Random object generator

What can you do with a totally random object? Press Generate and this random object generator gives you one to find out: an anchor, a kaleidoscope, a wheelbarrow. Pull a single object when you want one thing to focus on, or a list of ten when you need a whole set to work through.

The appeal of a random object is the constraint it puts in front of you. Improv and drama groups roll one as an instant scene starter: a character who walks on holding a "sundial" has somewhere to go that an empty stage does not. Writing teachers use a random object as an exercise prompt, asking students to describe it in detail or build a short story around it. Observational artists sketch whatever comes up to practise form and shadow without spending ten minutes deciding what to draw. Game designers seed prop lists, shop stock, and scavenger hunts by pulling a handful and keeping the ones that spark something.

Because you are not the one choosing, it sends you somewhere your own habits would not. Left to choose, most people reach for the same dozen familiar things. Handed a "gramophone" or a "sextant", you have to actually look at the object and think.

A clean list is fastest for copying into notes, the grid lays a full set out at a glance for a class, and the wheel adds a beat of suspense before the object lands. Re-roll a single object that does not fit without losing the rest of your batch.