Random Seating Chart
Randomly assign people to tables.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Last checked
Turn a guest list into a random seating chart in seconds, with table sizes you set yourself. It's great for weddings, banquets, classrooms, and conferences where you want a fair, no-favoritism arrangement — and you can export the result to bring it into place cards or a spreadsheet.
Paste. Enter your guests, one name per line.
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Click Assign tables to see a result.
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How it works
- Paste. Enter your guests, one name per line.
- Size. Set the number and size of tables in the Options panel.
- Assign. Click "Assign tables" to generate the chart, then export it if you like.
About the Random Seating Chart
Tables of a fixed size
Set the Size and the tool fills tables of that many people until it runs out, so the number of tables is derived from your guest list rather than set directly. Twenty-six guests at six per table gives four full tables and one of two.
That trailing small table is the thing to check every time. A table of two at a wedding is conspicuous in a way a table of five is not, and the fix is usually to change the size by one rather than to re-run.
What it deliberately does not know
There are no constraints. The tool cannot keep a couple together, cannot keep two people who are not speaking apart, and does not know that one guest needs to be near the door. A purely random seating plan will eventually produce all three of those problems at once.
For a wedding, the realistic workflow is to use a draw as a starting arrangement and then move people by hand — which is far faster than starting from a blank chart, and it means the arrangement is not obviously built around who you like. For a classroom, where the point is precisely to break up the usual clusters, the lack of constraints is the feature.
Reproducible plans
Setting a Seed means the same guest list produces the same plan every time, which matters when you are printing place cards a week later and need the plan you actually agreed on. Without a seed, regenerating gives you something entirely different and every card is wrong.
Export the CSV — table number against guest name — as soon as you have a plan you like. It is the format that goes straight into a mail merge for place cards.
Frequently asked questions
Can I set how many people sit at each table?
Yes. Choose your table sizes in the Options panel and guests are distributed to fill them.
Can I print place cards from this?
Export the chart as CSV and run a mail-merge in Google Docs or Word to produce place cards.
How random is the seating?
Assignments use the Web Crypto API for an unbiased shuffle, so the chart isn't predictable or weighted toward anyone.
Is my guest list kept private?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser and works offline — your guest list is never uploaded anywhere.
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Further reading
- Split a video call into breakout rooms in one click
Manually dragging twenty names into Zoom breakout rooms is the slowest part of any workshop. Here's how a breakout room assigner splits the roster instantly, keeps the pairs you need together, and stops the same people clustering every round.
- A random seating chart that actually mixes people up
Friends cluster, strangers hover by the door, and the same three people end up together every time. Here's how a random seating chart breaks up the cliques fairly — and the one table-size detail that decides whether anyone sits alone.
- Cold-calling without the dread: fair student picking that actually works
Random student selectors only help if students believe they're fair — and if the teacher uses them thoughtfully. Here's how to call on students randomly without raising anxiety, plus how to handle groups, seating, and turns.