Random Ice Cream Flavors

Random Ice Cream Flavors is a one-button picker: press Generate Ice Cream Flavour and you get one of 25 classic flavors with a photo, from Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry through Rocky Road, Butter Pecan and Moose Tracks to Matcha, Ube, Mango and Salted Caramel. It never repeats the flavor you just had, so pressing it a second time always moves you on. It is for the "I can't decide" moment at the counter, for picking the flavor of the week at home, and for games where a random dessert is the forfeit.

How it works

There are no settings. The tool shuffles the list of 25 and shows the first flavor as a card with its name and a photo. The only rule in the code is that the new pick cannot equal the previous one, so two clicks always give two different flavors. Beyond that it is a fair random draw, which means over a long run of clicks you will see every flavor.

The 25 flavors

The list was chosen to cover what an American scoop shop with a slightly adventurous menu actually sells, not every flavor that exists. Grouped loosely:

• The basics: Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream, Neapolitan, Chocolate Chip.
• Nut and caramel: Butter Pecan, Pistachio, Butterscotch, Salted Caramel.
• Mix-ins and chunks: Rocky Road, Moose Tracks, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cookies n' Cream, Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey.
• Coffee and tea: Coffee, Mocha, Matcha.
• Fruit and tropical: Mango, Coconut, Ube.
• Seasonal and regional: Eggnog, Teaberry (a wintergreen-flavored pink ice cream mostly found in Pennsylvania), Queso (a cheese ice cream popular in the Philippines).
• Novelty: Bubble Gum.

A couple of notes on the less familiar ones. Ube is purple yam, a Filipino favorite with a mild vanilla-nutty flavor and a vivid violet color, and it has become common in US scoop shops in the last few years. Matcha is powdered green tea, grassy and slightly bitter, so it pairs well with sweet toppings. Moose Tracks is vanilla with peanut butter cups and fudge, originally from a Michigan brand. Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey are Ben & Jerry's flavors (cherry with chocolate chunks; banana with walnuts and fudge) that have become generic enough that many shops make their own.

Ways to use the picker

• Deciding at the counter. Spin it once before you get to the front of the line and order whatever comes up. If the shop does not have it, spin again.
• Sundae night at home. Each person spins for their base flavor, then builds on top. Neapolitan or Coffee as a forced base is more fun than everyone picking chocolate.
• Homemade ice cream planning. If you have a machine and no ideas, the picker sets this weekend's batch. Butterscotch, Teaberry and Eggnog are all easy custard bases with one flavoring.
• Classroom and party games. Spin, then have kids describe the flavor, vote on it, or draw the cone. The photo on the card helps younger children who cannot read the name yet.
• Trying something new. If you always order the same two flavors, the picker is a low-stakes way to end up with Ube or Queso.

If you want a whole dessert rather than a flavor, the Random Dessert Generator is the next step up, and the Random Candy Generator and Random Snack Generator cover the sweet-shop shelf. To decide the meal before the ice cream, there is the Random Dinner Generator. You can find all food & drink generators in one list.