Name Wheel

How to pick a random name

1. Delete the sample names and paste your own list into the box, one name per line. You can copy a column straight from a spreadsheet or a class roster.
2. Press Spin or click the wheel. The pointer on the right lands on the chosen name and a window shows it in large type.
3. By default the winner is taken off the wheel, so the next spin only picks from the names that are left. Untick Remove the winner if the same person may be picked again.
4. Every pick is added to the results list, so you have a record of the order in which names came up.

Your list stays in this browser, so a teacher can paste a class once and find it there the next day. Use Shuffle to mix up the order on the wheel or Sort to put names in alphabetical order. Neither changes the odds.

Is it fair?

Each spin chooses the winner with your browser’s cryptographic random number generator before the wheel starts turning, and only then animates to that name. Every name on the wheel has exactly the same chance. With 10 names that is 1 in 10, or 10%. With 25 names it is 4% each.

When winners are removed, the chances change as the wheel shrinks, and that is expected. In a class of 25, the first name has a 1 in 25 chance, the second spin picks 1 of the 24 left, and so on. Over a full draw every student has the same chance of coming up at any given position, which is why removing winners is the usual way to call on everyone once.

The wheel does not remember past spins. A name that won a minute ago, and was put back, is just as likely to win again as any other.

Giving someone extra chances

For a giveaway where some people earned more entries, type their name once per entry. Someone listed three times is three times as likely to be picked. If you remove winners, only the line that won is removed, so turn off removing and delete that person’s other lines by hand if each person should win only once.

Ideas for the classroom and beyond

• Cold calling without picking favorites. Spin to choose who answers next. Students tend to accept the result because they can see it is random.
• Turn order. Spin until the wheel is empty and the results list gives you a full presentation or reading order.
• Jobs and roles. Draw names for class jobs, a weekly helper, or who chooses the next game.
• Giveaways and raffles. Paste the entrant list, spin once on screen, and the winner is clear to everyone watching a stream or a meeting.
• Secret gift exchanges. Spin to set the order in which people draw.

If you need everyone split into groups at once, the Random Team Generator does it in one click. For choices that are not names, such as what to eat or which game to play, use the general Spin the Wheel page.

Tips

• Short names read best on the wheel. Long names are trimmed on the wheel itself, but the full name always appears in the result window.
• Above about 60 names the labels get small. The draw stays fair, and the result window shows the name clearly.
• Keep a copy of your full list somewhere else if you remove winners, so you can paste it back for the next round.