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Wheel Spinner

Enter your items and spin the wheel to pick one. You can set how likely each item is, too.

To make an item more likely, add a number (1-999) after it, like :3. Example: Pizza:3. Writing the same name twice gives it two slices. The wheel uses the first 50 items.

    The items you enter are saved only in your browser on this device, so they are still there next time. They are never sent to a server.

    Ladder Game (Amidakuji)Enter the players and the outcomes, and it draws a ladder. Click a name to see where that person ends up.
    Random Name PickerEnter names and pick winners with a rock-paper-scissors tournament. Keep drawing more people afterwards.
    Dice RollerRoll colorful 3D dice and see them tumble, with the total worked out for you.
    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.

    How to use

    1. Enter the wheel items, one per line. You can also write them on one line separated by commas, and each item still gets its own slice. When you first open the tool, twelve meal ideas are filled in as an example, and you can delete them and write your own.
    2. The wheel changes as you type, so you can see the number and size of the slices and fix any item that was entered wrongly.
    3. To make an item more likely, add a number after its name, like :3. Items without a number count as 1, so with only "Pizza:3" and "Sushi", pizza comes up about 3 times in 4.
    4. Click "Spin the wheel" and wait about 7 seconds for it to stop. It spins fast at first, slows down and crawls over the last slice. There is a tick each time a slice passes the pointer and a clear sound when it stops. Turn off "Sound effects on" if you do not want sound. While it spins, the button is locked and the items cannot be edited.
    5. When it stops, "Result: item name" appears under the wheel. Check that it matches the slice under the pointer. The ten most recent results pile up in a small list below.

    About Wheel Spinner

    This online wheel is good for the moments when "anything is fine" is hard to answer: choosing lunch, deciding a forfeit or an errand runner at a gathering, or giving out small prizes. Write the items and the slices are laid out automatically, and the wheel spins around several times and stops under the pointer. Because there is a wheel you can see, it works well when several people watch together. When everyone has a different way of choosing, agree beforehand to follow one spin and you spend less time arguing.

    The result is decided with your browser's cryptographic random numbers before the wheel starts to spin. The wheel simply rotates toward the already chosen slice, so the speed or the moment you press the button does not change the result. Where the pointer stops within the slice varies a little around its center, but that has nothing to do with the result. Weights show up as slice size. With items "Pizza:3", "Sushi" and "Tacos", the total is 5, so the pizza slice takes 3/5 of the wheel and is picked with that probability. A probability is a tendency over many spins, though, so a few spins will not match it exactly.

    The items you enter are saved in this browser. The saved list is shared by four tools, the wheel, the team splitter, the order picker and the name picker, so names written in another tool may already be filled in here. In the other direction, a ":3" added here is saved as part of the name, so another tool shows it as the name "Pizza:3". Remove the ":3" before using it elsewhere, and add it again when you return to the wheel to bring the weights back. The wheel uses the first 50 items, and when slices get too narrow the text is shortened. The result text is shown separately in that case, so go by that. Even if "reduce motion" is turned on in your operating system, spinning is something you start yourself, so the wheel turns for the same length of time.

    Frequently asked questions

    Can the same item come up twice in a row?

    Yes. Each spin is decided fresh, regardless of the previous result, so the same item two or three times in a row is not strange. If you want to remove an item that has already come up, delete its line and spin again.

    What if an item contains a colon, like a time?

    If a number from 1 to 999 follows the last colon, it is read as a weight. "12:30" becomes "12" with weight 30. To keep such a name as it is, write it like "12h30" or add one more :1 at the end, like "12:30:1". If 0, 1000 or more, or something that is not a number follows, the whole line is used as the name with no weight.

    The pointer seems to be on the edge between two slices.

    When it stops, the pointer is aimed toward the middle of the picked slice. A slice with a very low probability is narrow, though, so it can look close to an edge. In that case, go by the "Result:" text under the wheel.

    What if I switch to another tab while it spins?

    The result is already decided and does not change. Browsers sometimes slow screen updates in background tabs, but the result text normally appears after about 7 seconds. If the wheel has already stopped when you come back, the result text and the slice under the pointer are the same.

    How do I delete the saved item list?

    Delete all the text in the box and the saved list is emptied. When you open the tool again with an empty box, the twelve example items are filled in, but those are not saved until you edit them yourself. The recent results list is not saved and disappears when you refresh the page.

    Can I use it for an official prize drawing?

    It is fine for a casual drawing at a get-together. For a draw with a lot of money at stake, or one that has to prove fairness legally or under a contract, this tool does not guarantee it is suitable. In that case follow the organizer's rules and a separate way of keeping records.