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Steam Maze Shotgun Carousel Acid Room

Six ride the carousel, but only two can get off.
— John introduces William to his test[src]

The Shotgun Carousel is a trap from the Saw franchise, appearing in Saw VI.

Design and Function[]

This trap was the fourth one in a series of tests. It was located in a large animal enclosure inside the abandoned Rowan Zoological Institute. Six people were chained to the grabpoles of a rotating playground roundabout. Once the game began, the carousel occasionally stopped, causing one of the victims to sit directly in front of the barrel of a mounted shotgun. To survive, the test subjects had to rely on the help of a seventh person. Standing on a pedestal outside the enclosure was a small, cage-like box with two buttons inside. Everytime the carousel came to a standstill, the seventh person had to press both buttons simultanously in order to save the victim in front of the shotgun. Thereby, the victim's hand would be pierced by a metal spike. In return, the shotgun would go into an upright position and shoot above the other person's head without harming them, before returning to its original position. However, only two persons could be saved while the other four inevitably had to die. (Saw VI)

History[]

William Easton's Test[]

Hello, William. Before you are six of your most valuable associates, the ones who find errors in policies. Their findings result in over two-thirds of all applications denied or prematurely terminated. Now you must apply your analysis to them, and will you be able to find their errors? Six ride the carousel, but only two can get off. The decision of which two survive falls upon you. But remember, the mounted gun will continue to fire until all six rounds are spent. And if no decision is made on your part, all six will perish. To offer the two reprieves, you must press both buttons at once in the box before you. However, in doing so, you will give a sacrifice of your own. Two can live, four will die, your decisions symbolized by the blood on your hands.
— William Easton's tape[src]

The person tested in this trap were William Easton, manager of the Umbrella Health insurance company, who had caused the death of numerous seriously sick people by denying the coverage of their treatment costs for spurious reasons, as well as six of his assistants, Aaron, Emily, Gena, Dave, Shelby and Josh. One day, all of them were abducted and taken to the Rowan Zoological Institute by Detective Mark Hoffman, the successor of the late John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer, who was in fact one of William's former clients. At the zoo, he chained all of William's associates to the carousel. (Saw VI)

Shortly afterwards, William came across the door of the room, which had a large, red spiral painted on it. As he approached it, he heard noises coming from the other side, which he recognized as the voice of Shelby. When he asked her about her situation, she told him that her five colleagues were trapped with her as well, and they were all strapped to some sort of a spinning carousel. However, she couldn't see anything as the room was pitch dark. After some hesitation, William finally opened the door and entered the room, causing the lights to turn on. Thereby, he was able to see his associates, who were all chained to a rotating playground carousel in the center of a large animal enclosure. As he approached them, they asked why they were there, he responded that this was some kind of game. Seconds later, a TV turned on in front of them and a mechanical ventriloquist puppet appeared on screen. The puppet introduced William to his test and explained him the rules of this game. A rigged shotgun was positioned in front of the carousel. The carousel would stop periodically, resulting in one of his associates sitting directly in front of the barrel of a shotgun. This victim would be killed after a few seconds if William didn't decide to save the person. In order to do so, he would have to simultaneously press two buttons in a small box before him. However, he could only save two of them while the other four would inevitably die. After William received his instructions, the TV turned off again.

Sawcarousel

William hesitates to press the buttons

Seconds later, the carousel came to a standstill for the first time with Aaron sitting in front of the shotgun. He desperately tried to convince William to follow his business policy according to which Aaron was worth living as he was a young and healthy man. Due to William's hesitation, he panicked even further and yelled at him. William however still couldn't bring himself to press the buttons in the box before him which could have saved Aaron's life, leading to him being the first one to be killed by the shotgun. Eventually, the carousel was set in motion again. After a few seconds it stopped once more with Emily sitting in front of the shotgun. While the others yelled at William to save them, Emily reminded him of her two children, stating that they couldn't grow up without her. Thereby, she finally convinced William to press the buttons, causing a metal spike to pierce his hand. The shotgun slowly went in an upright position and shot above Emily's head before it returned to its original position. Albeit she was still afraid, she thanked William for saving her. At the same moment, the carousel moved on. In an attempt to convince William to save her, Shelby claimed that her parents were sick and needed her.

EmilyGun

Emily in front of the gun

Thereby, she got in an argument with Dave who called her a liar and claimed to know that Shelby's parents weren't even talking to her anymore for a long time already. While the others continued to argue with William, Gena suddenly claimed that she was pregnant. Josh immediately yelled at William not to believe her, resulting in an argument between them. Eventually, Gena sat in front of the shotgun when the carousel stopped again. As William hesitated again, she further panicked and begged him to press the buttons until she was finally killed by the shotgun. As the carousel moved on, Dave desperately tried to convince William to save him by telling him that his parents would pay as much as he wanted for him to save Dave. However, both Josh and Shelby yelled at William and claimed that Dave was a thief, stealing from the company for years. When the carousel stopped and Dave sat in front of the shotgun, he began to cry and told William not to believe them. William however eventually decided to let him die, making Dave the third one to be killed by the shotgun. When the carousel continued to move, Josh badmouthed her, claiming that she was a liar and couldn't be trusted.

ShelbyTrap

Shelby in front of the shotgun

Therefore, she told William that Josh only wanted to get William's job and would back stab him in the back as soon as he got the opportunity to do so. At this moment, the carousel stopped once more with Shelby being the fifth one to sit in front of the shotgun. She desperately tried to convince William to save her, which he, after some hesitation, finally did. As he pressed the buttons, his hand was pierced again, while the shotgun was moved into an upright position again and shot above Shelby's head before it returned to its original position. Due to her salvation, Shelby bursted into tears and thanked William for saving her, while the carousel moved on for one last time. Realizing that he had no more chance to survive and his death was inevitable, Josh was shocked and angrily yelled at William for not saving him and insulted both him and his business policies. When the carousel finally came to its last standstill, Josh demanded William to look at him while he dies, which William mournfully did. Seconds later, Josh was ultimately killed by the shotgun, leading to him being the fourth and last victim to die in the trap.

When the game was over, Emily and Shelby bursted out crying and thanked William for saving the two of them. Afterwards, a lamp turned on next to William and showed him another red arrow on the wall, which showed him the right way. While following it, he took off his tie and used it to tape up his hand. A few moments later, he passed another door and ultimately found the key to his final strap hanging from the ceiling, which he immediately used to free himself. However, as the timer was still ticking down, his game wasn't over yet and he went on. (Saw VI)

Aftermath[]

The zoo was found and raided by the Metropolitan Police Department shortly afterwards. As the police secured and searched the entire building, they discovered the many corpses of Jigsaw's victims, including Aaron, Gena, Dave and Josh. All of them were sent to the morgue for their obduction by Dr. Adam Heffner and the victims' straps as well as the shotgun and the box with the buttons were sent to the evidence room. (Saw VI, 3D)

Trivia[]

  • The box containing the buttons can be seen in the police station's evidence room in Saw 3D, when Hoffman is looking for Jill Tuck.
  • The shotgun used in the trap is a Remington 870 Express with a seven-round extended magazine tube.
  • the carousel trap was originally going to have ten participants, but this was changed to shorten the length of the scene, and to match the movie number.

Navigation[]

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