diff --git a/llmapi/main.go b/llmapi/main.go
index 021015e..c4e2892 100644
--- a/llmapi/main.go
+++ b/llmapi/main.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -427,27 +428,64 @@ func (b *Bot) BuildPrompt(room *models.Room) string {
 
 func (b *Bot) CallLLM(prompt string) ([]byte, error) {
 	method := "POST"
-	payload := b.LLMParser.MakePayload(prompt)
+	// Generate the payload once as bytes
+	payloadReader := b.LLMParser.MakePayload(prompt)
 	client := &http.Client{}
-	req, err := http.NewRequest(method, b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, payload)
-	if err != nil {
-		b.log.Error("failed to make new request", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL)
-		return nil, err
+	maxRetries := 6
+	baseDelay := 2 // seconds
+	for attempt := 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++ {
+		// Create a new request for the attempt
+		req, err := http.NewRequest(method, b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, payloadReader)
+		if err != nil {
+			if attempt == maxRetries-1 {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create request: %w", err)
+			}
+			b.log.Error("failed to make new request; will retry", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, "attempt", attempt)
+			time.Sleep(time.Duration(baseDelay) * time.Second * time.Duration(attempt+1))
+			continue
+		}
+		req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		req.Header.Add("Accept", "application/json")
+		req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer "+b.cfg.LLMConfig.TOKEN)
+		resp, err := client.Do(req)
+		if err != nil {
+			if attempt == maxRetries-1 {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("http request failed: %w", err)
+			}
+			b.log.Error("http request failed; will retry", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, "attempt", attempt)
+			delay := time.Duration(baseDelay*(attempt+1)) * time.Second
+			time.Sleep(delay)
+			continue
+		}
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		resp.Body.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			if attempt == maxRetries-1 {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body: %w", err)
+			}
+			b.log.Error("failed to read response body; will retry", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, "attempt", attempt)
+			delay := time.Duration(baseDelay*(attempt+1)) * time.Second
+			time.Sleep(delay)
+			continue
+		}
+		// Check status code
+		if resp.StatusCode >= 400 && resp.StatusCode < 600 {
+			if attempt == maxRetries-1 {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("after %d retries, still got status %d", maxRetries, resp.StatusCode)
+			}
+			b.log.Warn("retriable status code; will retry", "code", resp.StatusCode, "attempt", attempt)
+			delay := time.Duration((baseDelay * (1 << attempt))) * time.Second
+			time.Sleep(delay)
+			continue
+		}
+		if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+			// For non-retriable errors, return immediately
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("non-retriable status %d, body: %s", resp.StatusCode, string(body))
+		}
+		// Success
+		b.log.Debug("llm resp", "body", string(body), "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL, "attempt", attempt)
+		return body, nil
 	}
-	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
-	req.Header.Add("Accept", "application/json")
-	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer "+b.cfg.LLMConfig.TOKEN)
-	res, err := client.Do(req)
-	if err != nil {
-		b.log.Error("failed to make request", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL)
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	defer res.Body.Close()
-	body, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		b.log.Error("failed to read resp body", "error", err, "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL)
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	b.log.Debug("llm resp", "body", string(body), "url", b.cfg.LLMConfig.URL)
-	return body, nil
+	// This line should not be reached because each error path returns in the loop.
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown error in retry loop")
 }
diff --git a/llmapi/parser.go b/llmapi/parser.go
index 55f3457..625ee04 100644
--- a/llmapi/parser.go
+++ b/llmapi/parser.go
@@ -86,12 +86,6 @@ func (p *lcpRespParser) ParseBytes(body []byte) (map[string]any, error) {
 		p.log.Error("failed to unmarshal", "error", err)
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	// if len(resp.Choices) == 0 {
-	// 	p.log.Error("empty choices", "resp", resp)
-	// 	err := errors.New("empty choices in resp")
-	// 	return nil, err
-	// }
-	// text := resp.Choices[0].Message.Content
 	text := resp.Content
 	li := strings.Index(text, "{")
 	ri := strings.LastIndex(text, "}")
@@ -123,11 +117,15 @@ func (p *lcpRespParser) MakePayload(prompt string) io.Reader {
 }
 
 type openRouterParser struct {
-	log *slog.Logger
+	log        *slog.Logger
+	modelIndex uint32
 }
 
 func NewOpenRouterParser(log *slog.Logger) *openRouterParser {
-	return &openRouterParser{log: log}
+	return &openRouterParser{
+		log:        log,
+		modelIndex: 0,
+	}
 }
 
 func (p *openRouterParser) ParseBytes(body []byte) (map[string]any, error) {
@@ -160,17 +158,28 @@ func (p *openRouterParser) ParseBytes(body []byte) (map[string]any, error) {
 }
 
 func (p *openRouterParser) MakePayload(prompt string) io.Reader {
-	// "model": "deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free",
-	// TODO: set list of models an option to pick on the frontend
+	// Models to rotate through
+	models := []string{
+		"google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free",
+		"deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free",
+		"mistralai/mistral-small-3.2-24b-instruct:free",
+		"qwen/qwen3-14b:free",
+		"deepseek/deepseek-r1:free",
+		"google/gemma-3-27b-it:free",
+		"meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free",
+	}
+	// Get next model index using atomic addition for thread safety
+	p.modelIndex++
+	model := models[int(p.modelIndex)%len(models)]
 	strPayload := fmt.Sprintf(`{
-	"model": "google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free",
+	"model": "%s",
 	"messages": [
 		{
 		"role": "user",
 		"content": "%s"
 		}
 	]
-	}`, prompt)
-	p.log.Debug("made openrouter payload", "payload", strPayload)
+	}`, model, prompt)
+	p.log.Debug("made openrouter payload", "model", model, "payload", strPayload)
 	return strings.NewReader(strPayload)
 }
diff --git a/todos.md b/todos.md
index 660b8a0..1c99a19 100644
--- a/todos.md
+++ b/todos.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 - sse hangs / fails connection which causes to wait for cards to open a few seconds (on local machine) (did not reoccur so far);
 - invite link gets cutoff;
 - guesser bot no request after game restart;
-- openrouter 429 errors;
+- openrouter 429 errors (retry);
 - there is a clue window for a mime before game started;
 - retry call to llm (if 400|429|4xx);
 - when llm guesses the word it is not removed from a pool of words making it keep guessing it;