Whoever gets shot loses (obviously?)

  4. The chamber is spun once at the start of the game and the shots are taken in order from there without spinning. If the bullet is chamber 4 whoever shoots 4th will lose.

What are the optimal strategies for player 1 and player 2? Is it possible to figure this out or are there too many variables?

How about just for the first move? How many times should Player 1 shoot before passing it for an optimal chance at winning?

Best Answer

What are the optimal strategies for player 1 and player 2? How many times should Player 1 shoot before passing it for an optimal chance at winning?

Once the barrel is spun, the position of the bullet is fixed, which means that there is a $\frac{1}{6}$ probability to be shot at turn number $i$, $i \in [|1,6|]$. As a result, the optimal strategy for player 1 and player 2 is to shoot only once on their turn. Following this strategy, the probability that player 1 wins is the same as the probability that player 2 wins, i.e. $0.5$, regardless of who starts.