You don't want to be asked anything.
Roulette is for the nights when you've already spent more time on this than the gift is worth. You tell it who the present is for. It handles everything else without checking in.
Screenshot slot
The Roulette machine at rest: light board on top, three empty reels in the middle, coin tray below, lever on the right.
public/games/roulette/01-machine.pngScreenshot slot
The three reels stopped one after another on the same gift, with the winning line highlighted and confetti falling.
public/games/roulette/02-reels-stop.pngWhat it actually does
There's no shortlist to build, no vibes to pick, no budget to set. You answer one question — who it's for — and then you pull the lever.
The pool it draws from is already filtered for that person, so nothing unhinged comes out the other end. It's random within the bounds of "this is a reasonable gift for them", which is the only kind of random worth having.
You still get the full result: one gift, why it fits, and a plan. It just doesn't make you think on the way there.
Reach for it when…
It's late and the birthday is tomorrow
You don't need a good answer tonight, you need an answer. Roulette is about forty seconds end to end, lever included — and it's still a real gift rather than a gift card.
You're buying for someone you've met twice
Office Secret Santa energy. You don't have enough information to reason your way to something good, and pretending otherwise is how people end up buying a candle. The pool is filtered by relationship first, so the floor is already 'appropriate'.
You've been overthinking this for a week
If you've opened the same three tabs four times, more thinking isn't the missing piece — deciding is. Pull the lever, look at what comes out, and notice your own reaction. That reaction is the real answer, and you just got it for free.
What you walk away with
- One gift, already filtered for the person you named
- A short plan for actually getting it
- A reroll, if you want a second opinion from the same machine
Skip it if…
- You already have a shortlist — Kaleidoscope or Battle will do far more with it.
- You want to understand your own taste. Roulette learns nothing about you, by design.
That's the pitch. Try it on your own gift.
One round takes 30 sec and ends with a gift plus a plan.
Play Gift RouletteWant the rules before you start? Every game page ends with a short how-to-play section.
The other machines
Five boxes. None of them are marked.
You pick a box instead of a gift. The reveal comes in three stages, and there's no peeking.
Read the storyYou've got five ideas and no nerve.
Put your own shortlist on a wheel and let something with no feelings end the argument.
Read the storyYour shortlist needs to be interrogated.
Eight options, seven head-to-head calls, and an honest read on what you actually like.
Read the storyYou want it to feel invented.
Pick a feeling, a shape and a twist. Get something that isn't on anybody's list.
Read the story