The spinning wheel picker, and how to get the most out of it

When a wheel beats a list

A spinning wheel does something a random number generator cannot: it makes the choice public. Everyone watches the same pointer slow down, so nobody has to trust that the person holding the phone actually pressed the button. That is why wheels turn up in classrooms, in stand-up meetings and in prize draws, where the point is not just to pick fairly but to be seen picking fairly.

Paste your names in the box, press Spin or click the wheel, and one entry wins. Nothing is set up in advance and nothing is saved anywhere but your own browser.

What you can do with it

Pick a name from a group

Who answers the next question, who goes first, who has to demo. One spin, done.

Run a giveaway

Turn on "remove winner automatically" in the settings and keep spinning to draw second and third place without anyone winning twice.

Decide between options rather than people

The entries do not have to be names. Six restaurants, four project ideas, or the three things you have been putting off all work the same way.

Give one entry more weight

Add a star and a number to a line, so James*3 takes a slice three times the normal size and wins three times as often. Useful for raffles where people hold several tickets.

Sharing a wheel

Copy link puts the whole entry list into the address itself, so sending someone that link gives them the same wheel without either of you creating an account. Because the list lives in the link rather than on a server, a very long list makes a very long address, and nothing you share is stored by this site.

Is it actually random?

Yes, and in a specific way worth explaining. The winner is chosen first, by the browser's cryptographic random number generator, and the animation is then calculated backwards so the wheel lands on that slice. This sounds like cheating but it is the opposite: it means the result cannot be influenced by how hard you flick, how long the wheel spins, or where it happened to start. Each entry's chance is exactly its share of the wheel, and the page verifies that the pointer really is over the chosen slice when the wheel stops.

Duplicate names are allowed and each copy gets its own slice, so adding someone twice genuinely doubles their chance. Blank lines are ignored.

Tips

• Sort puts the list in alphabetical order; Shuffle rearranges the slices without changing anyone's odds.
• Above about fifty entries the names stop fitting and the wheel shows colours only. The winner is still announced in full.
• The spin length, the colour theme and the sound are all in the settings dialog behind the gear icon.
• Results collect in the Results tab with the time each one was drawn, which is handy when you need a record of a draw.

Questions people ask

Is the wheel really random?

Yes. The winner is chosen by the browser's cryptographic random number generator before the wheel moves, and the animation is calculated backwards so the wheel lands on that slice. Each entry's chance is exactly its share of the wheel, so the result cannot be influenced by how hard you flick, how long the wheel spins, or where it started.

How do I give one entry a better chance?

Add a star and a number to the line. James*3 takes a slice three times the normal size and wins three times as often. Adding the same name twice works too, because each copy gets its own slice.

How does sharing a wheel work?

Copy link puts the whole entry list into the address itself, so sending someone that link gives them the same wheel without either of you creating an account. Because the list lives in the link rather than on a server, a very long list makes a very long address.

Are the names I type stored anywhere?

No. Nothing is saved anywhere but your own browser, and nothing you share is stored by this site.