Suggest me a Game to Play

What this tool does

You finally have a free evening to play something, you sit down, and then you bounce around your library for half an hour and start nothing. Or you have a backlog of games you bought and never opened, and you still boot up the same old one. This tool breaks the loop. It pulls a game at random from a broad list, so you have one to actually start instead of an endless menu to stare at.

Press the button for a game. Press it again for another. Ask for a few at once if you would rather pick from a short set. It does not care what you own, it just hands you a starting point and lets you get playing.

How to use it

1. Number / Quantity. How many games to pull at once, from 1 to 100.
2. Generate. Pulls a fresh game, or a fresh set if you asked for several.
3. Starts with, Contains, Ends with. Optional filters that pare the list down before it picks. Leave them blank to draw from everything.
4. Copy. Drops the current picks onto your clipboard as a plain list.

A game is on screen the moment the page loads, so there is always something to react to.

How it works

A fixed list sits behind the tool, and every press pulls a game from it at random, with no repeats in a single set.

The filters let you aim. Contains keeps any game with your text in it, so typing zelda brings up Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword HD, while typing a series or word you like narrows it the same way. Starts with reads the first letter, ends with the last.

What is on the list

It is a broad spread of well-known video games, leaning toward the popular and the acclaimed across platforms and genres. You will find huge open worlds like Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3, the all-time staples like Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V, lighter and indie picks like Stardew Valley and Celeste, and party games like Among Us.

Because it is a general list rather than tied to one console or store, a pull could be anything from a hundred-hour epic to a quick pick-up game. Take it as a wheel to spin when nothing in particular is calling you, and lean on the Contains box when you have a genre or series in mind.

Why your backlog keeps growing

The unplayed pile, the one gamers half-jokingly call the pile of shame, is choice overload made personal. You own so many games that picking one becomes work, so you replay the comfortable favorite instead of facing the shelf. It is the same freeze Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper found in a 2000 study, where shoppers offered two dozen jams bought far fewer than those offered six. More options, less action.

Timing makes it worse. You usually game in the evening, after a day of deciding things, and deciding is tiring. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and their colleagues found that one choice after another drains the same energy you need to finally commit to one. A random pick hands that decision off, so you spend the evening playing rather than choosing.

Narrowing it down

If the first pick is not the mood, a couple of quick calls help. Go by genre and mood first, since wanting a sprawling story, a tense shooter, or something cosy points in very different directions. Then weigh how much time and energy you have, because a long role-playing game is a poor fit for a tired hour and a great one for a free weekend. And here is the move that actually shrinks the backlog: when a pick lands on something you already own but never started, take that as your sign and start it tonight, rather than scrolling for the perfect game you will not play anyway.

Questions people ask

Is it free, and does it save anything?

Free, no sign-up, and nothing you do here is saved. It all runs in your browser, so copy a game if you want to remember it.

Can I get a few options at once?

Yes. Set the quantity to the number you want, up to 100, and press Generate for that many different games in one pull.

What platforms are these on?

It is a broad mix across console and PC rather than one platform, so once you have a pick, check where you can play it and whether you already own it.

How is this different from the PC Game tool?

This one is the broad, any-platform version for when you just want something to play. The PC Game tool leans toward games that shine on PC, with more single-player depth.

References

1. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, the study behind choice overload. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11138768/
2. Kathleen Vohs, Roy Baumeister, and colleagues, "Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2008, on how a day of deciding wears you down. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18444745/