7 Creative Ways to Decide Who Gets the “Better” Room When Renting with Roommates

Moving in with roommates is all fun and games…until it’s time to pick rooms. When one room is clearly bigger or better, the debate over who gets it can turn even the closest of friends into frenemies before you’ve even had time to fight over whose turn it is to clean the bathroom.

Instead of dropping passive-aggressive hints that you don’t really mind if your roomie lands the better room (while secretly fuming), why not settle things in a way that’s creative, ridiculous, and a little competitive?

Here are 7 ways to keep moving in with your roommates all fun and games, instead of turning it into a bitter battle over the better bedroom:

1) What’s Behind Door #?

Inspired by Let’s Make a Deal, have the landlord randomly number each door before anyone steps inside. Each roommate picks a number and gets whatever room is behind it. No peeking, no swapping, and no blaming the universe for your bad luck!

2) The Bidding War

Hold a bidding war where each roommate can up the ante on how much the room is worth by bidding how much of the rent they’re willing to pay each month. Even the loser wins in this one, because they can potentially end up paying way less rent than they would have if their roomie is willing to get the better room, no matter how much it costs them!

3) Share a Room Until…

Agree to share the smaller room until one of you gets annoyed enough to let the other one have the better room just to get some peace and quiet, even if it means getting the smaller room. Just keep in mind that this one favors the heavy snorer or the notorious gas-passer, so know your strengths before committing to this one!

4) A Good Old-Fashioned Debate

Take your case to the court of public opinion—aka social media, where everyone loves to chime in with their two cents, whether you want to hear it or not. Create a live-stream event and present your best arguments on why you deserve the big room, gather votes, and let the internet decide. Just don’t be mad if your friends think your roommate deserves the bigger space more than you do if they make a compelling argument for it.

5) Race to the Room

Whoever gets there first wins! Simple, right? Unfortunately, this method gives an unfair advantage to the roommate who actually did track in high school. So, to keep it fair, don’t start the race from the front door of your new abode. Pick a random spot on the map many miles away, so each roommate has to contend not only with their direct competition, but also traffic patterns, and must choose the quickest way to get to the coveted room.

6) The Hands-on Approach

Put a spin on one of those car dealership contests where whoever is able to keep their hand on the car longer than anyone else wins the car! But in this scenario, each roommate must keep their hand on the bedroom door for as long as possible. No timeouts or bathroom breaks—last one standing wins.

7) Spin the Roulette Wheel

Spin your way to a decision with a roulette wheel. Assign the prize room a number and color, then take turns spinning and let fate decide your living situation. If the ball lands on the coveted spot on your spin, you get the room.