Multi-Wheel Picker
Two or three wheels spinning side by side.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Last checked
Run two or three wheels at once and spin them together for a single combined result, like pairing a person with a task and a deadline. It's perfect for generating prompts, mashups, or role assignments where you want more than one random pick at a time. Each wheel holds its own list, so the combinations are entirely yours.
Fill. Paste a list into each of the two or three wheels.
Options
Recent results
- No history yet.
How it works
- Fill. Paste a list into each of the two or three wheels.
- Spin. Click "Spin all" to spin every wheel at once for a combined result.
- Re-roll. Spin again to get a new combination from your lists.
About the Multi-Wheel Picker
Three wheels, three independent draws
Each wheel holds its own list and draws its own result, and the three draws never look at each other. The output is the three picks joined together — a combination, not an assignment.
That independence is exactly right when the wheels hold different kinds of thing: person, task, deadline. It is exactly wrong when two wheels hold the same pool, because independent draws collide and the same name can come up on both. There is a full write-up of when this bites, including why spinning once per person does not produce a rota.
A blank wheel disappears silently
If a wheel's box is empty it is skipped entirely — no error, no placeholder, no gap in the result. You simply get the other two joined together, which looks exactly like a deliberate two-wheel setup.
The history does not rescue you either: it stores the finished line as one joined string with no column labels, so a two-part result from a three-wheel setup is indistinguishable from a genuine two-wheel one. Glance at all three boxes before you spin.
What it deliberately lacks
- No seed, so no spin can be reproduced. For a draw anyone might contest, use a seeded tool.
- No deduplication across wheels, and no memory between spins.
- The wheels stop at staggered moments by design; the text result appears once the last one lands.
- Each wheel's list is saved separately in this browser, so a setup survives until you change it.
Choosing between this and the slot machine
The slot machine picker does almost the same job with two differences that matter in practice. It keeps an empty reel visible in the layout instead of dropping it from the result, so a missing list is obvious rather than silent. And its reels are a single strip rather than three separate wheels, which reads better on a phone.
The multi-wheel is the better choice when you want each list visible as its own wheel while you set it up, and when you want to see all three spinning at once in front of a room. Both are independent draws with no seed, so neither can be replayed.
Frequently asked questions
When would I use this over the single wheel?
Use multi-wheel for combined picks, like spinning "person" plus "task" plus "duration" together in one go rather than one value at a time.
Can wheels share a list?
Yes. Paste the same content into each reel if you want identical pools, or just use the single Spinner Wheel if you only need one pick.
Are the wheels chosen independently?
Yes. Each wheel makes its own unbiased random pick using the Web Crypto API, so the results combine freely.
Does my data leave my browser?
No. All wheels run locally in your browser and your lists are never sent anywhere, even when you're offline.
Related randomizers
Further reading
- Three wheels give you a combination, not an assignment
The Multi-Wheel Picker spins each wheel independently, which is exactly right for "a person and a task" and exactly wrong for "everyone gets a different task". Here is what independence actually costs you, why a blank wheel disappears without a word, and how to tell which of the two jobs you have.
- Spin three reels for a random combo, not just one pick
Some choices have more than one part — an outfit, a meal, a writing prompt. Here's how a slot-machine picker draws from up to three lists at once and hands you a combined result, with all the suspense of a real spin.
- Wheel of Names: how to make 'just spin it' actually fair
Wheel pickers feel like magic, but most of them are rigged in tiny ways their creators never thought about. Here's how a fair wheel is supposed to work, and why the spin itself is theatre.