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Brian Eno's famous 1975 Oblique Strategies cards, or Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas, are an endlessly functional and inspiring tool for creating art and ideas.

Vague, nebulous, or hyper-brief phrases make up a deck of cards that Eno designed to be a flexible, one-size-fits-all tool to stimulate your mind or guide the direction of the creative process.

David Bowie, The B-52s, MGMT, and Coldplay, among many others, famously employed these cards while creating notable albums, like Bowie's Berlin trilogy and 1. Outside and The B-52's self-titled debut. Despite music creation being the original implementation of the cards, creatives working in practically any medium can use these cards due to their modular nature.

Today, the deck costs upwards of $60 if you want the physicality of shuffling and randomly picking cards. Some websites and mobile apps offer digital versions, but using this Oblique Strategies Oracle, you can use 52-deck playing cards to generate new angles, ideas, and techniques.

Oblique Strategies Oracle

Oblique Strategies Oracle 1 (1–52)

Ace of Spades – Abandon normal instruments
2 of Spades – Accept advice
3 of Spades – Accretion
4 of Spades – A line has two sides
5 of Spades – Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture)
6 of Spades – Are there sections? Consider transitions
7 of Spades – Ask people to work against their better judgment
8 of Spades – Ask your body
9 of Spades – Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group
10 of Spades – Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle
Jack of Spades – Be dirty
Queen of Spades – Breathe more deeply
King of Spades – Bridges -build -burn
Ace of Hearts – Cascades
2 of Hearts – Change instrument roles
3 of Hearts – Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency
4 of Hearts – Children's voices -speaking -singing
5 of Hearts – Cluster analysis
6 of Hearts – Consider different fading systems
7 of Hearts – Consult other sources -promising -unpromising
8 of Hearts – Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element
9 of Hearts – Courage!
10 of Hearts – Cut a vital connection
Jack of Hearts – Decorate, decorate
Queen of Hearts – Define an area as `safe' and use it as an anchor
King of Hearts – Destroy -nothing -the most important thing
Ace of Clubs – Discard an axiom
2 of Clubs – Disconnect from desire
3 of Clubs – Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them
4 of Clubs – Distorting time
5 of Clubs – Do nothing for as long as possible
6 of Clubs – Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do
7 of Clubs – Don't be frightened of cliches
8 of Clubs – Don't be frightened to display your talents
9 of Clubs – Don't break the silence
10 of Clubs – Don't stress one thing more than another
Jack of Clubs – Do something boring
Queen of Clubs – Do the washing up
King of Clubs – Do the words need changing?
Ace of Diamonds – Do we need holes?
2 of Diamonds – Emphasize differences
3 of Diamonds – Emphasize repetitions
4 of Diamonds – Emphasize the flaws
5 of Diamonds – Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Roth)
6 of Diamonds – Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation
7 of Diamonds – Fill every beat with something
8 of Diamonds – Get your neck massaged
9 of Diamonds – Ghost echoes
10 of Diamonds – Give the game away
Jack of Diamonds – Give way to your worst impulse
Queen of Diamonds – Go slowly all the way round the outside
King of Diamonds – Honor thy error as a hidden intention

Oblique Strategies Oracle 2 (53–104)

Ace of Spades – How would you have done it?
2 of Spades – Humanize something free of error
3 of Spades – Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar
4 of Spades – Imagine the music as a set of disconnected events
5 of Spades – Infinitesimal gradations
6 of Spades – Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of
7 of Spades – Into the impossible
8 of Spades – Is it finished?
9 of Spades – Is there something missing?
10 of Spades – Is the tuning appropriate?
Jack of Spades – Just carry on
Queen of Spades – Left channel, right channel, center channel
King of Spades – Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly
Ace of Hearts – Listen to the quiet voice
2 of Hearts – Look at a very small object; look at its center
3 of Hearts – Look at the order in which you do things
4 of Hearts – Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them
5 of Hearts – Lowest common denominator check single beat -single note -single riff
6 of Hearts – Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame
7 of Hearts – Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last
8 of Hearts – thing on the list
9 of Hearts – Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action; incorporate
10 of Hearts – Mechanicalize something idiosyncratic
Jack of Hearts – Mute and continue
Queen of Hearts – Only one element of each kind
King of Hearts – (Organic) machinery
Ace of Clubs – Overtly resist change
2 of Clubs – Put in earplugs
3 of Clubs – Remember those quiet evenings
4 of Clubs – Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics
5 of Clubs – Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
6 of Clubs – Repetition is a form of change
7 of Clubs – Reverse
8 of Clubs – Short circuit
9 of Clubs – improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap)
10 of Clubs – Shut the door and listen from outside
Jack of Clubs – Simple subtraction
Queen of Clubs – Spectrum analysis
King of Clubs – Take a break
Ace of Diamonds – Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
2 of Diamonds – Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko)
3 of Diamonds – The inconsistency principle
4 of Diamonds – The tape is now the music
5 of Diamonds – Think of the radio
6 of Diamonds – Tidy up
7 of Diamonds – Trust in the you of now
8 of Diamonds – Turn it upside down
9 of Diamonds – Twist the spine
10 of Diamonds – Use an old idea
Jack of Diamonds – Use an unacceptable color
King of Diamonds – Use fewer notes

Oblique Strategies Spades Oracle 3 (105–117)

Ace of Spades – Use filters
2 of Spades – Use "unqualified" people
3 of Spades – Water
4 of Spades – What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate
5 of Spades – What is the reality of the situation?
6 of Spades – What mistakes did you make last time?
7 of Spades – What would your closest friend do?
8 of Spades – What wouldn't you do?
9 of Spades – Work at a different speed
10 of Spades – You are an engineer
Jack of Spades – You can only make one dot at a time
Queen of Spades – You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas
King of Spades – BLANK

The website deck.of.cards is a great tool if you don't have a deck of cards on hand, and Matt Rickard's website has a written list as well.

Random Number Generator

Alternatively, you can use this numbered list of the Oblique Strategy prompts with a random number generator. Mobile apps like Tiny Decisions work well, as well as Google's own Random Number Generator:

Oblique Strategies (1-117)

1. Abandon normal instruments
2. Accept advice
3. Accretion
4. A line has two sides
5. Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture)
6. Are there sections? Consider transitions
7. Ask people to work against their better judgment
8. Ask your body
9. Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group
10. Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle
11. Be dirty
12. Breathe more deeply
13. Bridges -build -burn
14. Cascades
15. Change instrument roles
16. Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency
17. Children's voices -speaking -singing
18. Cluster analysis
19. Consider different fading systems
20. Consult other sources -promising -unpromising
21. Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element
22. Courage!
23. Cut a vital connection
24. Decorate, decorate
25. Define an area as `safe' and use it as an anchor
26. Destroy -nothing -the most important thing
27. Discard an axiom
28. Disconnect from desire
29. Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them
30. Distorting time
31. Do nothing for as long as possible
32. Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do
33. Don't be frightened of cliches
34. Don't be frightened to display your talents
35. Don't break the silence
36. Don't stress one thing more than another
37. Do something boring
38. Do the washing up
39. Do the words need changing?
40. Do we need holes?
41. Emphasize differences
42. Emphasize repetitions
43. Emphasize the flaws
44. Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Roth)
45. Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation
46. Fill every beat with something
47. Get your neck massaged
48. Ghost echoes
49. Give the game away
50. Give way to your worst impulse
51. Go slowly all the way round the outside
52. Honor thy error as a hidden intention
53. How would you have done it?
54. Humanize something free of error
55. Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar
56. Imagine the music as a set of disconnected events
57. Infinitesimal gradations
58. Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of
59. Into the impossible
60. Is it finished?
61. Is there something missing?
62. Is the tuning appropriate?
63. Just carry on
64. Left channel, right channel, center channel
65. Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly
66. Listen to the quiet voice
67. Look at a very small object; look at its center
68. Look at the order in which you do things
69. Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them
70. Lowest common denominator check -single beat -single note -single
71. riff
72. Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame
73. Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last
74. thing on the list
75. Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action; incorporate
76. Mechanicalize something idiosyncratic
77. Mute and continue
78. Only one element of each kind
79. (Organic) machinery
80. Overtly resist change
81. Put in earplugs
82. Remember those quiet evenings
83. Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics
84. Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
85. Repetition is a form of change
86. Reverse
87. Short circuit
88. improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap)
89. Shut the door and listen from outside
90. Simple subtraction
91. Spectrum analysis
92. Take a break
93. Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
94. Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko)
95. The inconsistency principle
96. The tape is now the music
97. Think of the radio
98. Tidy up
99. Trust in the you of now
100. Turn it upside down
101. Twist the spine
102. Use an old idea
103. Use an unacceptable color
104. Use fewer notes
105. Use filters
106. Use "unqualified" people
107. Water
108. What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate
109. What is the reality of the situation?
110. What mistakes did you make last time?
111. What would your closest friend do?
112. What wouldn't you do?
113. Work at a different speed
114. You are an engineer
115. You can only make one dot at a time
116. You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas
117. BLANK