Spin the wheel

How to pick a random name

1. Type or paste your names into Entries, one per line. A spreadsheet column pastes straight in.
2. Optional: give someone more tickets with Name*3, and tap Remove duplicates if the list came from several places.
3. Tap Spin, or press Space or Enter. The wheel slows down over about five seconds.
4. Read the result card. Tap Remove from wheel to take the winner off, or turn on Raffle mode so that happens by itself.
5. For a class on a projector, tap the full-screen button next to Spin. To reuse the list, save it on this device or make a share link.

How the fairness works

Each spin first draws the winner, then animates. The draw takes a 32-bit number from crypto.getRandomValues, keeps only as many low bits as it needs to cover the tickets, and throws the number away and draws again if it lands past the last ticket. With 5 tickets it keeps 3 bits (0 to 7) and redraws on 5, 6 or 7. The common shortcut, the remainder of a big random number divided by 5, makes the first few tickets very slightly more likely; redrawing avoids that.

Worked example: Alice*3, Bob, Cara is 5 tickets, so Alice wins 3 in 5 spins on average (60 %), Bob and Cara 1 in 5 (20 %) each. Alice's slice is 216° of the wheel and the others 72°, so what you see is the real chance. The stopping point inside the winning slice is random too, kept away from the borders so there is never a doubt about which slice the pointer is on.

Fair does not mean evenly spread: with 8 names, the same name coming up twice in a row happens about once every 8 spins. Use Raffle mode if everyone should get a turn before anyone gets a second one.

Raffles, several winners and big lists

Raffle mode removes each winner, with all of their tickets, as soon as the wheel stops, so one person cannot win two prizes. Pick N at once draws N different entries in one spin: the wheel lands on the first, and the card lists the rest in draw order, each drawn from the entries still left. Past 60 entries the names no longer fit on the slices, so the wheel shows colours and the list beside it highlights the slice under the pointer as it turns.

Ready wheels: yes or no, numbers, letters

The row above the entries fills the wheel in one tap. Numbers builds every value from From to To in steps of Step: 1 to 100 is 100 numbers, 10 to 50 in steps of 5 is 9 (10, 15 … 50). The range may not hold more than 1,000 numbers, so 1 to 1,001 is refused with a note rather than quietly cut short. Letters puts A to Z on the wheel; type the letters to leave out (Q X Z leaves 23), which is handy for a word game where some letters are too hard. Each ready wheel is a link ending in #w=…, the same format as a share link, so you can bookmark it or send it, and it opens as a copy you can edit without touching the list you had.

What it cannot do

• No accounts: saved wheels stay in this browser and do not follow you to another device. Use a share link to move a list.
• No spinning together across devices: a share link sends the list, not the spin. Everyone who opens it spins their own copy, so show one screen (full screen on a projector) when the result has to be seen by all.
• 1,000 entries at most. Lines past the 1,000th are not on the wheel; for a longer list, a list picker or a spreadsheet's random sort does the job better.
• Up to 100 tickets per entry and 100 winners per spin.
• Share links longer than 2,000 characters (about 300 names of first name plus initial; fewer if the names are long) may be cut short by some chat apps and are too long for a QR code.

Privacy and what is stored

The list never leaves your device. The page sends an anonymous page-view count and, on a spin or a share, one of four fixed words (wheel-spin, wheel-share-make, wheel-share-open, wheel-preset); never a name, a number or a letter from your list or from a ready wheel. Your current list is kept in this browser's storage for your next visit, and wheels you save are kept there too, until you tap Clear everything saved. Opening someone else's share link saves nothing until you tap Save.

Questions

How do I spin the wheel with names?

Type or paste the names into the Entries box, one per line, and tap Spin (or press Space or Enter). The wheel turns for about five seconds and the result card shows who it stopped on.

Can I pick a random name from a list I already have?

Yes. Copy a column from a spreadsheet or a list from a document and paste it into the Entries box; each line becomes one slice. Tap Remove duplicates if the same name appears twice. Up to 1,000 lines fit on the wheel.

Can I use it as a yes or no wheel?

Yes. Tap Yes / No under Ready wheels, or put Yes and No on two lines yourself. Each then has a 50 % chance. Yes / No / Maybe gives each answer one chance in three, and writing Yes*2 and No gives Yes two of three chances.

How do I pick a random number from 1 to 100?

Tap Numbers 1–100 under Ready wheels and then Spin. Every number from 1 to 100 gets an equal slice, so each has a 1 in 100 chance. For another range open Other numbers or letters and set From, To and Step: 1 to 6 is a die, 0 to 1,000 in steps of 50 gives 21 numbers. The wheel holds up to 1,000 numbers; past 60 they are listed beside the wheel. Turn on Raffle mode to draw numbers without repeats, as in bingo.

Is the wheel rigged? How do I know it is fair?

The winner is drawn with crypto.getRandomValues, the browser's cryptographic random generator, before the wheel starts to move, and the animation is then aimed at that winner. Each entry's chance is its tickets divided by all tickets, and the slice sizes show exactly those chances. There is no setting that favours anyone, and the code is readable in this page.

How do I give someone multiple entries in a raffle?

Write a star and the number of tickets after the name: Alice*3 gives Alice three tickets and a slice three times as big. Turn on Raffle mode so each winner is taken off the wheel, with all their tickets, before the next draw.