About the Spin the Wheel
Put names, prizes, chores or food choices on a colourful wheel and spin it. Type one entry per line and the wheel redraws as you type. Press Spin, watch it slow down, and the entry under the pointer is the winner.
Use it in a classroom to choose who answers next, on a live stream for a giveaway, in an office to pick a lunch spot, or at home to settle whose turn it is. It works on phones, tablets and computers without an app or an account.
How it works
The winner is chosen before the wheel starts moving. Your browser's cryptographic random generator picks one slice, with every slice equally likely, and the animation is then aimed so that slice stops under the pointer. Because the draw happens first, nothing about the speed, the colours or where the wheel was resting can make one entry more likely than another.
The stopping point is also placed at a random spot inside the winning slice, away from its edges, so the wheel never lands on a line between two entries and nobody has to argue about which side the pointer is on. Tests check that the wheel stops on the drawn entry for every slice of every wheel from 2 to 200 entries.
If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel turns once and quickly instead of spinning for five seconds.
Assumptions and limits
- Each line is one slice. Writing a name twice gives it two slices and twice the chance, which is how you can weight an entry.
- The wheel holds up to 200 entries. Names are hidden on the wheel above 60 entries because the slices get too thin to read, but the winner is still shown in full.
- Entries stay on this page; nothing is uploaded or saved, so copy anything you want to keep.
Worked examples
Picking a student
Paste the class list and tick 'Remove the winner after each spin'. Each spin takes the chosen student off the wheel, so everyone gets a turn before anyone is picked twice.
A giveaway on a live stream
Paste the usernames of everyone who entered, share your screen and spin. The last ten winners are listed under the entries if you are giving away several prizes.
What's for dinner
Keep the example list or type your own options. Add a favourite twice if you want it to come up more often.
How to use the Spin the Wheel
- Add your entries. One per line; the wheel updates as you type.
- Spin the wheel. Press Spin or the centre of the wheel.
- See the winner. Copy it, spin again, or remove it from the wheel.
Frequently asked questions
Is this spin the wheel random and fair?
Yes. The winner is drawn with your browser's cryptographic random generator before the wheel moves, with exactly the same chance for every slice. The spinning animation only shows that result, so it can't favour any entry.
How do I give one entry a better chance?
Add it more than once. Every line becomes its own slice, so an entry written three times on a wheel of ten slices has a three in ten chance of winning each spin, while the others have one in ten.
Can I remove the winner after each spin?
Tick 'Remove the winner from the wheel after each spin'. The winning line is deleted once the wheel stops, which is useful for picking the order of presentations or drawing several different prize winners.
How many names can I put on the wheel?
Up to 200 entries. Above 60 the names are no longer printed on the slices because they become too thin to read, but the spin is just as fair and the winner appears in full below the wheel.
Does the wheel save my list?
No. Your entries exist only on this page in your browser and are never uploaded. Keep a copy of long lists somewhere else, because closing or reloading the page brings back the example entries.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you enter or upload stays on your device and is never sent to our servers.