Random Picker

about this tool

A list in, a winner out

Paste names, options, tasks, anything one per line. Pick one, or several at once. Blank lines are ignored, and everything is trimmed, so a list copied out of a spreadsheet or an email works without tidying first.

Two decisions the page makes visible

Do winners stay in? By default they do not: each draw takes its winners out, so you can run a raffle from a hundred names down to the last one, and the list shows who is already out. Turn it off and every draw is independent, so the same name can come up twice. Which you want depends on whether you are drawing prizes or just deciding who goes first, and both are wrong often enough that neither is hidden.

Does a name written twice get two chances? By default yes, because at a real table two people called Sam are two people, and the page says so rather than quietly collapsing them. Turn on "ignore repeats" to give everyone exactly one chance.

Splitting on commas is off by default for the same reason. Names are often written "Lovelace, Ada", and splitting those would turn one person into two.

Why the order is fair

The draw is a Fisher-Yates shuffle over the browser's cryptographic random source, taking the front of the result. Every one of the possible orders is equally likely.

The obvious alternative, sorting the list by a random number per entry, is not uniform and is a well-known way to produce a draw that quietly favours part of the list. This does not do that.

What it will not do

It cannot prove anything to anyone. If someone stands to lose by the result, a web page cannot show them it did not pick the winner before displaying it, and no animation changes that.

Nothing is stored between visits. The list, the winners and the names already drawn all live in the page until you leave, so copy anything you need to keep.

To split the same list into groups rather than pull one name out of it, use the team generator.

questions

Can I draw several winners in a row?

Yes. Leave "take winners out" on and each draw removes the names it picked, so you can run a raffle down to the last person. "Put them back" restores everyone without touching your list.

What if the same name is in the list twice?

It gets two chances, and the page says so, because at a real table two people called Sam are two people. Turn on "ignore repeats" to collapse them and give everyone exactly one chance.

Can I paste a list separated by commas?

Yes, with "split on commas too". It is off by default because names are often written "Lovelace, Ada", and splitting those would turn one person into two.

Is the draw fair?

Every entry is equally likely. The shuffle is Fisher-Yates over the browser’s cryptographic random source, which gives every order the same chance, unlike sorting by a random number.

Can I use this for a prize draw?

For an informal one, yes. For anything a loser could contest, no: a web page cannot prove to anyone that it did not choose the winner before showing it. Nothing is stored either, so there is no record afterwards.