Spin the Wheel
Pick a name or a choice at random.
- Nothing leaves your browser
- Free, no sign-up
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All generatorsQuestions
Is the wheel actually random?
Yes, and in a stronger sense than most. The winner is drawn from your browser's cryptographic random number generator before the wheel starts moving, and the animation is then calculated to land on it. Most spinners work the other way round — they spin by a random-looking amount and read off whatever ends up under the pointer — which quietly skews the odds, because the distribution of a spin angle is never quite even across segments once easing and rounding are involved.
Can I make one option more likely than another?
Add it more than once. Three lines saying Alex and one saying Blake gives Alex three chances in four. There is no separate weighting box to learn, and repeating a line is what most people try first anyway. The wheel shows the duplicates as separate segments, so the odds are visible rather than hidden in a setting.
How do I run a raffle where nobody wins twice?
Tick 'remove the winner after each spin'. Each result is taken out of the list, so spinning repeatedly draws an order rather than the same name over and over. It removes by position, not by name, so if you deliberately entered someone twice they keep their second chance.
How many entries can it take?
Two hundred. Labels stop being readable somewhere around forty, so past that the wheel becomes a band of colour and the result is announced in text underneath instead — which still works fine for a big draw. Below about twenty it stays comfortably legible.
Does anything I type get sent anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs in your browser — the names, the draw and the animation. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored on a server, and closing the tab is the end of it. That matters more than it sounds for this particular tool, since the entries are often a list of real people.
Can I use it if animation makes me unwell?
Yes. If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel skips the spin and shows the result immediately. That setting is under Accessibility in both iOS and Android, and under Ease of Access or Accessibility on Windows and macOS.
How it works, and more about spin the wheel
How it works
- Add your entries. One per line in the box. Start from a ready-made list if you just want to try it — yes or no, days of the week, what's for dinner.
- Spin. Press the button in the middle of the wheel. It takes a few seconds to slow down and stop on one entry.
- Draw again if you need to. Tick 'remove the winner' to draw without replacement — useful for raffles, running orders and secret santa, where nobody should come up twice.
What people actually use it for
Mostly three things. Picking a person — who presents first, who gets the last ticket, who is on washing up. Picking an option when nobody minds enough to argue but everyone minds enough to stall, which is what the dinner list is for. And running a draw in front of an audience, where the point is not the randomness so much as the fact that everyone watched it happen.
That third case is why the wheel exists at all. A random name generator that prints an answer instantly is faster and no less fair, but it is not witnessable. A classroom, a team call or a livestream needs the few seconds of slowing down, because that is what makes the result feel decided rather than asserted.
How the randomness works, and why the order matters
The winner is drawn first, from your browser’s cryptographic random number generator, and the wheel is then animated to land on it. Most spinners do the opposite: they pick a random angle, spin, and read off whichever segment ends up under the pointer.
That sounds equivalent and is not. Once easing, rounding and any velocity model are involved, the distribution of final angles is never quite even across segments — so some entries come up slightly more often than others, and nobody notices, because no one can eyeball a distribution. Choosing first makes fairness a property of the number generator rather than of the animation, which means it can be tested. It also removes the failure where the wheel stops on one name and the text announces another.
Weighting, without a settings panel
Repeat a line. Three lines of Alex against one of Blake is three chances in four, and the wheel draws it as three separate segments, so the odds are visible on the wheel rather than buried in a field somewhere. It is also what most people try before reading any instructions, which is the best argument for a feature there is.
Drawing without replacement
Tick remove the winner and each result is taken out of the list. Spin repeatedly and you get an order rather than a repeated name: a running order for presentations, a seating plan, a secret santa chain, the first five out of a hat.
It removes by position rather than by name, which matters if you have deliberately entered somebody twice — they lose one chance, not both.
Nothing leaves your device
The entries, the draw and the animation all happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored. That is true of nearly everything on this site, but it is worth saying plainly here, because the list on a wheel is very often a list of real people — a class, a team, a set of customers who entered a competition.
If motion is a problem
Set your device to reduce motion and the wheel skips the spin entirely, showing the result straight away. A four-second rotation is exactly the kind of movement that triggers vestibular symptoms, and the answer is the point of the tool — the spin is decoration, so it is the part that gives way.
Related
If you want an unbiased pick without the theatre, the password generator and UUID generator draw from the same cryptographic source. For sharing a shortlist rather than picking from it, a QR codeis usually the faster way to get a list onto everyone’s phone.