Suggest Me Something: How Recommendation Quizzes Work
In short: Each SuggestionLabs quiz asks eight short questions about your mood and situation, such as energy, tone, runtime and who's with you. Your answers are translated by fixed rules into search filters (genre, length, era, rating) and run against public catalogues: TMDB for films and series, MyAnimeList via Jikan for anime, Open Library and Google Books for books, and Apple's iTunes Search for songs. No account, no tracking of past choices.
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Two comedies can suit completely different nights: a gentle sitcom when you're tired, a sharp satire when you're alert. Asking how you feel and what you have energy for captures that difference, which a genre menu can't.
What the quizzes ask
Each quiz has eight questions tailored to its medium. The movie quiz, for example, asks:
- How you feel going in, and how much energy you have
- The tone you want, and how much it should make you think
- How long it can run, and from what era
- Who you're watching with, and the flavour you want most
The book quiz asks about pace, length and setting; the song quiz about tempo, brightness and what you're doing while it plays; the anime quiz about format and episode count.
How answers become picks
- Each answer maps to filters by fixed rules: "short" becomes a runtime cap, "light" adds comedy or family genres, "classic" sets a release-year range.
- The filters are sent to a public catalogue: TMDB for films and series, Jikan (MyAnimeList) for anime, Open Library and Google Books for books, and iTunes Search for songs.
- Results are sorted by the source's popularity or rating, with a minimum rating applied, and up to ten are shown with details like runtime, episode count or where a film is streaming.
More detail is on our where our data comes from page.
Getting the best match
- Answer for right now, not the mood you wish you were in.
- Retake it with one answer changed if the first list misses.
- Use the details (runtime, episode count) to check fit before you start.
Frequently asked questions
Does the quiz use my viewing history? No. It only uses the answers you give in that session, so it doesn't need an account or past data.
Why do I get different results when I retake it? Changing even one answer changes the filters sent to the database, so the list changes. Same answers on the same day will usually give similar picks.