Frequently asked questions
Everything about building, spinning, saving, and sharing random name wheels — including the fairness question, answered properly.
General questions
What is Spin The Wheel - Random Picker?
A free online random name picker. Load a wheel with any list — names, options, prizes — spin it, and get a fair pick in seconds. Wheels save automatically in your browser and can be shared with a single link. No signup and nothing to install.
Is the wheel really free?
Yes. Every wheel feature — building, spinning, sharing, publishing — is free, with no spin limits, no wheel limits, and no account required.
Is the wheel truly random?
Yes, and it is verifiable: winners are drawn from crypto.getRandomValues, the browser's cryptographic random source, and converted with rejection sampling so every entry gets exactly equal odds — no modulo bias.
Can the result be rigged or influenced?
No. The winner is fixed by a cryptographic draw the moment you click SPIN — before the wheel moves. The animation is computed to land on that exact entry, so how long or dramatic the spin looks has no effect on the outcome.
What do people use the wheel for?
The classics: calling on students fairly, drawing raffle and giveaway winners, assigning tasks or presentation order, replacing a lost board-game spinner, and settling what-is-for-dinner debates.
Does the wheel work on phones and tablets?
Yes — it runs in any modern browser, adapts to small screens, and supports tap-to-spin and fullscreen. There is no app to download.
Using the wheel
How do I add names to the wheel?
Use the entries panel next to the wheel. Type a name and press Enter to add entries one at a time, or paste a whole list — every line becomes a slice. Wheels hold up to 500 entries of 50 characters each.
How do I spin the wheel?
Click the SPIN button in the center of the wheel. The pointer always sits at twelve o'clock, and the winning entry is the slice it stops on.
Can I pick more than one winner?
Yes. After each spin the winner popup offers Remove winner — take it, and the next spin draws from the remaining names only. That elimination mode is the standard way to draw several distinct winners from one list.
I made a mistake — can I undo it?
Yes. Undo and redo controls sit in the entries panel and go back twenty steps, so sorting, shuffling, deleting, and pasting are all reversible.
How do I sort or shuffle the entries?
The sort and shuffle controls live in the entries panel header. Sorting puts the list in alphabetical order; shuffling randomizes slice order for a fresh-looking wheel.
Can I turn the sound off or go fullscreen?
Yes — both controls sit in the toolbar above the wheel. The wheel ticks as it spins and plays a win fanfare, and your sound preference is remembered for next time. Fullscreen is made for classrooms, streams, and projectors.
Can AI fill the wheel for me?
Yes. AI Assist drafts a list from a one-line description — thirty dog names, eight retro arcade games — and drops the suggestions into the entries panel for you to trim and keep.
Wheel settings
Where do I find the wheel settings?
Click the gear icon in the entries panel header, next to the wheel. The panel covers the wheel's title, text size, slice repeat, text direction, and color theme, and every change applies to the wheel live.
How do I change the wheel's title?
Open the wheel settings panel and edit the Title field — up to 100 characters. The title is what people see when you share the wheel, and it doubles as the page name in the browser tab.
How do I make the entry text bigger or smaller?
The Text size slider in the settings panel runs from 5 to 50 pixels and updates the wheel live as you drag it. If long names overlap at small sizes, shrinking the text or switching its direction usually fixes it.
What does slice repeat do?
Slice repeat draws each entry on the wheel up to four times. Every repeat is an identical slice, so an entry repeated twice lands twice as often — handy for prize wheels where some outcomes should be likelier than others. The wheel stays perfectly random over the slices it actually has.
How do I change how the text sits on the wheel?
The Text direction setting in the panel offers two layouts: Along slice, where each label runs from the center outward, and On edge, where labels hug the rim like a wheel of fortune. Pick whichever keeps your entries easiest to read.
How do I change the wheel's colors?
The Color theme setting offers premade palettes — classic, pastel, neon, ocean, and sunset — plus a Random option that picks one for you. Each theme alternates its colors across the slices automatically.
Do my settings carry over when I share the wheel?
Yes. Theme, text size, text direction, and slice repeat are part of the wheel, so anyone opening your shared link sees the exact same wheel you built — not just the same names, the same look.
Saving and managing wheels
Where are my wheels saved?
In your browser's local storage, on your own device. Wheels save automatically as you type — there is no save button to forget and no server copy of your lists.
Do I need an account?
No. Building, spinning, saving, and sharing wheels works entirely without signing in.
How do I get back to my wheels later?
Open the My Wheels dropdown. It lists Shared Wheels — wheels you have shared — and Local Wheels for everything else, so you can jump back into any wheel in one click.
Can I delete a wheel?
Yes — the delete action next to each wheel moves it to Recently Deleted, where it stays for seven days before disappearing for good. You can restore it any time inside that window.
Is there a limit on how many wheels I can keep?
No app-side limit. Wheels live in your browser's storage, so the practical ceiling is your device — and hundreds of wheels fit comfortably.
Sharing and publishing
How do I share my wheel?
Give the wheel a name, make sure it has at least two entries, then click Share. You get a permanent link you can paste anywhere, plus quick actions for social platforms. Sharing never changes your original wheel.
What do people see when they open my link?
The exact wheel you shared — same title, same names. They can spin it as it is, or click Edit Wheel to save their own editable copy; your original stays untouched either way.
Can I publish a wheel publicly?
Yes. From the share dialog, publish gives your wheel a public page with its own address. You pick a URL slug and a category, and the wheel becomes discoverable alongside the site's other published wheels.
How do wheels become trending?
Trending is recomputed from real activity: wheels with at least five entries and ten spins in the past week, ranked by recent spins and views. Nothing editorial — spin more, climb faster.