Rosyjska ruletka

'Rosyjska ruletka'
First titles of Rosyjska ruletka
Presented by	Henryk Talar (season 1) Krzysztof Ibisz (season 2)
Country of origin	Poland
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	145
Production
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Network	Polsat
Release	September 3, 2002 – April 7, 2004

Rosyjska ruletka (English translation: Russian Roulette) was a Polish game show based on the original American format of Russian Roulette. The show was hosted by Krzysztof Ibisz (earlier by actor Henryk Talar). The main goal of the game was to win 100,000 zlotys. Rosyjska Ruletka was broadcast from 2002 to 2004. It was shown on the Polish TV station Polsat. Only one person won 100,000 zlotys.

Differences from U.S. Version

Program Length and Number of Contestants

Unlike the American format of Russian Roulette, which only ran a half-hour and had four players, the Polish version ran 60 minutes and had five contestants.

Time Limit to Answer

The players also had 30 seconds to answer in the first season and 20 in the second season (as opposed to just 10 in the U.S.), and also kept track of the players' heart rates throughout the show (first season only).

Cash Amounts per Question

The contestants all began Round 1 with 300 zloty, with correct answers adding that amount to the total. Like the U.S. version, a wrong answer gave all money to the challenger, and the contestant had to play Russian Roulette by pulling the lever in front of them. The values increased to 600 zloty for Round 2, 1,000 zloty for Round 3, and 1,500 zloty for Round 4. Also unlike the U.S. version, in Round 4, the contestant in control couldn't answer the question themselves. They always had to challenge their opponent.

Unlike the US version, which increased the number of drop zones per question (up to a maximum of five), the number of drop zones remained the same for the entire round, but matching the number of the round (1 drop zone in Round 1, 2 drop zones in Round 2, etc.; only the bonus round ever saw a use of five drop zones).

Question Format

The Polish version also increased the number of possible answers for each question in each round: two possible answers for Round 1, three for Round 2, four for Round 3, and five for Round 4. The bonus round questions did not have multiple choice answers.

Unlike the US version, where each round was played with a time limit, both Polish versions used a specific number of maximum questions:

• Round 1: 8 questions with 2 possible answers
• Round 2: 7 questions with 3 possible answers
• Round 3: 6 questions with 4 possible answers
• Round 4: 5 questions with 5 possible answers

If nobody dropped by the time all questions had been exhausted, the player in the lead won immunity from the drop zones and had to pull the lever on the host's podium to send somebody else to drop. In this circumstance, if the player who dropped had any money in their bank account, it was then divided evenly among the remaining players. In the case of Round 4, if all questions were used, the host pulled his podium's lever to start one last game of Russian Roulette to determine the winner, regardless of scores.

Starting Each Round

In the first season, the host pulled a lever in the center of the stage, and a blue light spun around to determine the first player. The second season just announced which player was randomly selected to start first (although also done by a random spin as triggered by the host; but this time the red light spun around the whole set with all other lights blue).

Bonus Round

First Version

In the first season, the contestant pulled the lever on the host's podium to randomly assign trapdoors to open, but he/she wouldn't know if the trapdoor would open or not if he/she gave a wrong answer to a question (with no multiple choice). Giving a correct answer meant the contestant won the money and had the option to quit or continue. Giving a wrong answer but standing on a safe zone meant the contestant won no money but was allowed to continue while standing on a drop zone rigged to open would mean he or she would drop out of the game and lose all bonus winnings accumulated (front game winnings were safe). The first question was worth 5,000 zloty the second worth 25,000, and the third worth 100,000. Players could quit after a correct answer and take the winnings.

For the first question in this version, 3 dropzones were active; for the second, 4; and, for the third, 5 dropzones. Thus, the risk was greater as the rewards increased.

It is not known what would have happened had a contestant playing for 100,000 zloty gave the wrong answer, but pick the one trap door that wouldn't open.

Second Version

In the second season, the bonus round required 10 correct answers within 60 seconds a total of three times in order to win 100,000 zloty, with a drop zone opening every 10 seconds. If time ran out or the player gave one incorrect answer, he/she dropped out of the game.

The first time around, the player would win 5,000 zloty for giving 10 correct answers. The second time around, the player would win 25,000 zloty, and the third time, the player would win 100,000 zloty. All bonus winnings were added to the player's winnings from the main game.

Only one player won 100,000 zloty, and her win was later featured in the show's introduction.

Notes

The second season's set and graphics were changed to reflect the American version, and the music was updated. It was also used to promote a very lively environment with noisy crowds, while the first version's set was dark, and the music was legitimately scary, leaving the audience to only get lively near the end (though sometimes the audience would liven up to get behind a player they'd support).

When Ibisz hosted the program, he'd frequently make references to his other game show, Awantura o kasę.

International versions

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Prize	Air dates
United States (original format)	Russian Roulette	Mark L. Walberg	GSN	$100,000	June 3, 2002 – June 13, 2003
Argentina	Decisión Final	Horacio Cabak	América	AR$100.000	June 6, 2003
Brazil	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	2003
Chile	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	2015–2016
Egypt	الدائرة El Daera	Ayman Kaisouni	ERTU1	250.000 ج.م.	September 2010
Greece	Ρωσική Ρουλέτα Rosiki Rouleta	Miltos Makridis	MEGA	€100.000	2002–2003
Hong Kong	一觸即發	Dayo Wong	TVB	HK$500,000	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
Portugal	Decisão Final	José Carlos Malato	RTP1	€30.000	May 28, 2012 – January 13, 2013
Romania	Ruleta Rusească	Razvan Exarhu Florin Mihoc	TVR 1	1.000.000lei	2003–2006
Russia	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 din	September 2003 – July 2005	Ruski Rulet Show! Руски рулет шоу! (VIP version)	Milan Kalinić	Serbia Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Slovenia Macedonia	Ruski rulet! Руски рулет!	Dragan Marinković	RTV Pink Pink BH Pink M	€2,000	January 2007 – 2008
	Singapore	灵机一洞		Hsu Nai-lin		MediaCorp TV Channel 8	S$10,000	2003–2004
Spain	Decisíon Fínal	Luis Crespo	Telecinco	€10,000	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	Russian Roulette	Rhona Cameron	ITV	£10,000	October 31, 2002 (Pilot) April 1, 2003 – April 22, 2003