You are not allowed to copy this Steam guide - whole or in part - for any reason. You may link people to this guide so that they can read it in the intended format, which is on the gtm.you1.cn website. I reserve all creative rights to this guide to the extent allowed by the Steam Terms of Service.‎‎‎‎‎

I may or may not update this guide to reflect updates in the game. Note that the version bracketed in the title reflects the game's version as of the time of writing/updating the guide. Therefore, if the version in the title does not match the game's current version, information in the guide may be outdated.

I am not 100% sure of The Dealer's AI decision making process, since it is based on my own experience and observations playing the game myself. However, if I am wrong, please correct me in the comments below. I may add a section detailing the specifics of the AI if I am made aware of them.

The "General Release of Liability" section below is a parody of the in-game document by the same name and should not be taken as a legally binding document.

THIS IS A GUIDE TO THE VIDEO GAME BUCKSHOT ROULETTE ("THE GAME"). IT IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE GUIDE TO THE GAME, BUT RATHER AN EXPLANATION OF SOME OF THE EXISTING MECHANICS, AS WELL AS GENERAL TIPS AND STRATEGY FOR WINNING THE GAME, ESPECIALLY IN "DOUBLE OR NOTHING" MODE. IT IS MOST HELPFUL IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPEDITING THE LEARNING PROCESS FOR RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED PLAYERS, BUT ALSO CONTAINS TIPS THAT MAY BE HELPFUL FOR INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS.

YOU HEREBY AGREE BY SIGNING THIS DOCUMENT THAT PLAYING BUCKSHOT ROULETTE ("THE GAME") MAY RESULT IN DEATH OR GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM. A REASONABLE EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO POSTPONE YOUR INEVITABLE DEATH USING THE LATEST MEDICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN DEFIBRILLATION AND BLOOD TRANSFUSION TECHNOLOGY. THIS EFFORT IS NOT A GUARANTEE AND MAY BE REVOKED AT ANY TIME BASED ON YOUR PERFORMANCE PLAYING THE GAME, OR IN THE EVENT THAT YOU LOSE THE GAME. IN THE EVENT OF SUCH DEATH OR GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM, YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY THE DEALER, AND TO FORFEIT YOUR REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS TO THE DEALER. YOU ALSO AGREE THAT THE DEALER WILL TAKE YOUR PLACE AS RIGHTFUL OWNER OF ALL YOUR REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS, AND WILL EXERCISE DOMINION OVER ANY PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OCCUPANTS. ACTS OF GOD ARE NOT CONSIDERED A VALID LEGAL DEFENSE FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS CONTRACT.

Buckshot Roulette is a game where you play a variant of "Russian Roulette" against a lone opponent - "The Dealer" - using a tube-fed, pump-action shotgun with 8 shells of ammo capacity instead of a revolver.


Every round has a rotating set of phases that are completed in this particular order. The names for these phases are unofficial and exist purely for the sake of explanation.

At the beginning of every round, before the shotgun is loaded, both players are first given a set of 2 to 5 items, if applicable. Each player has 8 item slots. If the player already has the maximum of 8 items, that player cannot accept any more new items. If no items are handed out for the round, then this phase is skipped entirely.

After the items are distributed, if it is a new round, the maximum health for both players will be allocated and displayed, which can be either 2 HP, 3 HP, or 4 HP, indicated with lightning bolt icons. Both the player and The Dealer will always have the same amount of maximum health.

After the items are distributed, 2 to 8 shotgun shells are revealed to both players. Of these shotgun shells, at least one of them will be a "live round" and at least one more will be a "blank". Live rounds are colored red (or white in colorblind mode), while blanks are colored blue (or dark grey in colorblind mode). If an even number of total shells are revealed, there will always be an equivalent number of live rounds and blanks. If an odd number of total shells are revealed, then there will always be exactly one more live round than there are blanks, or vice-versa. All of the revealed shells are then loaded into the shotgun in a randomized order by The Dealer.

Once the shotgun is loaded by The Dealer, the player always gets the advantage of taking the first turn. The player must first use any items as desired, then pick up the shotgun. The player then has the decision of shooting himself, or the dealer. Shooting himself with a blank allows the player to act again in the same turn. This can be done indefinitely. Shooting at The Dealer, or shooting himself with a live round will end the player's turn. On The Dealer's turn, The Dealer then plays by the same rules.


Both players continue play until either all live rounds and blanks in the shotgun are expended, or one of the players runs out of HP. If the shotgun runs out of ammo, it will loop back to the Item Phase, skipping the Health Phase, then move on to the Loading Phase. If one player runs out of HP, the round is over and the surviving player wins.

If The Dealer wins, it is game over. However, if the player wins, a new round is started. The player wins the game by beating The Dealer in 3 consecutive rounds. In Double or Nothing Mode, the player will then have the opportunity to either cash out, or play another 3 rounds against The Dealer. If the player chooses to continue playing and wins, his total earnings are doubled. This can be repeated indefinitely, but if the player loses a round at any time against The Dealer, he will lose and have no payout, forcing him to start over again.

Buckshot Roulette might be a very boring game if it weren't for items. After all, without items, it would just be a glorified Russian Roulette with extra steps. Part of what makes the game so fun is having actual tools at your disposal to stack the odds in your favor. However, items are also available to The Dealer, which may work against you on your turn.


Base items are available from the outset and will appear in the normal game mode as well as in Double or Nothing Mode.

Cigarettes immediately restore 1 HP when used, assuming the user is not already at max HP. Cigarettes can still be used at max HP in order to consume them for the express purpose of removing the item from the board.

Handcuffs can be used on the opponent to skip their next turn, granting an extra turn to the player who applied them. An animation will play of the cuffed player trying to break free to signify that their turn has been skipped. After the second consecutive turn is taken, the cuffed player will break free and be given their turn. Since shooting yourself with a blank allows you to take another action anyway, it does not count against the applied handcuffs. Any cuffed player will be broken free of the handcuffs at the end of the round.

A magnifying glass may be used to check what shell is in the chamber, instantly revealing it as a live round or a blank.

Beer can be used to immediately eject the current chambered shell, instantly revealing it as a live round or a blank in the process.

A handsaw can be used to instantly saw off the end of the shotgun barrel, doubling the damage of a chambered live round. After the chambered shell is fired or ejected, the shotgun reverts to its original state.


In Double or Nothing Mode, in addition to the base items, a unique set of items will also be added to the item pool. These items are exclusive to Double or Nothing Mode.

Adrenaline can be used to immediately steal an item from the other player, consuming the adrenaline in the process. The stolen item is then used immediately. If an item to steal is not chosen within a few seconds, the adrenaline expires with no further effect. Adrenaline cannot be used to steal more adrenaline.

Similar to cigarettes, expired medicine can be used to immediately restore 2 HP, with a twist: there is a 50/50 chance that instead of restoring 2 HP, it will subtract 1 HP.

Similar to the magnifying glass, the burner phone can be used to reveal a future shell as a live round or a blank. The burner phone cannot be used to reveal the current shell in the chamber, but can be used in conjunction with other burner phones to reveal more future shells, thus giving insight on the order of the upcoming shells.

An inverter can be used to invert the current shell in the chamber from a live round to a blank, or vice-versa.

Shell counting is the most important aspect of Buckshot Roulette, and it is vital to your success. It is very simple and intuitive. To count shells, simply observe how many shells of what type are loaded into the shotgun. Any time a live round or blank is expended or ejected, make a mental note of that and subtract it from the known total shells loaded.

By counting shells in this manner, you can calculate the exact odds of shooting a live round or blank, and make a prediction on which shell will come next. In addition to shell counting, using informational items such as the magnifying glass, beer, and burner phone will help you figure out the exact order of the remaining shells.

If, for instance, there are 2 live rounds and 2 blanks, that is a 50/50 chance on any given shot for it to be a live round. However, if you use the burner phone, and it is revealed that the 3rd round is a blank, then you know for a fact that with a guaranteed blank on the 3rd shot, that is one less blank that can appear anywhere else. Effectively, knowing this increases the odds of a live round on the 1st, 2nd, or 4th shot from 50/50 to 67/33.

To give another example, this can be expanded further by using more burner phones or magnifying glasses, as well as beer. If for instance there are 2 live rounds and 3 blanks, your starting odds for live round vs. blank are 40/60. However, using a burner phone, if it is revealed that the 4th shell is a blank, then your odds for the other 4 shells are 50/50. If you then use the magnifying glass and discover that the 1st shell is also a blank, then you know that the 1st and 4th shells are both blanks, making the odds of the other 3 shells 67/33 again. By shooting yourself with the 1st blank, you move onto the next shell. You might then use a beer to eject the 2nd shell. If the ejected shell is a blank, then you have now derived the remaining order through process of elimination: 3rd shell is live, 4th shell is blank, and 5th shell is live. However, if the ejected shell is live instead, then you still can't be sure of the remaining order, but your odds of the 3rd and 5th shell being live or blank come out to 50/50 again, and you still know that the 4th shell is blank. With a 50/50 chance, you may decide to shoot The Dealer with the 3rd shell. If it ends up being a blank, then you know that the 5th shell is going to be the live round. But if you shoot The Dealer with the live round, then you know that the remaining rounds are both blanks, and you will not take damage from The Dealer unless he uses an inverter.

Using this methodology, the best thing to do is pay attention to the shell count after you receive your items for the next round. Keep a rolling total in your head of how many shells are left, then use informational items and carefully observe The Dealer during his turn, and mentally update the shell count as you know it. At the very least, if counted accurately, you can derive the exact odds of any given shell being either a live round or a blank. Be extra careful to pay attention to any inverters that you or The Dealer use, because the inverter works by swapping the type of the current shell, which will throw off your count unless you make note of that.

When in doubt, do not shoot yourself. Shoot The Dealer instead. Shooting yourself with a live round causes damage and makes you skip your turn, which puts you at an immediate disadvantage. Conversely, shooting yourself with a blank round only removes one blank from the rolling shell count, which only increases the odds of the next shell(s) being live rounds, if there are any live rounds left. Shooting The Dealer with a blank simply passes your turn, and even though The Dealer's AI is very potent, there is still a chance that he could make a mistake and spare you as a result. Therefore, it is not worth it to shoot yourself unless you are absolutely certain the next round is a blank.

You may decide to take a risk anyway and play the odds by shooting yourself without knowing if a live round or a blank is chambered, but I personally do not recommend this unless you can afford to miss a turn and lose HP. Even then, it is not really worth the risk unless your odds of shooting yourself with a live round instead of a blank are very slim (such as 20/80). Also, bear in mind that even if you do shoot yourself with a blank, the only advantage from that is eliminating another blank and therefore increasing the odds of a live round. Unless you luck out by continuing to shoot yourself with more blanks at diminishing odds, or if you actually manage to shoot The Dealer with the remaining live round(s), there is nothing to gain from shooting yourself.

Further viewing on why shooting the dealer more often than not is optimal play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3gMPMHXVK0

In addition to shell counting and playing the odds, it is important to also understand the metagame and use this knowledge to increase your winning chances. The Dealer is a very predictable opponent, and you also have some distinct advantages over him.


Much like White in a game of Chess, at the start of a new round and/or whenever the shotgun is loaded with more ammo, you will always be compelled to act first. Moreso than in chess, however, this is a decisive advantage since in a best-case scenario, you can leverage this to maximize your damage dealt to The Dealer while minimizing the damage done to yourself, and sometimes even skip The Dealer's turn, preventing any action from him outright.

Here are some key takeaways about first-move advantage:

• Lower maximum HP for any given round benefits the player, since the player can act first and therefore has a greater opportunity to inflict lethal damage on The Dealer in a fewer number of rounds, and sometimes in as little as one round. Killing The Dealer also begins the next round where the player will be allowed to move first again, thus preventing The Dealer from taking a turn.
  
• Lower overall shell count per shotgun load benefits the player, since that may present an opportunity to the player to empty the shotgun in one turn, thus preventing The Dealer from taking a turn.
  
• More items are handed out at the start of the round, replenishing the player's inventory and giving him more options. Moreover, these items can be utilized by the player immediately.
  
• Since both players get items on the start of the round, skipping The Dealer's turn by emptying the shotgun or killing The Dealer on the first turn allows the player to use items, and free up space for more. Meanwhile, The Dealer will continue to receive items until his inventory is full, preventing the collection of more items and potentially limiting his options against the player.
  
• The player has more agency overall, and can use shell counting and odds calculation as well as any available items to maximize the amount of damage dealt to the dealer, mitigate the amount of damage that The Dealer can cause on the next turn (or skip The Dealer's next turn entirely), and/or recuperate lost HP.

The Dealer is an artificial intelligence, meaning that as a human, outsmarting him is trivial once you can recognize and exploit patterns in his behavior. The main way to do this is by understanding how The Dealer plays the game, knowing what he will do during his turn, and countering him accordingly. He is a tough opponent, but not infallible.

Here are some key takeaways about predicting The Dealer:

• Since The Dealer is an artificial intelligence, he acts deterministically, rather than a strategically. This means that the AI will check for specific conditions before using any given item or performing an action, and only do so if those conditions are explicitly met. This is the definition of "deterministic" behavior - the AI is "determining" what to do using a rudimentary flowchart of conditions. You can use this to your advantage by knowing what The Dealer will do in any given situation, since this behavior never changes. Even if you cannot be exactly sure of what The Dealer will do next, you can still do a heuristic analysis of his behavior to predict the most likely outcome.
  
• Since The Dealer also uses items deterministically, you can know exactly when and how he uses each item (see "Playing the Items" below for more details).
  
• Although The Dealer will generally predict which shell will come next with good accuracy, there is usually a chance that he will still make a mistake (i.e. shooting the player with a blank, or shooting himself with a live round). This is especially apparent when there is still a mix of live rounds and blanks still loaded in the shotgun, and The Dealer has not used a magnifying glass, or to a lesser extent, a burner phone or beer. This means that in a worst-case scenario, although you can count on The Dealer playing optimally, it is still possible to survive the round due to him making a mistake.

The importance of items in Buckshot Roulette cannot be overstated. Items are often the determining factor for who wins any given round.


You should always use whatever available items you have to your advantage:

• You should use adrenaline not only to steal items from The Dealer for your own use, but also for depriving The Dealer of items that he could use to heal himself or cause more damage to you.
  
• You should use cigarettes liberally. Try to make sure The Dealer cannot heal himself with any of his cigarettes by stealing them, and try to use your own cigarettes before The Dealer has a chance to steal them.
  
• Expired medicine should be used with discretion. When in doubt, do not use it.
  
• You should use handcuffs if you know the current shell is live, and you want to have another chance to act after shooting The Dealer before passing your turn over to him. You should try to preserve your handcuffs for the next round if you don't need them to prevent The Dealer from acting on the next turn.
  
• You should use a magnifying glass if you do not know what the current shell is, then act accordingly.
  
• You should use a burner phone if you do not know the exact order of every shell, so that you can continue to count the shells and recalculate the odds to improve your winning chances.
  
• You should use inverters either to maximize damage done to The Dealer (i.e. inverting blanks to live rounds), or to nullify any damage The Dealer would otherwise cause you during his turn (i.e. inverting a known live round into a blank, then shooting yourself). The latter is only necessary when you suspect that The Dealer can or will damage you on the next turn.
  
• Beer should be used liberally, especially if you have lost track of shell counting, or to eject live rounds that The Dealer would otherwise shoot you with on the next turn (unless it would be more advantageous to simply shoot The Dealer yourself). Generally speaking, keeping a low shell count in the shotgun is more advantageous for you than The Dealer.
  
• You should use a handsaw if you know that the current shell is a live round, and The Dealer has 2 or more HP remaining - unless you want to reserve the handsaw for the next round, so long as you can score a guaranteed win on The Dealer before the round is over, skipping his turn (i.e. using handcuffs on The Dealer when you can guarantee shooting him twice in a row with live rounds, or simply shooting him without using the handsaw when he only has 1 HP remaining).

Since The Dealer uses items deterministically, you can know exactly when and how he uses each item (in no particular order):

• The Dealer will use adrenaline, IF AND ONLY IF you have an item that he "wants" to use, AND he does not already have the same item.
  
  • This means you can deprive The Dealer of any item you have that you do not want used against you on the next turn by using it yourself, if you observe that The Dealer has adrenaline and know that he will attempt to steal it.
• The Dealer will use cigarettes, IF AND ONLY IF he is not at maximum HP.
  
  • This means you should deprive The Dealer of cigarettes if you know he will try to recover HP on the next turn by stealing them from his inventory with adrenaline, or by using your own cigarettes if he has adrenaline to prevent them from being stolen. You can still use healing items when you are at max health, but they will have no healing effect.
• The Dealer will use expired medicine, IF AND ONLY IF he is not at maximum HP, AND he has at least 2 HP remaining (i.e. he will always survive with at least 1 HP when using expired medicine).
  
  • This means you may want to deprive The Dealer of expired medicine if you know he will try to recover HP on the next turn by stealing them from his inventory with adrenaline, or by using your own cigarettes if he has adrenaline to prevent them from being stolen. You can still use healing items when you are at max health, but they will have no healing effect. However, this is a risky play with expired medicine as it always has a 50/50 chance of damaging you for 1 HP. Attempt only at your discretion.
• The Dealer will ALWAYS use handcuffs if they are available, regardless of who he intends to shoot at.
  
  • This means you may want to deprive The Dealer of handcuffs by stealing them from his inventory with adrenaline, or using your own handcuffs if he has adrenaline to prevent them from being stolen.
• The Dealer will ALWAYS use a magnifying glass if it is available, AND he does not know if the current shell is a live round or a blank. After using the magnifying glass, he will act accordingly (i.e. shoot the player if it is a live round).
  
• The Dealer will use a burner phone, IF AND ONLY IF he does not know the order of the remaining shells.
  
• The Dealer will use an inverter, IF AND ONLY IF he knows that the current shell is a blank, turning it into a live round. After using the inverter, he will act accordingly (i.e. shoot the player after inverting a blank to a live round).
  
  • This means you should try and keep inverters off the board if you know that there are still blanks remaining in the shotgun, unless you plan on using the inverters yourself, or if you can guarantee that you will survive until the end of the round. Keep an eye on The Dealer's inverter count, and your own if he has adrenaline. Don't be afraid to steal inverters from The Dealer to avoid taking damage on your next turn.
• The Dealer will use beer if it is available, EITHER if he knows that the current shell is a blank, OR if he doesn't know that the current shell is live (i.e. if a live shell is ejected, that means The Dealer had no prior knowledge that the shell was live, or thought it was a blank - otherwise, he would have shot at you instead).
  
  • This means you may want to keep beer on the board, since The Dealer using beer works to your advantage most of the time - when The Dealer ejects a shell, you can mentally subtract that from your shell count and recalculate the odds.
    
  • Most of the time, when a shell is ejected, this works to your advantage since it will expedite the round, lowering the number of turns on average, and looping back to the loading phase so that you will have your first move advantage again.
• The Dealer will use a handsaw, IF AND ONLY IF he intends to shoot at you (i.e. if you are shot with a blank by The Dealer after he uses a handsaw, that means he didn't know it would be a blank).
  
  • This means you should try and keep handsaws off the board if you know that there are still live rounds remaining in the shotgun, unless you plan on using the handsaws yourself, or if you can guarantee that you will survive until the end of the round. Keep an eye on The Dealer's handsaw count, and your own if he has adrenaline. Don't be afraid to steal handsaws from The Dealer to avoid taking damage on your next turn.

Once the base game victory condition has been achieved at least once, you will notice on returning to the restroom screen that there is a television and a bottle of pills on the counter. The television can be used to check high scores, and may also be used to initiate multiplayer in the future.

Clicking on the bottle of pills and selecting "YES" to consume them will initiate Double or Nothing Mode. This game mode allows you to play endlessly against The Dealer. After the first 3 rounds, your winnings will be tallied up based on how quickly you completed the first 3 rounds. You will then be presented with the option to "cash out" by declining the Double or Nothing offer, ending the game and recording your score. Should you choose to accept the Double or Nothing offer, play will continue for another 3 rounds, after which you will have the option to accept or decline the Double or Nothing offer again.

This can be done indefinitely to stack up a high score for the global leaderboards, as well as earn Double or Nothing related achievements (see "Achievements" section below for more info). However, if your HP ever drops to 0 in Double or Nothing mode, this will end your run and you will have to start over again from the beginning.


As mentioned before, progressing through the first 3 rounds of Double or Nothing more quickly will increase your initial score, which is generated at the end of round 3. The calculation is deconstructed and explained in this Steam guide:

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3214902007

It is therefore in your best interest to get through the first 3 rounds as quickly as possible, ideally in under 10 minutes. Note that this initial score calculation is only done once; after the first 3 rounds, the initial score is simply doubled every 3 rounds regardless of how quickly you play the game.


The best way to play Double or Nothing mode is very carefully. Survival should always be your top priority, since running out of HP at any point is a game over condition. This means that you need to kill The Dealer in a single turn whenever possible, act very aggressively in instances where you can inflict more damage on The Dealer than what he can possibly inflict on you, and play conservatively and mitigate risk in circumstances where The Dealer has a higher probability of killing you.

Remember that to survive, you must count shells, play the odds, play the items, and play The Dealer. Shell counting is crucial since even one mistake can cost you the game. Pay close attention to The Dealer during his turn and act accordingly.

It is often not worth it to make very risky plays, such as shooting yourself without knowing what shell is chambered even if it has a high probability of being a blank, taking expired medicine when you are already behind on HP, hoarding items that could be used against you if The Dealer has adrenaline, or even allowing The Dealer to take a turn when you could have used handcuffs or skipped to the next round instead.

Risky plays should be reserved for when you are ahead on HP and you like your odds better than The Dealer's odds. Using discretion like this is the best way to continue surviving so that your run can go the distance. Sometimes, getting to the next round is all you need to do, considering that you will have a new set of items along with your first move advantage.

Unfortunately, random chance (RNG) will not always be on your side, and your death may be inevitable even if you make all of the right decisions. Although you can mitigate the effects of bad RNG with optimal play, you can never overcome it entirely. This is just part of the game, and if you lose a run to bad RNG, the best thing to do might be quitting the game to go cool off for a bit and come back later with a fresh perspective. Like with many other games, going on a losing streak while trying to grind out a high score will just continue to frustrate you and cause burnout. In this case, taking a break instead is a better decision.

Refer to this achievement guide on getting all achievements in the game. Beware of unmarked spoilers:
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3212500662

Thanks for reading this guide, hopefully it has been helpful for you. I have really enjoyed playing Buckshot Roulette since the Steam release, as well as enjoying content about it on YouTube before the Steam release when it first went viral. It is a very fun game, and I highly recommend buying it and playing it, especially at the current $3 asking price for hours of enjoyment. Go buy it if you haven't already!

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2835570/Buckshot_Roulette/

If you have questions or suggestions, please comment below.