Spin the Wheel – Random Name Picker and Decision Wheel

How to use the wheel

1. Type the entries, one per line — names, prizes, tasks or choices.
2. Press Spin. The wheel spins for a few seconds and the pointer at the top lands on the winner.
3. Spin again as often as you like. The last ten winners are listed.

Options:

• Shuffle mixes the order of the entries (the odds stay the same).
• Remove the winner after each spin takes each winner off the wheel.
• Clear empties the list.

How the winner is chosen

Before the wheel moves, the tool picks a random entry using crypto.getRandomValues with a method called rejection sampling, which avoids even tiny biases. It then calculates how far the wheel must turn — several full turns plus the angle that brings the chosen slice under the pointer — and animates the spin. Where the pointer stops inside the slice is also random, so the wheel doesn’t always land in the middle.

Because the winner is decided fairly first, the speed of the animation, your device or how quickly you press the button can’t change the outcome.

Ideas for using the wheel

• Giveaways and raffles — pick winners from entrants’ names.
• Classrooms — choose who answers next, pick groups or select a topic.
• Teams and meetings — who presents first, who takes notes, who buys coffee.
• Family decisions — what to cook, which film to watch, whose turn it is.
• Games and parties — truth or dare, challenges, prize draws.
• Productivity — pick a task from your to-do list when you can’t decide.

Running a fair draw

• Publish the rules first: the closing time, how many winners and whether winners are removed.
• Use each entrant once, unless extra entries are part of the rules.
• Record or stream the spin so everyone can see it.
• Draw reserve winners in case someone doesn’t respond.

Weighted draws

Sometimes entries shouldn’t have equal chances — for example when people bought different numbers of raffle tickets. Add a name once for each ticket and the wheel gives it a matching number of slices. Three lines of “Amara” and one of “Ben” give Amara a 75% chance and Ben 25%. Use Shuffle to spread repeated names around the wheel so it looks fair as well as being fair.

Using the wheel on a projector

In a classroom or meeting, open the page on the shared screen and zoom the browser in so the wheel fills the display. The winner appears in large text under the wheel when it stops, so everyone can read it from the back of the room.

Other ways to pick at random

For numbered tickets or large lists, the random number generator can draw unique numbers. To time a game round, use the countdown timer.