Make Yourself a Crazy Christmas Playlist with Spotify Roulette

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Depending on which side of the debate you fall on, Christmas can be a time of joy or great irritation for music lovers. You can either revel in the familiar dozen songs that go on each year or despise the cheesy lyrics and annual repetition session. Either way, mixing it up a bit can be a great way to make your day a bit more entertaining – even if it is just to add some surprise appearances amidst the classics.

The perfect service to base this game of randomized music action is Spotify. Back in 2020, the service reportedly already had over 70 million songs with predictions suggesting that count would decline. Three years later, Spotify states that there are, in fact, over 100 million tracks for its over 570 million subscribers to delve into. Assuming that you might just be one of these over 570 million users, here’s how to set up and play Spotify Roulette.

The premise of it being a roulette game

Roulette is a wonderfully simple casino game that’s been around for centuries precisely because of how simple the concept is and its payout potential. Now, roulette online has expanded to several variants, including XL Roulette, Double Ball Roulette, and even the game show-like PowerUP Roulette. Here, we’re sticking with the premise of classic European roulette.

You get a wheel of assorted numbers that also have colored pockets. You bet on as many numbers as you want, spin the wheel, and see if the ball lands in a pocket aligned to your bet. If it does, you win. So, to help replicate this, you’ll need some form of wheel-spinning application that, preferably, you can amend with words. Alternatively, you can use the numbers already assigned to a roulette wheel and apply them to your options.

The game becomes one of Spotify roulette because of the randomness that comes with the wheel spinning. To make the music-deciding game a bit more of a gamble, we’ll also mix in a form of 50-50 bet. In roulette, Odd and Even, Red and Black, and 1st 18 and 2nd 18 pay 1:1, and are nearly at those odds to occur – only the green pocket stops this from having coin flip odds. So, with the concept clear, here’s the idea for the game.

Playing Spotify roulette this Christmas

We’ll begin with 36 different options. Half of these, 18, will be the names of bands and artists who you know, like, and would be happy to include in the playlist. The other 18 will be nearly random words that you’ll use to find other songs. These could, fittingly, be words like “Christmas,” “snow,” “merry,” and the like, or some weird ones, like “flower,” or “Godzilla.” Pick whatever you think will be fun.

Now, you either use a wheel application like Spin the Wheel to create your wheel of music choices or assign the choices to the numbers on a roulette wheel and spin that instead. Next, and before each spin, decide if you’ll be backing a Named Act or a Search Term. If your spin reveals a Named Act and you backed that, pick the top two songs from that named act on Spotify. The same goes for backing and spinning in a Search Term.

Keep spinning until your Spotify Roulette yields a playlist of around 50 songs. Whenever a result doubles up on one from earlier, simply pick the next one or two songs – depending on the outcome of your backing – lower on the search results of Spotify.

Once it’s all set and you’re ready, press Shuffle and then press Play!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff Chief editor

Bernard Van Isacker is the Chief Editor of Side-Line Magazine. With a career spanning more than two decades, Van Isacker has established himself as a respected figure in the darkwave scene.

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