A Highlight from Each Previous RR
More moments, more memories
CurryMaker’s recently hosted inaugural RR Awards inspired a post on this Substack, which featured the Top 10 Roulette Rivals moments from 2024. Continuing the trip down memory lane, this article features highlights from the sixteen Roulette Rivals tournaments held before 2024.
Though not all upcoming highlights defined their respective tournament, the following list will feature everything from impressive plays to close finishes and unfortunate rips. That being said, let’s get started and go back to where it all began…
RR1 - Camera Troubles
The first ever Roulette Rivals featured three grueling finals back-to-back-to-back, ending with Frote7 vs MrMike for the PC title. Frote got off to a 4-0 lead, but the exhausted players faced difficulties in Santa Fortuna and Haven Island. With a minute to go, MrMike completed his last kill in Haven but got caught by the cameras to end the map in a draw, handing the championship to Frote.
RR2 - What Roulette Is All About
Timeout ties and long spins were a staple of the early years, and in the first few tournaments, even a map win was considered an achievement. The RR2 PlayStation final between David Strong and Speedster featured a tough Santa Fortuna spin, with a draw looking imminent, especially after David left his shotgun a mile away. But thanks to one of the greatest clutches in the early years, David Strong pulled off the loud trespassing kill and exited with just 10 seconds to go.
RR3 - A Busy Sunday
In the first three years of roulette, regular RR tournaments were held in multiple brackets, with players divided by their platform. Only a few players have entered more than one bracket in the same tournament, and Yannini was the most successful of them, winning titles on Console and PC. He pulled off a unique feat in RR3 by making it to both finals: defeating 420 on Console before losing to Frote7 on PC.
RRWC - The Ultimate Heartbreak
The Grand Final of the first Roulette Rivals World Championship was a match truly one of its kind, lasting a then-unthinkable ten maps, ending with an untimed Colorado at a score of 9-9. Any rip to decide the RRWC title would have been heartbreaking, but Yannini losing his run while trying to get a bottle of Nitroglycerin will remain one of the saddest restarts of all time.
RR4 - Asado Adventures
After losing the RRWC Final, Yannini bounced back by winning RR4 on PC. He also played on Console but without necessary mastery on the new maps. This caused problems when Asado Chef was spun in Mendoza, and Yannini didn’t have the Asado start unlocked. Back in RR4, there was enough time to be resourceful, as demonstrated by the German below.
This moment was taken from Mow’s highlight reel: Roulette Rivals 4 - Moments.
RR5 - Haven Hype
RR5 was the first tournament with a map pool of 18, including the original 13, and the 5 newest from Hitman 3, leaving new players with a lot of learning to do. To help study opponents better, RRStats was created by CurryMaker, which revolutionized Roulette Rivals since then. To celebrate both of these facts, CurryMaker’s patient Haven win was chosen for this tournament, featuring a 31:30 IGT victory, one of the longest Silent Assassin runs of all time.
This moment was taken from Mow’s highlight reel: Roulette Rivals 5 - Moments.
RR6 - 122 Minutes in Colorado
In 2021, random maps weren’t revealed so players didn’t know what decider to practice for. The combination of inexperienced players and tough deciders resulted in several long matches, with the record being the Colorado spin of The_Buff_Guy vs SovietDubov. The players battled on the four-target map for over two hours, a feat unlikely to be repeated.
RRWC21 - The Rookie Champion
The first Roulette Rivals World Championship featuring 64 players came down to an intense final between two newcomers. Japanese k-kaneta reached the Grand Final in only his second tournament, where he faced Hungarian rookie DaniButa. The tense match ended after eight maps, with DaniButa winning 10-6 to become the second world champion.
RR7 - Florida Gone
2022 began with Blithe winning his first title in the PC bracket and Ducker winning his sixth on Console. The Serbian managed to win a tough final against The_Buff_Guy, which featured almost all of the long maps. The match turned around in Berlin when Buff couldn’t find the Florida Man in time, carrying his frustration to a 4-8 loss. People studied the recording but could never conclude where the Florida Man was when he was needed the most.
RR8 - Secondary Objectives
RR8 is mostly remembered for a one-tourney experiment on restricting how secondary objectives can be collected in New York and Dartmoor. The quickest maps turned into slugfests, generally providing more frustration than entertainment, all culminating in the PC Grand Final. Papierfresse had the lead in Dartmoor but misread the condition, prompting a restart, a Pigiero map win, and a Pigiero RR title.
RR9 - 0.37 Seconds
The RR9 PC Final, also known as the battle of Hungarian RRWC Champions, began with DaniButa taking a commanding 6-2 lead. He looked to seal the title by finishing Paris 6 seconds ahead of In4Fun. To the excitement of spectators, however, the lead was reduced to 1.63 seconds after loading times were considered, narrowly ending a map in a tie. This allowed In4Fun to come back to 7-7, and though he lost the title, the eight-mapper RR9 final is remembered as one of the best matches of all time.
This moment was taken from ThatObserver’s highlight reel:
Roulette Rivals 9 - Memorable moments & highlights
RRWC22 - Pushed Out
Deep in the RRWC 2022 Knockout Stage bracket, five of the final six players hoped to make it to the Grand Final to challenge defending champion DaniButa for the title. Almost all these matches ended on the deciding map, so every restart was significant. Meekah was in the lead against The_Buff_Guy, but pushed the Race Marshal off the overpass, making them lose the map and eventually the match, while Buff went all the way to the Grand Final.
RR10 - Rusty Cams
The RR10 match of Fe3O2 vs PurpleKey is widely considered one of the most entertaining games of all time, thanks to the players and the shoutcasting duo of The_Buff_Guy and Meekah. While the three-hour match featured a long list of amazing moments, none is more remembered than “Rusty Cams”, Fe’s unique approach to deleting the evidence in New York.
RR11 - Character Building
After finishing third in RRWC 2022 as a rookie, TheTimeCube reached the Grand Final of RR11, where he faced close friend Phanium. The match went similarly to the tournament as a whole: Phanium was in a class above everyone, only losing three maps throughout RR11, ending with a rare Grand Final sweep. On the other hand, experience in the final helped TheTimeCube win a title of his own later in RRWC 2023.
RR12 - End of an Era
After DaniButa’s retirement following RR10, Phanium emerged as the best player in the community, winning two cross-platform RRs in a row, raising his total to four. But the streak had to end somewhere and after being swept by Scruffy in the Winners' Bracket, he went all the way to Map 6 against Frote7 in the Losers’ Bracket. With tensions reaching high, Phanium couldn’t get going on the Ambrose Island spin and was eventually eliminated, opening up the RR12 bracket significantly.
RRWC23 - The New Generation
Following Phanium’s RR12 loss, more and more new faces appeared at the top of the roulette leaderboards. Scruffy defeated Dein Nomos for the RR12 title between two first-time finalists, while TheTimeCube and The Rieper 47 consolidated themselves as top players in the second half of 2023. The RRWC 2023 Round 1 match between Dein Nomos and rookie quatilyti remains an underrated spectacle, with the fearless Russian pulling off three impressive plays to defeat the consistent Indonesian.
The community produced many more great moments in 2024, with a Top 10 list published recently. Here’s hoping 2025 will be just as intense and exciting!
Do you agree with this list? What were your favorite moments from old Roulette Rivals? Let me know in the comments!