How to use the wheel spinner
Put one choice on each line of the Entries box. The wheel redraws as you type, so you can see straight away how it will look. Press Spin (the round button in the centre), click the wheel, or press Space or Enter when nothing else has focus. In the Entries box, Ctrl+Enter spins without leaving the keyboard.
- Entries holds the list, plus Shuffle, Sort A–Z (press again for Z–A) and Clear. Clear can be undone.
- Options sets the spin time from instant to twenty seconds, the colours, the tick sound (off until you switch it on) and whether the winner leaves the wheel after each spin.
- Results keeps a numbered list of everything the wheel has picked in this visit, ready to copy.
The wheel holds up to 500 entries. With a few dozen the names are printed on the slices. Past that the slices become too narrow to read, so the labels are dropped, but the draw still works and the winner is always shown in full underneath.
How the winner is chosen, and why the animation does not matter
A physical wheel is only as fair as its axle, its pegs and the hand that flicks it. A screen wheel can be made fairer, but only if the random choice is kept apart from the animation. Many wheels let the physics of the animation decide, which means a quirk in the easing or the frame rate can favour some slices. Here the order is reversed.
- The tool picks the winner first, using
crypto.getRandomValues(), the same secure generator browsers use for encryption keys. - The number is mapped onto your entries by rejection sampling: any value that would make some entries slightly more likely than others is thrown away and drawn again. A plain remainder operation (modulo) has a small bias unless you do this.
- A resting point inside the winner’s slice is chosen, away from the edges so the pointer never sits ambiguously on a line.
- Only then does the wheel turn, easing out over the spin time you chose, to stop exactly there.
Spin time, colours and sound therefore have no effect on the odds. Setting the spin time to Instant gives the same distribution as twenty seconds of drama. This does not make the result suitable for a regulated draw such as a prize competition: those have legal rules on how winners are selected and witnessed, so check the rules that apply to you.
Weights, duplicates and picking everyone once
Add a multiplier at the end of a line to change an entry’s share of the wheel. Ana x3 gets a slice three times the size of Ben, and so a three-in-four chance in a two-person wheel. The chance of every entry is listed under Chance of each entry, so you can check the arithmetic before you spin. A weight can be anything from 1 to 1,000; a weight of 0 skips the line.
Duplicate names are allowed by default, which is another way to give someone extra tickets. Tick Ignore duplicate names if a pasted list repeats people by accident. Names are compared without regard to capital letters, and the first copy is kept.
To pick several people in turn without repeats, switch on Remove the winner after each spin. The winner stays highlighted for a moment, then leaves the wheel, and the list in the Entries box shrinks by one line. If you removed the wrong person, Undo remove puts the list back. For picking a batch of winners at once, or for drawing numbers rather than names, the random number generator has a list picker that draws several unique items in one go.
Sharing a wheel and what stays on your device
The tool makes no network requests with your entries. They live in the page, and the page keeps a copy in your browser’s local storage so the list is still there when you come back. Clearing the site’s data removes it.
Copy share link gives you a web address that ends in #w= followed by your list in encoded form. Everything after the # is the URL fragment, which a browser keeps to itself and does not include in the request it sends to a server. Anyone who opens the link gets the same entries, weights and settings, but spins their own wheel, so each of you will see different winners. Because the list is inside the link, treat the link as you would the list: do not share it publicly if the names are private.
Accessibility and motion
Every control is a real button, field or checkbox that works with the keyboard. If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel makes a short spin of under half a second instead of a long one. The winner is announced in text beneath the wheel, so you do not have to read it off the canvas.
For timed rounds, such as ten seconds to answer once the wheel has picked someone, pair it with the online timer, and keep score with the tally counter.
Getting the most out of a decision wheel
A wheel is best at small decisions where nobody cares enough to argue about the method: who goes first, which film to watch, who makes the tea, which question comes next in a quiz. The presets cover the usual ones, and the entries can be edited the moment they load.
| Job | Set-up |
|---|---|
| Choose a student to answer | Paste the class list and switch on Remove the winner, so nobody is asked twice before everyone has had a turn. |
| Give regulars a better chance | Use weights, for example Priya x2 for someone who has entered twice. |
| Break a tie | Two entries with the same weight make a fair coin; use the Heads / Tails preset. |
| Run it on a projector | Press Full screen, set the spin time to 8 seconds or more and switch the tick sound on. |
One practical point on length: long names are shortened on the wheel itself with an ellipsis, but the result below the wheel always shows the whole thing. If two entries look alike once shortened, change the wording so they are easy to tell apart.
Frequently asked questions
Is the wheel spinner really random and fair?
The winner is chosen with crypto.getRandomValues(), your browser’s secure random generator, using rejection sampling so no entry is favoured by rounding. The wheel is animated afterwards to land on that result, so the spin itself cannot change the odds. Entries with the same weight have exactly the same chance, and the chance of each entry is shown in the Entries tab.
Can I make some names more likely to win than others?
Yes. Add x and a number after a name, for example Ana x3, and that slice becomes three times as large and three times as likely. Weights run from 1 to 1,000. Repeating a name on several lines has a similar effect, though one weighted line is tidier. The Chance of each entry list shows the resulting percentages before you spin.
How do I pick several winners without the same person twice?
Turn on Remove the winner after each spin in the Options tab. After every spin the winner is deleted from the list, so the next spin can only choose someone new. If you remove the wrong name, press Undo remove to restore the list. The Results tab keeps the order in which people were picked, and you can copy it.
Does it send my list of names to a server?
No. The tool makes no network requests with your entries; the wheel runs entirely in your browser. A copy of the list is kept in your browser’s local storage so it is there next time. The share link holds the list after a # in the address, a part that browsers do not send to servers, but anyone you give the link to can read the names.
What is the maximum number of entries?
The wheel takes up to 500 entries, each with a weight of up to 1,000. Beyond 500 lines the extra lines are left out, and a note tells you how many. When the slices get too narrow to read, the labels on the wheel are dropped but the draw works as normal and the winner is displayed in full below the wheel.
Can I use it for a prize draw or raffle?
It is fine for informal giveaways, class activities and office raffles. A competition or lottery that is regulated, such as one with paid entry, has legal requirements for how winners are selected and recorded, and a web page does not satisfy them on its own. Check the rules that apply to you, and keep a record of the entries and the result.
Why does the wheel not spin as long on my phone?
If your phone or computer is set to reduce motion, the wheel makes a short spin of under half a second instead of the full spin time. That follows the setting in your device’s accessibility options. The winner is chosen in exactly the same way, and the result is announced in text underneath the wheel.