Spinner Wheel Picker
Animated wheel of names that lands on one.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Last checked
Paste names on the left and a colorful wheel builds itself beside them. Hit Spin and it turns for about three seconds — six full rotations — before settling on a winner, which suits classroom volunteer picks, stream giveaways, and party prize draws. The winning slice is chosen up front with unbiased Web Crypto randomness; the animation is pure theatre and never changes the odds.
Paste. Add your names or options, one per line, to fill the wheel.
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How it works
- Paste. Add your names or options, one per line, to fill the wheel.
- Spin. Click "Spin" and watch the wheel rotate to a randomly chosen winner.
- Continue. Spin again, or enable "Remove winner" in Options to keep drawing without repeats.
- History. Each winner is logged with a timestamp in the History list below the wheel.
About the Spinner Wheel Picker
The winner is chosen before the wheel moves
This is worth knowing because it sounds like a cheat and is the opposite. The tool picks the winning index first, using the browser's cryptographic random source with unbiased sampling, and only then computes the angle the wheel must land on and animates towards it.
That ordering is what makes the result provably fair. If the outcome were decided by the physics of the animation, the distribution would depend on friction, frame rate and how many slices there are — all of which vary by device. Deciding first and animating second means the maths is uniform and the spin is theatre. Good theatre, but theatre.
If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel skips the animation and shows the result immediately. The winner is identical either way.
Remove the winner, or spin again
The Remove winner after spin option deletes the winning entry from the wheel once it lands, so successive spins draw distinct winners and the wheel visibly empties. Without it, every spin is independent and the same name can win twice in a row.
It edits your saved list directly and there is no undo, so a mis-spin costs you a retype. For a multi-winner draw where you want the drama of the wheel each time, it is the right option; for a single draw repeated across sessions, leave it off.
Wheels have a practical size limit
A wheel with a dozen names is readable across a room. A wheel with eighty is a grey disc — the slices are too thin to label and the reveal loses all its meaning, because nobody could follow the pointer anyway.
For large lists, either use a plain picker and skip the ceremony, or use the lottery ball pit, which handles a hundred entries far better because bouncing balls do not need to be individually legible. There is no seed here, so a wheel spin cannot be replayed — for a draw that has to be verifiable, use a seeded tool.
Frequently asked questions
Does the animation influence who wins?
No. The winning slice is chosen first by a true random pick using the Web Crypto API, and the wheel simply animates its rotation to land on that slice. The spin is for show; the math is fair.
How do I run an elimination-style draw?
Turn on "Remove winner after spin" in Options. Each winner is deleted from your list once picked, so the wheel redraws with the remaining names and you can keep spinning until everyone has had a turn.
What happens if I use my system's reduced-motion setting?
The wheel skips the three-second animation and rotates straight to the winning slice, then announces the winner. The selection itself is unchanged, so the draw stays exactly as fair.
Is there a record of past winners?
Yes. Every spin is logged in the History list below the wheel with the date and time it happened, stored only in your browser. A clear button wipes the log whenever you want.
When should I use the wheel instead of the single picker?
Spin the wheel when the reveal matters — a classroom, a stream, a room full of people. The Random Single Picker uses the same fair selection but shows the result instantly, which is better for quick private decisions.
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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.
- Two Choices, One Flip: When a Coin Beats a Wheel
Not every random decision needs a spinning wheel or a weighted list. When a call really is binary, a coin flip is the faster, fairer tool — here's how to tell the difference.
- Running a multi-prize draw with the ball pit picker
A grand prize and a handful of runners-up need a different plan than a single winner. Here's how to sequence repeat draws in the lottery ball pit picker, decide whether winners stay in the pit, and read back the results afterward.
- Why a bouncing ball pit feels more honest than a text draw
The math behind a random pick is identical whether it's shown as plain text or a bouncing lottery ball. Here's why the ball pit picker's physical draw still matters, and how to use it for raffles, giveaways, and classroom picks.
- 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.
- Pick one thing at random from any list — fairly
When a group can't agree on who goes first or which option wins, the honest move is a flat, equal-odds draw. Here's how a random single picker does exactly that, plus the no-repeats and seed options that make it more than a coin flip.
- Randomize the map and end the pre-game argument
Custom lobbies always stall on the same question: which map? Here's how a random game map picker — with the real competitive pools for CS2, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Smash and more — settles it instantly and stops one player vetoing every choice.
- 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.