Wheel of Names

How people use the wheel of names

A wheel of names is the fairest way to pick a person that a group will accept without argument, because everyone watches it happen. Teachers use it to choose who answers next; managers use it to pick who presents first at standup; hosts use it for raffles; streamers use it to pick a viewer. The wheel makes the same random draw a hat would, but out loud.

This wheel is built for lists of people. Paste them straight from a spreadsheet or a roster, one per line. Switch on "Remove the winner after each spin" and the wheel becomes a queue: every name is picked exactly once before any repeats, which is what "cold calling" in a classroom needs. Restore hidden brings everyone back for the next round.

The pick is made by a weighted random draw before the animation, so a name’s position on the wheel and its colour do not change its odds. If you need to prove that, copy the link after a spin: it replays the identical spin for anyone who opens it.

Fullscreen puts the wheel and the winner’s name large on a projector or a stream overlay. Space spins, Escape dismisses the result, and sound stays off unless you turn it on.