Written and tested by the WheelShuffle editorial team · How we test our tools

Random thing generator — one spin, one new thing to try

"I don't know what to do" usually isn't a lack of options — it's too many of the same ones. This random thing generator breaks the loop by picking a category for you: a book, a game, a movie, a song, a hobby, a place, a food or an animal. Spin once and commit to whatever comes up. The wheel starts with those eight things, and you can replace the list with anything at all.

It works like every WheelShuffle wheel: each line in the entries box becomes an equal slice, and one spin picks one slice. If you want a physical object to draw or describe rather than a category to explore, the random object generator is the better fit, and for conversation themes there is the random topic generator.

How to use the random thing generator

1. Press Spin to get a thing from the ready-made list of eight categories.
2. Make it yours: delete the list and type your own things, one per line. The wheel rebuilds itself instantly.
3. Spin again for a fresh thing, or turn on winner removal so each one appears only once — useful for working through a list over several days.

There's no account and nothing to install, so it works on a phone when boredom strikes or projected on a screen for a group.

Random things to do: four ways to beat boredom

"Random things to do" is one of the most-searched uses for this tool. The trick is to commit to the result before you spin — the randomness only works if you don't re-spin until you get something you like. Four formats that work:

• The one-hour rule: Spin a thing, then spend one hour on whatever category comes up: read a book, try a game, cook a food. No re-spins allowed.
• New thing day: Spin once a week and try one new thing from that category — a genre of music you've never heard, a place in your town you've never visited.
• Date night draw: Each partner spins once; the evening has to combine both results. A movie plus a food is easy. A hobby plus a place takes creativity.
• Gift roulette: Stuck on a present? Spin a category, then pick a gift inside it. It narrows an impossible choice down to a manageable one.

For a ready-made list of activities rather than categories, the random activity generator skips a step, and the random movie generator and random food generator go deep on two of the most popular categories.

A random thing to draw

Artists use this wheel as a warm-up: spin a category, then draw the first thing in that category that comes to mind. "An animal" might become a quick sketch of your neighbour's cat; "a place" might become the street you grew up on. The two-step — random category, personal choice inside it — gives you a prompt that is both surprising and meaningful, which is exactly what a good drawing warm-up needs.

Is the pick really random?

Yes. Each line gets an equal slice, and the winning slice is chosen by your browser's standard random number generator the moment you press Spin — the slowing animation just shows you where it landed. With the default eight things, each has a one-in-eight (12.5%) chance on every spin, and earlier results don't change the next one. That is fair for games, boredom-busting and creative prompts; it isn't a certified draw, so don't use it for anything with prizes or money on the line.