A fair way to choose
When you need to choose a giveaway winner, decide who goes first or assign tasks, human bias creeps in without anyone noticing. This tool removes it by using your browser's secure random generator. Each pick is drawn so that every remaining name has exactly the same chance, using the Fisher–Yates method, a standard algorithm for unbiased shuffling. To avoid a subtle bias called modulo bias, the random values are screened before use, so no option is favoured.
How to use each button
- Pick: chooses the number of different names you ask for. With 1 you get a single winner, with 3 you get an ordered list of three distinct names.
- Remove picked names: useful for raffles with several prizes, because the same person cannot win twice.
- Shuffle list: returns the whole list in a random order, handy for presentation order, seating or team assignments.
- Flip a coin, roll d6, roll d20: quick one-click chance tools for games and decisions.
Making teams or ordering turns
To split a group into two teams, shuffle the list, then take the first half as team one and the second half as team two. To assign chores, shuffle the people and the tasks separately and match them in order. To decide a presentation order, shuffle the list once and share the numbered result with everyone, which shows that no one chose the order by hand.
Fairness and limits
Blank lines are ignored and names are matched as typed, so duplicates in your list have extra chances; remove duplicates first if every person should have one. The picker works with any text, such as names, restaurants or ideas. For legally regulated promotions, check local rules, which may require an independent or audited draw, and keep a record of the entries. Your list stays in your browser. It is not uploaded, stored or shared, and refreshing the page clears it.