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Ladder Game (Amidakuji)

Enter the players and the outcomes, and it draws a ladder. Click a name to see where that person ends up.

Enter one person per line. You can also separate names with commas. The same name written twice counts as two different people.

Enter one result per line. They are placed under the ladder in the order you enter them, and the ladder decides who ends up where.

After the ladder is drawn, click a name at the top and that person walks down the ladder; the result appears at the bottom when they arrive. With a keyboard, Tab to a name and press Enter or Space.

    This tool does not save the names and results you enter and never sends them to a server. If you close or refresh this page, the ladder you made is gone.

    Wheel SpinnerEnter your items and spin the wheel to pick one. You can set how likely each item is, too.
    Random Name PickerEnter names and pick winners with a rock-paper-scissors tournament. Keep drawing more people afterwards.
    Team SplitterEnter a list of names and split them into fair, random teams.
    Random Order PickerShuffle a list of names to decide who goes first, second and so on.
    Dice RollerRoll colorful 3D dice and see them tumble, with the total worked out for you.

    How to use

    1. In the players box, write the names, one per line. From 2 to 12 players are allowed, and names joined with commas are split into one person each. Example names are filled in at first, so you can try them as they are, or delete them and write your own.
    2. In the results box, write as many results as there are players, one per line. For example, with 4 players write "Win, Lose, Lose, Lose". For a bet on who pays for lunch, you can change them to "Pays, Free, Free, Free".
    3. Click "Draw the ladder" and the vertical lines and rungs are drawn. The results are hidden with "?", and nobody knows yet who will arrive at which result. If the numbers do not match, the screen tells you the numbers currently entered.
    4. Click a name tag at the top and a character shaped like that person walks down the ladder over about 5 to 9 seconds. It walks steadily at first and slows down toward the end, with footsteps, a sound each time it crosses a rung and a heartbeat that speeds up. When it arrives, the result appears with a matching sound. Turn off "Sound effects on" if you do not want sound. While one person is walking, the other name tags cannot be clicked. The same information also piles up below the ladder as text like "name → result". Clicking a name that is already revealed changes nothing.
    5. Instead of opening results one at a time, click "Show all results" and every path is drawn at once. To play again, click "Draw the ladder" once more. The rungs are placed anew each time, so the shape of the ladder changes.

    About Ladder Game (Amidakuji)

    The ladder game is a popular way to decide who gets which role: a lunch bet, cleaning duty, handing out prizes. Each player picks one vertical line, goes down from the top and crosses to the next line whenever they meet a rung. The result at the bottom where they arrive is theirs. In this tool, when you click a name tag, a character walks down that very path to show you.

    The ladder is drawn anew every time. The positions of the rungs are chosen with your browser's secure random numbers, and neighboring rungs at the same height are not allowed to overlap. That way no one's path jumps across two lines at once, and two different people never arrive at the same result. Everyone receives a different result, one each, so no pair overlaps or goes missing. It does not, however, guarantee that the probability of reaching a particular result is exactly the same for a player starting on an edge line and one starting in the middle. It is better not to use it for anything with a lot at stake.

    Revealing the name tags one at a time builds suspense, and "Show all results" opens them all at once and saves time. Revealed results also pile up below as "name → result" text, not only in the picture, so you can read the whole thing even when a name or result is long and looks cut off.

    From 2 to 12 players are allowed, and more than that makes the ladder too narrow, so it is not accepted. Up to 6 players, the ladder is drawn to fit the width of the screen, and from 7 players the ladder area can be slid left and right so the name tags do not get narrow. The players and results boxes are independent inputs that do not share names with the other game tools, so names you edit here do not move to the other tools.

    Frequently asked questions

    What if the number of results differs from the number of players?

    The ladder is not drawn, and the numbers currently entered are shown. If you see something like "4 players, 3 results", fill in the missing box or delete the extra line and try again.

    Do the results change if I redraw the ladder?

    They can. The rungs are placed again each time, so even the same name can arrive at a different result. The results sit in the order you entered them, and the shape of the ladder decides who ends up where.

    How can I make it fairer?

    Have everyone pick their own line before you draw the ladder. If people choose after seeing the shape of the ladder, they can trace the paths by eye and pick a favorable one. The results are hidden with "?", so open them after the lines are chosen.

    What happens if I click a name that is already revealed?

    Nothing. The path and the result that were drawn stay as they are and do not change until you make a new ladder. To start over, press "Draw the ladder" again.

    Can two people have the same name?

    Yes. Each one counts as a different player and gets a separate line. It can be confusing to tell them apart in the results, though, so it helps to add A and B after the names.

    How are long names or results shown?

    The name tags and result slots have a fixed width, so long text is shortened with "…". Hover over a name tag to see the full name, and revealed results appear in full in the list below the ladder.

    Can I use it for 13 or more people?

    A ladder can have up to 12 players. To split more people, you can also use the team splitter or the order picker, or split into groups of 12 or fewer and run it several times.