Streamlabs Donation Wheel — Auto-spin a Gachapon on Every Donation

The cleanest way to turn every Twitch / YouTube / Kick donation into a fun gachapon reveal. Donor's name + amount-gated prize tiers + full history saved to your dashboard — no scripting, no third-party services, free for manual mode and one Pro tier for the auto-trigger.

What it does in 15 seconds

Your viewer drops a donation. The normal Streamlabs alert plays for ~7 seconds with their image, name, amount, and message. Then the alert fades, and a transparent gachapon machine slides in over your stream. The machine shakes, capsules tumble, one drops into the chute, and the prize reveal pops with the donator's name attached — exactly the kind of small spectacle that makes viewers want to donate again. Total runtime under 30 seconds. The reveal is fully customizable: tier names, prize lists, theme colors, sound, and donation amount thresholds.

Why a donation wheel works for streamer engagement

Plain donation alerts are functional but flat. The donor gives money, the alert plays, the streamer says "thanks" — and the moment is over. A gachapon reveal extends that moment into 20 seconds of suspense the entire chat watches together. The suspense itself is the reward, separate from whatever prize the donor "wins." Streamers who switch from flat alerts to a wheel-style alert consistently see two things: longer average donation amounts (donors aim for the higher prize tiers) and more repeat donations from the same viewers (they want another spin).

The mechanic is psychologically robust because it borrows from the same loop as physical capsule machines: variable reward + visible randomness + a public "did you see what they got" outcome. It works whether the prize is a real merch item, a Discord role, a custom emote, a shoutout, or even just a silly virtual badge. The prize matters less than the spin.

Setup in 5 minutes — step by step

1. Configure your gachapon — open the Gachapon page and set up your five tiers (White, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Rainbow). Rename tiers if you want ("Common / Rare / Epic / Legendary / Mythic" is a popular variant). Set probability percentages, write your prize list per tier, and pick a theme.
2. Set donation amount thresholds — for each tier, set "Min donation." Example: White = 0 (anyone can hit it), Bronze = 5, Silver = 20, Gold = 100, Rainbow = 500. Now small tips can only land on the common tiers, and big tips unlock the rare prizes.
3. Save as a template — sign in with Google + connect Patreon at Dashboard for Pro. Click "💾 Save as new" in the template bar and name it (e.g., "Friday stream").
4. Copy the Streamlabs HTML — click "📎 Embed" (or use the Streamlabs alert code in the dedicated streamer CTA section). A modal pops with the full iframe snippet including the {name} and {amount} Streamlabs variables.
5. Paste into Streamlabs — go to streamlabs.com/dashboard → Alert Box → Donations tab → toggle Custom HTML/CSS/JS ON → paste into HTML field. Set Alert Duration to 30 seconds.
6. Test — click "Test Donation" in Streamlabs. You should see the regular alert play, fade, then the gachapon roll for the test donor. If it does, you're live. Hit Save.

How donation amount → prize tier gating works

This is the feature that turns the wheel from a novelty into a monetization tool. Every tier has a "Min donation" field (default 0). When a donation arrives, the gachapon URL receives &amount=X from Streamlabs. The roll only considers tiers whose minimum is ≤ X.

Example with realistic streamer values:

• White tier (min 0) — "Thank you 💖", High Five emote, shoutout. 50% probability.
• Bronze (min $5) — Custom emote use, Discord role, sticker. 25% probability.
• Silver (min $20) — Choose next game, 1-minute timeout for the streamer, photo card. 15% probability.
• Gold (min $100) — Stream song request, T-shirt, signed photo. 8% probability.
• Rainbow (min $500) — 1-on-1 Discord call, custom drawing, limited 1/1 merch. 2% probability.

A $1 donation rolls only White → guaranteed Thank You. A $50 donation rolls White/Bronze/Silver → 50/25/15 = 90% chance of getting something, weighted by the original probabilities. A $1000 donation rolls all five tiers including Rainbow. The donor can see in your stream description what amounts unlock which tiers, so they have a tangible reason to tip more.

Templates: switch wheels per stream theme

One template is fine for everyday streams, but power users save multiple. Common patterns:

• Seasonal — Halloween (spooky prizes), Christmas (festive theme), Birthday stream (rare giveaway).
• Per-game — One template for Minecraft streams (in-game prizes), another for variety streams.
• Premium hour — A special template with much rarer prizes during a single advertised hour, then switch back.
• Charity stream — All-prize wheel where every donation unlocks something, even small ones.

Switch templates by changing one parameter in your Streamlabs Custom HTML — no need to re-paste the whole thing. The dashboard has a one-click "Copy Streamlabs code" per saved template.

What the donor sees vs. what your chat sees

Both views are public — the gachapon is rendered on stream, so the donor watches their own spin live in chat alongside everyone else. They see their name on the reveal card ("for DonatorName123"), the prize tier badge, the prize name, and the prize image if you uploaded one. Chat reacts in real time. The whole table sees the rarity of the roll, which is what makes Rainbow rolls feel like a community event.

Avoiding common pitfalls

Don't set Min donation too aggressively

If a $5 donor can never land on anything but the lowest tier, the wheel feels rigged. Aim for the lowest tier to have its min at 0 and the next two tiers to have low minimums ($1–$10). Reserve the top two tiers for genuinely large tips.

Set Alert Duration long enough

Streamlabs cuts the alert at the duration you set. The gachapon needs ~7s normal alert + 1s fade + 10s buildup + 8s reveal = 26s minimum. Set 30s for safety, 40s if you have long buildup.

Test with a real chargeback-eligible donation amount

Streamlabs' "Test Donation" doesn't fire real amount variables in all configurations. Send yourself a $1 tip (or have a friend do it) to verify the {amount} variable actually reaches the gachapon.

Don't promise prizes you can't deliver

If your Rainbow tier promises "Signed limited 1/1 art," have a way to fulfill it. The community remembers when streamers promise and don't deliver. Start with virtual prizes (Discord role, emote use, shoutouts) until you've stockpiled physical merch.

Cloud history — every pull saved

When the wheel runs through a donation alert (i.e., with your uid + template in the URL), every result is logged to your dashboard. You'll see who donated, when, the amount, which template was active, which tier rolled, and which prize was picked. Useful for:

• Fulfillment tracking — confirm you sent each physical prize to the right donor.
• Highlight reels — find the timestamps of every Rainbow roll for a "best of" video.
• Drop rates — verify the wheel actually rolled Rainbow at 2% over your last 500 donations.
• Tax records — list of donations and the prizes promised, exportable as CSV.

Pricing

• Free — open the gachapon URL in OBS as a browser source, click PULL manually in OBS Interact mode during stream. No donation auto-trigger, no cloud history, no donator names. Good for casual / hobby streams.
• Pro ($5/mo on Patreon) — saved templates, Streamlabs donation auto-trigger, donator names on reveal, cloud-synced pull history, image uploads per prize, default template per OBS source, share + embed.

Frequently asked questions

Ready to set it up?

Open the gachapon page, configure your tiers and prizes, save a template, and copy the Streamlabs HTML. Five minutes from now your stream can have a real donation wheel running.

Related

• Gachapon machine — the main tool, free to try.
• Vtuber gachapon setup guide — specific tips for Vtuber overlays.
• Twitch giveaway wheel — for picking winners from chat entries.
• Streamer dashboard — pull history, templates, OBS URLs.
• Wheel of Item home — the original decision wheel.