Spin the wheel

Type your options, spin the wheel, get a winner.

8 entries ready

How this works

  • The winner is drawn before the wheel moves — using your browser’s cryptographic random number generator, and the spin is then animated to land on it. Spinning by a random amount and reading off wherever it stopped would let frame timing and rounding tilt the odds.
  • Every entry has the same chance — the draw avoids the bias a plain “random number modulo the number of entries” introduces, which very slightly favours the entries at the start of the list.
  • Nothing is uploaded — your list stays in the page. Reloading clears it, and nothing is stored or sent.
  • Remove the winner — tick it to draw without replacement: useful for picking an order, assigning tasks or running several prizes off one list.

Put one option on each line and press spin. The wheel takes about four seconds to settle, which is the whole point — the suspense is what makes a wheel better than a coin toss for dividing chores, picking a prize or deciding who goes first.

The randomness is real. The winner is drawn using your browser’s cryptographic random number generator *before* the wheel starts moving, and the spin is then animated to land on it. Doing it the other way round — spinning by a random amount and reading off wherever the pointer stopped — sounds the same but is not: the result would depend on the easing curve and frame timing, and the segments near a frame boundary would come up slightly more often.

Tick "remove the winner" to draw without replacement, which turns the wheel into a way of picking an order rather than a single name.

How to use it

  1. Type your options, one per line.
  2. Press spin.
  3. Read the winner.
  4. Tick "remove the winner" to keep drawing from what is left.

Frequently asked questions

Is it really random, or is it rigged for suspense?

Really random. The draw uses crypto.getRandomValues and rejection sampling, which avoids the small bias that taking a random number modulo the number of entries introduces in favour of the first few entries. The animation is only a presentation of a result that was already decided.

How many options can I add?

Up to 200. Beyond about 30 the labels get too narrow to read on the wheel, so the name picker is a better fit for long lists.

Is my list saved or shared?

No. It stays in the page and disappears when you close or reload it. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no link to share a wheel.

Can I pick more than one winner?

Tick "remove the winner afterwards" and spin again. Each spin draws from what is left, so you end up with an order rather than repeats.

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