Eight men, including Colonel Mustard, sit at a round table, for a modified game of Russian roulette. They are using a six chamber revolver which has been loaded with 5 bullets.

The game begins by one of the men reaching into a hat, and randomly drawing the name of the first player.

If the first player survives his turn, the gun is handed to his adjacent clockwise neighbor, and his name is immediately returned to the hat.

If the first player loses, his name is thrown away, and the men pull from the hat, and choose the name of the next player.

The game is continued in such a way until either all five bullets have fired, OR a player survives his turn, but no longer has an adjacent clockwise neighbor to pass the gun to.

What is the probability that the Colonel will survive the game?

(Note that the chamber is spun every time a player takes his turn).

(In reply to Restarting the Cold War?? by ed bottemiller)

I'm assuming "clockwise" means to the left, but that doesn't affect the answer, as the numbers would be the same in mirror image.

The fact that the rules specify a condition in which there is no clockwise neighbor implies that the dead men's chairs (or at least positions) remain in place unoccupied.

Posted by Charlie on 2010-06-08 13:14:02