How can I choose which monitor a game starts on?

If the game/application does not propose the setting to choose the display it will run on, then there is no way to specify it manually.

By default, the games will start on the primary screen as set in the control panel. Should you need to put fullscreen games on a specific display, you would have to temporary set your primary display to the desired screen, launch the game, then switch it back.

The second best option (in my opinion) is to run your games in borderless windowed mode whenever possible. This should allow you to move windows (right-click on task in tasbar, move) or even use windows-7 shortcuts like WIN+Left/Right to move the window to the desired screen.

If you're using Windows 7 (or 8), I've picked up a handy trick to switch the screen my browser window takes up. (I tend to browse websites fullscreen)

Start the game, and when it is fullscreen on one monitor, push

• Windows Key+Shift+Left Arrow (or Right Arrow, depending on your setup)

to move it between monitors.

Not too sure if it will work with all games, but give it a try.

Put the game in window mode, drag it to the desired screen and switch to full screen again.

I have a four monitor set-up and I have one monitor that always gets the stuff I want on another, so if you're using Windows 7, listen up:

• Go to your desktop background, right-click, screen resolution.
• Here are your monitors, click on the one you want to have your stuff on most of the time, and click, "Make this my main display".
• All the others can be selected with, "Extend these displays".
• Now all the items you open up will be on this display, and like Robotnik said, if you wish to change what screen it goes on, click Win+Shift+arrow key.

I think you could do this with Autohotkey fairly simply. See something like this article. You could have a script running that detects a title matching a list of your game window titles and moves it. Or you could make a script that launches a specific game and moves the window.

There is no ubiquitous way of natively making sure that an application, browser window, or program will stick to a particular monitor.

As in the other answers, there are workarounds that might force a particular fullscreen to appear on the display of your choosing, but in most instances, this will not be a remembered behavior.

There are two third-party utility programs I have come across that might be able to help you with your problem:

DisplayFusion
https://www.displayfusion.com/Compare/

Actual Multiple Monitors
https://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/features/

They both have a free and a paid version. I think you might need the paid version (lifetime license under $30 as of this posting) in order to save the monitor display assignment permanently.