Spin the wheel to pick a random winner
Spin the wheel is the quickest fair way to choose between options when everyone is watching. Type a list — names of students, raffle entrants, dinner ideas, chores, prizes or truth-or-dare challenges — and the colourful wheel builds itself. Press Spin, listen to the pointer tick across the pegs, and watch the wheel slow down and stop on the winner, complete with confetti.
The result is decided by cryptographically secure randomness the instant you press Spin; the animation then carries the wheel to that slice. Each entry’s chance is exactly its share of the wheel, so equal entries are equally likely and an entry with “x3” is three times as likely. Everything runs in your browser, works on phones and projectors, and needs no account.
How to use the Spin the Wheel
- Type or paste your entries in the box, one per line. The wheel updates as you type. Add “x2”, “x3” and so on after an entry to give it a bigger slice.
- Choose a Spin length and decide whether to Remove the winner after each spin — handy for drawing several prizes or choosing a speaking order.
- Press Spin the wheel, tap the wheel itself or the SPIN hub in the middle.
- When the wheel stops, the winner is announced. Choose Spin again, Remove to take that entry off the wheel, or Close.
- Use Save to keep the list on this device, Copy share link to send the exact wheel to someone else, and Full screen for a classroom or stream.
Spin the Wheel features
Winner first, animation second
A secure random draw picks the winning slice before the wheel moves, so the outcome never depends on frame rates, timing or where you tapped.
Weighted entries
Give an option more chances with “Pizza x3”. Slice sizes follow the weights exactly, and “x0” keeps an entry in your list without putting it on the wheel.
Readable on any screen
The wheel is drawn sharply for high-density displays, labels shrink to fit their slice and long names are shortened with an ellipsis.
Sound, confetti and reduced motion
A quiet tick for every peg and a short fanfare for the winner, with a mute button. On devices with a capable graphics chip the wheel turns into a 3D disc once you start spinning: it leans towards your pointer, wobbles slightly as it spins and settles with a bounce. If your device prefers reduced motion, the wheel jumps straight to the result.
Saved and shareable lists
Store as many named lists as you like in your browser, or copy a link that rebuilds the same wheel for anyone who opens it.
Winner history
The last 20 winners are listed with the time they were drawn, which is useful for proving fairness in a giveaway.
How the wheel stays fair
When you press Spin, the tool adds up the weights of all entries and draws a whole number in that range with crypto.getRandomValues. Rejection sampling discards the rare raw values that would otherwise favour the first entries (the “modulo bias” problem), so an entry with weight 3 out of a total of 10 wins exactly 30% of the time over the long run.
Only then does the animation start. The wheel turns a set number of full rotations and eases out with a cubic deceleration — fast at first, then a long, slow crawl past the last few pegs — before stopping at a random point inside the winning slice, never exactly on a border. Shuffling the list changes the slice order but not anyone’s odds.
Ideas for using a random wheel
| Situation | Example entries | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom | Student names | Tick “Remove the winner” so everyone gets a turn |
| Giveaway or raffle | Entrant names or ticket numbers | Use full screen and share the list link before drawing |
| What to eat | Pizza, Sushi, Tacos… | Weight favourites with x2 |
| Chores rota | Dishes, Laundry, Bins | Spin once per person |
| Party games | Truth, Dare, Sing, Mime | Long spin length for suspense |
| Study revision | Topics or chapters | Remove each topic once revised |
Wheel, name picker or number generator?
A wheel is best when people want to see the draw happen and the list fits comfortably on one wheel — up to a few dozen entries. For drawing several winners at once from a long list, the Random Name Picker is faster. For numbered tickets, use the Random Number Generator, and to split a group fairly, try the Team Generator. For a quick two-way decision, a coin flip does the job.
Spin the Wheel FAQ
Is spin the wheel really random?
Yes. The winner is drawn with your browser’s cryptographically secure random generator using rejection sampling, before the animation begins. The spin you see is just the wheel travelling to a slice that has already been chosen fairly; tapping at a particular moment cannot change it.
How do I give one entry a better chance?
Type a multiplier after it, such as “Alice x2” or “Grand prize x0.5”. The slice becomes proportionally bigger or smaller and the winning chance follows exactly. Entries without a multiplier count as x1.
Can I remove a name after it wins?
Yes. Press Remove in the winner box, or tick “Remove the winner after each spin” to do it automatically when the box is closed or you spin again.
How many entries can the wheel hold?
Up to 1,000. Labels stay readable up to roughly 40–60 entries on a phone; beyond that the slices get thin and the winner box shows the full name.
How do I share my wheel?
Press Copy share link. The entries are stored in the part of the link after the # sign, so anyone who opens it sees the same wheel, and the list is never uploaded to a server.
Are my saved lists private?
Yes. Saved lists, your current entries and the winner history are stored only in your browser’s local storage on this device. Clearing your browser data removes them.