Spin the wheel

The winner is chosen before the animation starts, using your browser's cryptographic random number generator, and then the wheel is turned so that slice lands under the pointer. Every slice is the same size and has exactly the same chance. The stopping point inside the slice is also random, so the wheel doesn't always stop dead center.

Nothing about the speed of your click, the previous result or the order of the list changes the odds. If you have five entries, each one has a 1 in 5 (20%) chance on every spin.

Because the result is decided by the random generator and not by physics, there is no technique for stopping the wheel on a particular slice, and spinning harder or more often changes nothing. If you want everyone to see that the draw is fair, share your screen or project the wheel while you spin, and keep the entry list visible.

No. The result is drawn with your browser's cryptographic random number generator before the animation starts, and the wheel is then turned so that slice stops under the pointer. Spin time, sound, how hard you click and earlier results don't change anything. Nobody can steer it, including us: the draw runs on your device, and no result is sent to a server.

With equal slices, each entry's chance is 1 divided by the number of entries:

Weights change the odds in proportion. If *Emma 3 is on a wheel with four other names, Emma has 3 shares out of 7, a 42.86% chance, and each of the others has 1 in 7, 14.29%. A line switched off with *0 has no chance at all.

Repeats are normal. On a 10-name wheel, there's a 1 in 10 chance that the next spin picks the same name again. If that would look unfair, tick "Remove the winner" so each name can win only once.

• Classroom: pick who answers next, who presents first or which group goes to which station.
• Giveaways and raffles: list the entrants and spin live on stream or in a meeting. For a large list of social media comments with a written record, use the giveaway picker.
• At home: decide whose turn it is to do the dishes, what to have for dinner or which movie to watch.
• Games: choose a challenge, a category or a player for truth-or-dare style games.
• Work: pick the order of stand-up updates or a random reviewer.

After each spin the wheel asks whether to take the winner off. You can also set it to remove winners automatically, so everyone is picked once, or to always keep them. That's how you draw a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, or put a whole class in random order one name at a time. Drawn names are listed under the wheel, and one click puts them all back.

Weights. To give an entry a better chance, add a multiplier after it: *Emma 3 gets a slice three times as wide and three times the odds. *Emma 0 switches a line off without deleting it. You can check the exact percentages under Odds.

Big lists. Paste thousands of names or load a .txt or .csv file. With very long lists, labels only show on wider slices, but everyone is on the wheel and the winner pops up in large type.

Themes and colors. Pick Bright, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Winter, Pastel or a high-contrast classroom palette. To color one slice yourself, add a hex code: Emma #e11d48. Weight and color work together: *Emma 2 #e11d48.

Pictures. Put an image on any slice (the file name becomes the label), a logo in the center of the wheel and a background image behind it. Images stay on your device and are never uploaded.

Sound and confetti. Choose from five sound sets (Classic, Wood, Bells, Arcade and Soft): a tick as slices pass the pointer and a short fanfare for the winner. Confetti celebrates each winner; you can switch it off, and it's skipped automatically if your device is set to reduce motion.

Spin time. A spin lasts 5 seconds by default, and you can set anything from 1 to 20 seconds. Spin time has no effect on the odds.

Full screen. One click puts the wheel and its title on the whole screen for a projector, smartboard or stream. Press Space or Enter to spin.

• Shareable link: the entries, title, theme and settings (spin time, sound set, confetti and winner removal) are packed into the link itself. Send it to a coworker or post it for your stream; no account needed, and nothing is stored on our servers. Pictures aren't included, because they never leave your device.
• Saved wheels: keep several wheels in your browser by name, like Lunch spots, Period 2 and Chore chart.
• Results history: every result is logged with the time, and you can copy it or save it as a CSV file, which helps when you need to show how a prize was drawn.
• Readable labels: keep entries short; long labels are trimmed on the wheel, but the winner is always shown in full.

Sometimes you don't need a list, just a familiar wheel. Start from one of these:

• Number wheel: numbers from any range, like 1 to 100, with any step.
• Letter wheel: the English or Hungarian alphabet, for word games and Scattergories.
• Picture wheel: photos or drawings on the slices, great for kids who can't read yet.
• Prize wheel: weighted prizes, so the grand prize comes up less often.
• Yes or no wheel: a quick decision, with an optional Maybe.

To pick several names from a list at once without a wheel, the random name picker is quicker.