Spin the Wheel – Random Name Picker

Need to spin the wheel to choose a name, a prize winner or what to have for lunch? Our free Spin the Wheel random name picker turns any list into a colorful wheel in seconds. Paste up to 200 names or options, one per line, give some entries a bigger slice with weights if you want, then spin and watch the pointer land. Remove each winner automatically, keep a history of results, pick several winners in one go or split a class into random groups. The result is chosen with your browser's cryptographically secure random generator, the wheel can go full screen for a classroom or a live stream, and your list stays in your browser unless you choose to share a link.

How to use the Spin the wheel

1. 1 Add your names or optionsType or paste one entry per line, or import a CSV or text file. The first column becomes the label; an optional second column of numbers becomes the weight. Duplicates are flagged so you can remove them.
2. 2 Set weights if some entries need better oddsAdd *3, or a comma or tab followed by a number, after a name to give it three times the chance of a single entry. Its slice grows to match, and the odds panel shows each entry's exact chance.
3. 3 Choose a theme and optionsPick a color theme, decide whether winners are removed after each spin, turn the tick sound on or off and set how long the spin lasts. Instant result skips the animation.
4. 4 Spin the wheelClick the wheel, press Spin or press Space. The wheel slows down and the pointer at the top lands on the result, which then appears in a large pop-up that is easy to read from the back of a room.
5. 5 Use the other modes when you need themSwitch to Pick N winners to draw several entries at once, or Split into groups to make random teams. Copy or download the results and the history when you are done.

What a spin-the-wheel picker is good for

A spinning wheel is a simple, visible way to make a random choice in front of other people. Everyone can see the list, everyone watches the wheel slow down, and nobody has to trust that a name was quietly pulled out of a hat. That sense of fairness, plus a little suspense, is why wheels turn up in classrooms, meetings, live streams and giveaways.

It is also just a quick way to settle small decisions. If a team cannot agree on where to order lunch, which bug to fix first or who presents next, putting the options on a wheel ends the debate in a few seconds. The tool works with any text, so entries can be names, prizes, chores, workout moves, discussion questions or restaurant choices.

• Classrooms: call on students at random, choose who reads next or pick a question from a review list.
• Meetings and workshops: choose who speaks first, pick an icebreaker or rotate a facilitator.
• Streams and events: run a viewer giveaway or a challenge wheel on screen in full screen mode.
• Fitness and coaching: spin for the next exercise, round or partner in a class.
• Hospitality and retail: pick a daily special, a staff task or a winner from entry cards you have typed up.
• Everyday decisions: what to cook, which film to watch or who washes the dishes.

How the randomness works, in plain English

The winner is not decided by where the animation happens to stop. When you press Spin, the tool first picks the result using crypto.getRandomValues, the cryptographically secure random number generator built into modern browsers. Only then does it work out how far to turn the wheel so the pointer lands inside that entry's slice, at a random point within it, after several full turns. The animation is there so everyone can follow along; the result was already fixed the moment you pressed the button.

This is how most good digital wheels work, and it is more reliable than simulating physics, where tiny timing differences between devices could nudge the result. It also means that clicking at a particular moment, or pressing the button harder, cannot influence the outcome.

Every spin is independent. The wheel has no memory, so a name that just won is exactly as likely to win again on the next spin, unless you remove it. It is normal to see the same name twice in a row, or one entry come up several times in a short session. That is what real randomness looks like over small numbers of spins; it evens out only over many spins. If you want everyone to be picked once before anyone is picked twice, turn on Remove winner after each spin.

The Pick N winners mode draws without replacement, so the same entry line cannot appear twice in one draw. Split into groups shuffles the whole list with the Fisher-Yates method, using the same secure generator, and deals names out in turn so group sizes never differ by more than one.

Using weights fairly and openly

By default every line has the same chance. Weights let you change that on purpose. A line written as Alice*3 counts as three tickets, so Alice is three times as likely to be picked as an entry with a weight of one, and her slice on the wheel is three times as wide. The slice sizes always match the real odds, so what people see on screen is an honest picture of each entry's chance.

Weights are useful when entries genuinely deserve different odds: a giveaway where people earned extra entries under published rules, a reward system in a classroom, or a menu where you want favourite dishes to come up more often. Open the chance panel under the list to see each entry's exact percentage per spin. If you are running anything public, say in advance how weights are earned, because hidden weighting quickly destroys trust.

Duplicate lines behave like weights. If a name appears twice, it gets two slices and twice the chance. The tool flags duplicates, ignoring capital letters, so you can remove them in one click when each person should have exactly one entry. Untick Read weights if your entries contain commas followed by numbers that are part of the name itself.

Running a giveaway or prize draw with a wheel

A wheel is a popular way to pick a giveaway winner on a live stream or social media, but the wheel is only the last step. Rules for prize promotions, sweepstakes and contests vary by country, state and province. Some places restrict draws that require a purchase or payment to enter, some require written official rules, and some treat games of chance very differently from contests of skill. Social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube also publish their own promotion rules. This page is general information, not legal advice, so check the rules that apply where you and your entrants are before you launch.

Whatever the rules, a few habits make any draw easier to defend. Publish how people enter, when entries close and how the winner will be chosen before you start. Collect the entries into a list, remove duplicates and anyone who is not eligible, and keep a copy. Record the screen while you spin, or run it live, and download the history afterwards so you have a timestamped record. Pick reserve winners in case the first person does not respond, which the Pick N winners mode does in one step, with the draw order shown.

Classrooms, streams and full screen mode

For a projector, an interactive whiteboard or a stream overlay, press Full screen. The wheel grows to fill the display, the result pop-up appears on top in large type and Space spins again, so you can run a whole session from the keyboard. Pick a high-contrast theme such as Bright or Mono if the room is well lit. Full screen depends on your browser; some phones, including iPhones, do not allow it for page elements, in which case the button is hidden.

The tick sound is generated by your browser with the Web Audio API, so there are no audio files to download. It follows the pointer as it passes each slice and fades as the wheel slows. Turn it off with one click for quiet classrooms or when you are already playing music on a stream.

If your device is set to reduce motion, the tool starts with Instant result switched on, so the answer appears without a long spinning animation. You can switch the animation back on at any time, and change the spin length between two and twelve seconds.

Saving, sharing and privacy

Your list is kept in your browser's local storage on this device, so it is still there when you come back. Nothing you type is sent to our server. History is kept only for the current visit, so copy or download it if you need a record.

Copy share link puts the list, theme and settings into the part of the address after the # sign. Browsers do not send that part to the server when they load a page, so the list travels inside the link itself rather than being stored by us. Anyone you give the link to can read the names in it, so avoid sharing links that contain information people would not want passed on, such as full names of children with other details. Very long lists make very long links, which some chat apps cut short; for big lists, download the list as a text file instead.

Examples you can copy

Amara
Benjamin
Chloe
Diego
Emily
Fatima
Gabriel
Hana

jordan_k*3
sam.lee*1
priya_r*2
alex-m*1

# or as a weight column:
jordan_k, 3
sam.lee, 1

Name,Entries
"Nguyen, Linh",2
Omar Haddad,1
Sofia Rossi,4

Tacos
Sushi
Pizza
Thai curry
Salad bar
Burgers

Common mistakes to avoid

Frequently asked questions