Wheel Spinner / Random Picker

How to use Wheel Spinner / Random Picker

A wheel spinner makes everyday choices visible and easy to share with a group. Enter names, topics, tasks, or ideas on separate lines and spin to select one entry. It can help assign classroom turns, choose a discussion topic, pick a lunch option, or select the next activity in a meeting. The animation shows the result while the text below the wheel makes the selection accessible without relying on color.

Each nonempty line is one entry with an equal chance of selection. Blank lines are ignored and surrounding whitespace is removed. Duplicate names remain separate entries, so a name entered twice has twice the probability of a name entered once. Keep the list consistent if every participant should have the same chance. The wheel supports between two and one hundred entries, with a maximum of one hundred characters per entry.

Selection uses the browser’s cryptographic random-number generator and rejection sampling to avoid modulo bias. The winning entry is chosen before the animation begins. The animation rotates to that entry rather than determining the outcome from timing, clicking speed, or drawing performance. This is a convenient local picker, not an independently audited raffle service or a record suitable for regulated prize drawings.

Turn on remove-winner mode to take each selected entry out of the list for the next round. This is useful when assigning distinct tasks or giving everybody a turn. Once fewer than two choices remain, add more entries before spinning again. Reset clears the result history and stops an active animation while preserving the current list, allowing you to begin another round without retyping all remaining entries.

The results list records selections during the current visit. Copy it or download a plain-text file when you want to keep the sequence. Neither entries nor results are uploaded or stored by this tool, and closing the page loses the session. On small screens the editor and wheel stack vertically. Reduced-motion preferences shorten the animation while preserving the same selection method. Review the list before every spin, especially when editing shared names or removing previous winners.

Frequently asked questions