Spin the Wheel — the fun, fair way to pick a random winner
The Spin the Wheel tool turns any list of names into a colourful prize wheel and lands on one random winner with a satisfying spin and a burst of confetti. You paste your entries, press the button, and let chance do the deciding — no spreadsheets, no manual number-drawing, and no arguments about who picked who. It solves a small but constant problem: any time a group needs to choose one person or option without bias, you need a neutral referee, and a visible spinning wheel is one everybody can watch and trust.
It's built for anyone who has to make a fair pick in front of an audience or a class. Streamers and small businesses use it to run giveaways and raffles on camera; teachers use it to call on students or assign jobs without playing favourites; managers use it to pick the next presenter or shuffle a stand-up order; and friends use it to settle who pays the bill, who goes first, or which restaurant wins. Because everything runs in your browser and your last list is remembered automatically, you can reopen the page and spin again in seconds — no account, no install, and no cost.
How to use it
- Type or paste your names into the entries box — one name per line. The counter underneath shows how many entries are loaded.
- Watch the wheel rebuild itself as you type — each name gets its own coloured slice.
- Optionally press Shuffle to randomise the slice order, or Clear to start a new list.
- Press SPIN in the centre of the wheel, or the big SPIN THE WHEEL button below it.
- The wheel spins for a few seconds and stops with the pointer on a random winner 🎉.
- To draw several unique winners, switch on Remove winner after spin so each winner is taken out before the next spin.
How the randomness actually works
A lot of "random" pickers quietly favour the first or last item, or repeat the same names. This wheel doesn't. Each spin calls your browser's crypto.getRandomValues — the same cryptographically secure generator used for security tokens — and it uses rejection sampling to strip out the tiny statistical bias that creeps in when you fold a random number down to a list size. In plain terms: with five names, every name has an exactly equal one-in-five chance, every single spin, with no memory of previous results. The wheel's final resting angle is purely cosmetic; the winner is decided by that secure draw before the animation even starts, so what you see is always honest.
Tips for running a fair giveaway
If you're picking a prize winner in front of an audience, a few habits make the draw feel trustworthy. Paste the full participant list in plain view so viewers can see nobody was added or removed after entries closed, and read the entry count aloud — it's shown right under the wheel. Screen-record the spin from the moment you press the button so there's an unbroken clip of the result. For multiple prizes, turn on Remove winner after spin and keep spinning; the winner is taken off the wheel each time, so the same person can't win twice. Handling duplicate entries from a "tag a friend" promo? Decide your rule up front — usually one slice per person — and clean the list before you spin rather than after.
Beyond giveaways: everyday uses
The wheel is just as handy for tiny daily decisions as for big draws. Teachers load the class roster to cold-call fairly or to assign chores, group projects, and reading order. Trainers and scrum masters spin to choose the next speaker so the same confident voices don't always go first. Families and roommates use it for chores, who picks the film, or who's on dishes. Game nights use it to decide turn order or to break a tie. And when a group genuinely can't agree, handing the choice to a visible, equal-chance wheel ends the debate faster than another round of "you decide."
Private by design
Your names never leave your device. There's no server, no upload, and no tracking of who's on your list — the tool runs entirely in your browser, and your most recent entries are saved only in that browser's local storage so they're waiting for you next time. That makes it safe for student names, staff lists, customer handles, or anything you'd rather not post to a third-party site. Clearing the box or using the Clear button removes the saved list, and nothing is ever shared with us or anyone else.