Random Game Picker

The shelf problem

A games shelf has the same failure mode as a streaming service: too many options, all of them fine, and a group that will spend longer choosing than playing.

The wheel gets you to a category in five seconds. From "Card game" the shelf is down to three or four choices and somebody will just pick one.

If your group is large, spin twice: once for the category, once for who chooses within it. The random name picker handles the second spin.

What's on the Random Game Picker wheel

All 14 options are on the wheel to start with. Edit, delete or add to them — the wheel redraws as you type.

• Card game
• Board game
• Trivia
• Charades
• Dice game
• Party game
• Co-op game
• Two-player game
• Something quick
• The long one nobody's finished
• Video game
• Word game
• Something we've never played
• Old favourite

Load your actual shelf

Replace the categories with the games you own. Twelve to twenty entries is right — enough for variety, few enough that you own all of them.

Two settings worth knowing:

• Remove the winner after each spin works through the shelf across several game nights without repeating.
• Weighted choices handles the fact that a shelf is never equal. Codenames *3 for the reliable crowd-pleaser, The four-hour one *1 for the game that only comes out twice a year.

Once you have loaded the shelf, Save it and Share this wheel with the group so anybody can spin.