Wheel Spinner: Spin the Wheel of Names

How to use the wheel spinner

1. Add your entries, one per line: names, prizes, chores, questions, anything. You can paste a column straight from a spreadsheet. The wheel holds up to 500 entries.
2. Spin with the Spin button, by clicking the wheel, or by pressing Space. The wheel speeds up, slows down and ticks past each peg before it stops.
3. Read the winner in the pop-up. Choose Remove to delete that line, Hide to take it off the wheel for now, or Close to keep it. Every result is logged under Results.

Your list, settings and results save automatically in this browser, so the wheel is still there when you come back. Nothing is uploaded.

Is it really random?

Yes. The winner is chosen with your browser’s cryptographic random number generator (the Web Crypto API), the same source used for security keys, not the weaker Math.random(). The pick happens the moment you spin; the animation then lands inside the winning slice, never on a line between two slices, so there is no argument about where the pointer stopped.

Every slice is exactly proportional to its chance of winning. With 8 equal entries each has a 1 in 8 (12.5%) chance on every spin, no matter what happened on earlier spins. If the same name comes up twice in a row, that is luck, not a bug: with 8 entries it happens on about one spin in eight.

Weighted entries, colors and hiding

• Weights: write Pizza *3 to give Pizza a slice three times as big, which makes it three times as likely. Decimals work too (*0.5).
• Colors: add a hex color after a name, like Red Team #e63946, or pick one of the palettes under Options. Text color switches between black and white automatically for contrast.
• Hide vs. remove: hiding keeps the name in your list but off the wheel, which is handy for “everyone gets one turn” rounds. Click the hidden name, or Put all back, to restore it. Removing deletes the line (and can be undone).

To draw without repeats, set When a winner is picked to Remove or Hide. Each winner then leaves the wheel as soon as you close the pop-up.

Ideas for the classroom, meetings and parties

• Random name picker: load the classroom preset or paste your class list, then hide each student after their turn so everyone gets called on once.
• Team generator: the Teams tab splits the names on the wheel into any number of balanced random teams (sizes never differ by more than one).
• Decisions: Yes / No, What’s for dinner, or a numbers wheel for raffles and giveaways.
• Games night: truth or dare, turn order, or a weighted prize wheel where the grand prize is rare.

Planning a gift exchange? The Secret Santa generator draws names so nobody gets themselves. For game day, set up a Super Bowl squares board, or print a set of bingo cards. For something sillier, line people up with the height comparison chart.

Sharing and presenting

Share copies a link that contains your entries, title and colors (inside the link itself, not on a server). Anyone who opens it gets the same wheel, and their own saved list stays safe with a one-click restore. For a room full of people, use Full screen on a projector or TV and spin with the Space bar or a presentation clicker that sends Space.

Troubleshooting

• No tick sound: check the Sound button is on and your device isn’t muted. Browsers only allow audio after you click or press a key on the page.
• Names not shown on the slices: with hundreds of entries the slices get too thin for text. The winner is still shown in full in the pop-up.
• Lost your list? Lists are saved per browser. Private windows and clearing site data erase them, so use Share to keep a copy.