diff --git a/doublethink/rethinker.py b/doublethink/rethinker.py
index fcafa20..2e5b58e 100644
--- a/doublethink/rethinker.py
+++ b/doublethink/rethinker.py
@@ -113,21 +113,22 @@ class Rethinker(object):
         else:
             self.servers = servers
         self.dbname = db
+        self.last_error = {} # {server: time}
 
     # https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb-example-webpy-blog/blob/master/model.py
     # "Best practices: Managing connections: a connection per request"
     def _random_server_connection(self):
         retry_wait = 0.01
         while True:
-            server = random.choice(self.servers)
+            server = random.choice(self._server_whitelist())
             try:
                 try:
                     host, port = server.split(':')
-                    return r.connect(
-                            host=host, port=port, timeout=max(0.1, retry_wait))
+                    return r.connect(host=host, port=port)
                 except ValueError:
-                    return r.connect(host=server, timeout=max(0.1, retry_wait))
+                    return r.connect(host=server)
             except Exception as e:
+                self.last_error[server] = time.time()
                 self.logger.warn(
                         'will keep trying after failure connecting to '
                         'rethinkdb server at %s: %s (sleeping for %s sec)',
@@ -135,6 +136,24 @@ class Rethinker(object):
                 time.sleep(retry_wait)
                 retry_wait = min(retry_wait * 2, 10.0)
 
+    # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penalty_(ice_hockey)#Major_penalty
+    PENALTY_BOX_TIME = 300
+    def _server_whitelist(self):
+        '''
+        Returns list of servers that have not errored in the last five minutes.
+        If all servers have errored in the last five minutes, returns list with
+        one item, the server that errored least recently.
+        '''
+        whitelist = []
+        for server in self.servers:
+            if (server not in self.last_error
+                    or self.last_error[server] < time.time() - self.PENALTY_BOX_TIME):
+                whitelist.append(server)
+        if not whitelist:
+            whitelist.append(sorted(
+                self.last_error.items(), key=lambda kv: kv[1])[0][0])
+        return whitelist
+
     def wrap(self, delegate):
         if isinstance(delegate, (types.FunctionType, types.MethodType)):
             def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):