Some Russians have invented a new form of Russian roulette – except this time it involves shooting themselves with 50,000 volts of electricity.
Russian roulette is a "game" in which a bullet is placed in one cartridge of a revolver, and then the cylinder is spun before you place the gun to your head and fire.
Perm – named after the Russian city it was created in – gives its players a gun-like weapon, but only one out of seven "cartridges" will shoot out electricity, according to reports in Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty.
If a player survives the first round, another cartridge is loaded into the Taser, making it twice as likely that they will get shocked.
The longer a player goes without being shocked, the more cartridges are loaded in.
The founder, Valentin Eschenko, used to be a champion fighter.
However, after what he ascribes to mental exhaustion, he suddenly fell into almost total paralysis and was admitted to hospital.
It was diagnosed as Landry-Guillain-Barré syndrome. He was treated with electroshock therapy, and gradually his paralysis went away. It was then that Eschenko came up with the idea for Perm.
"I came up with an idea in my head – entertainment for people that would be safe, but at the same time very extreme," he told AIF. "By studying the effects of the electricity on the human body, I realised that in small amounts it's harmless."
His idea was simple: The revolver has no bullets, and is charged instead with an electric current. The game follows the traditional Russian roulette style, in which the participants take a loaded gun and pull the trigger.
"It's not the kind of adrenaline that you find in everyday fights, and not something you could plan for," Eschenko added. "It's a more powerful feeling. This kind of adrenaline gives you wings, boosts your testosterone."