Random Name Picker
A preset of Decision Wheel
Paste a list of names and pick one fairly. Turn on "remove the winner" to draw without replacement — useful for classroom participation, assigning tasks or running a prize draw where nobody should be picked twice.
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How to decision wheel
- 1
Add your options
One per line — names, meals, tasks, anything.
- 2
Spin
The wheel picks one at random using cryptographic randomness.
- 3
Remove or spin again
Optionally drop the winner so nobody is picked twice.
Why "remove the winner" is the default here specifically
A generic decision wheel is often used for a single, one-off choice where the pool of options staying intact afterward does not matter at all — picking tonight's dinner is a complete, standalone decision. Picking a name from a list is usually part of a *sequence* of picks instead — calling on students throughout a class period, assigning several tasks across a team, drawing multiple prize winners from one entry list — where fairness specifically requires that nobody already chosen can be picked again before everyone else has had a turn. Defaulting to removing each winner after their spin is what makes this variant behave correctly for that sequential, no-repeats use case out of the box, rather than requiring the setting to be found and switched on manually every time.
What happens once every name has already been picked
As names are progressively removed from the pool with each spin, the wheel simply keeps redistributing the same total probability across whichever names remain — the fairness guarantee holds at every step regardless of how many names are left, whether that is fifty or just two. Once every name on the list has been picked exactly once, the sequence of individual fair draws is complete: a full pass through the list where every entry was selected exactly one time, in a randomised order.
Frequently asked questions
Is the result actually random?
Yes. The winner is chosen with `crypto.getRandomValues` — the same source used for cryptographic keys — and the wheel animation is then rotated to land on it. Many spinner sites animate first and read the result off the angle, which introduces subtle bias from floating-point rounding.
Does every option have an equal chance?
Exactly equal. The pick uses rejection sampling rather than a modulo, so no option is even fractionally more likely than another — the bias a naive implementation introduces is small but real.
Can I use this to pick students or team members?
Yes, and turning on "remove the winner" makes it work as a fair draw without replacement — each spin picks from those not yet chosen. Nothing you type is transmitted, so a class list stays on your machine.
How many options can I add?
Practically, up to about 50 before the labels become unreadable on the wheel. The randomness itself is unaffected by the count.