Quick start
How to spin the wheel online
To spin the wheel, put each entry on its own line in the Entries box, then press Spin. This wheel spinner runs in your browser, so there is nothing to install. People also call it a spin wheel, a random wheel, a random picker or a wheel of names.
Type or paste a list
Swap the 8 sample names for your own, each on its own line. Columns pasted from a spreadsheet, a document or an email keep their line breaks.
Set it up, if you like
Add a wheel title for a heading over the wheel. Customize holds the spin time (1 to 60 seconds), colors, sounds and what happens after a pick.
Spin
Click Spin or the wheel itself, or hit Space. Stop brakes the wheel early, and braking never changes who wins.
Read the result
The popup names the winner. Close it, remove that entry or spin again, and the Results tab logs every pick with its time.
- 10,000Entries per wheelEach up to 300 characters long
- 4Wheels on one pageSpin all turns them together
- 25Color themesOr a palette of your own
- 1–60 sSpin timePlus a slow spin and a Stop button
This is a free spin the wheel tool with every option open to everyone. You won't find an account, a sign-up form or a download anywhere on the page.
Make it yours
Make a custom wheel: colors, images and themes
Every wheel here is a custom wheel: you choose the entries, the colors, the odds and the look. Most custom wheels need one of these four changes, and all of them sit in the Entries tab or in Customize.
Your own entries
Names, prizes, questions or numbers, up to 10,000 lines. Accents and emoji, such as Lucía or 🎈 Bo, show exactly as typed.
Colors
Choose one of 25 themes or build a palette of 2 to 16 colors. Any single slice can take its own color from the color picker.
Pictures
Give any slice a small PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF image. The center of the wheel takes an image or up to 24 characters of text.
Weights and hiding
Weights run from 0.01 to 1,000, and the table turns each one into a percentage chance. The eye button takes an entry off the wheel without deleting it.
The 25 themes in Customize, under Colors and look
- Carnival
- Rainbow
- Classroom
- Ocean
- Sunset
- Forest
- Candy
- Neon
- Retro
- Autumn
- Monochrome
- Pastel
- Earth
- Berry
- Citrus
- Arctic
- Desert
- Royal
- Tropical
- Midnight
- Bubblegum
- Coffee
- Mint
- Grape
- High contrast
More ways to change the look
- 5 label fonts: Standard, Hyperlegible, Serif, Monospace and Rounded.
- 4 pointers: Flapper, Arrow, Triangle and Pin.
- 4 wheel sizes: Fit the space, Small, Medium and Large.
- Your own popup: a title such as “Your turn!” and a short message such as “Come up to the board”.
- Readable labels: slice text turns black on pale colors and white on strong ones, so your palette never hides a name.
From list to wheel
Turn any list into a wheel with the spin the wheel generator
To import a list, press Import file in the Entries tab, or drop a CSV, TSV, Excel (.xlsx) or text file onto the Entries box. Once the file is read, the wheel asks whether to replace your list or add to it.
The generator reads column headings, so one spreadsheet can carry names, odds and colors together. A column headed name, entry, option, prize, student, participant or entrant becomes the slices. Without one of those headings, the first column does.
A column headed weight, chance, odds, tickets or count sets the weights. A column headed color or hex paints the slices with codes such as #2846d9. In a file with no headings, a column of numbers counts as weights and a column of hex codes as colors.
In Google Sheets, open File, then Download, and pick the .csv or .xlsx option. From Excel, save as .xlsx or CSV; an old .xls file needs saving in one of those formats first. From a text file, put one entry on each line. Files can be up to 20 MB.
name,tickets,color
Ava,1,#2846d9
Mateo,1,#22d3ee
Priya,2,#e11d48
Kenji,4,#fbbf24- Ava, 1 ticket12.5%
- Mateo, 1 ticket12.5%
- Priya, 2 tickets25%
- Kenji, 4 tickets50%
Tidy the list before you spin
- Shuffle, A–Z and Z–A reorder the slices around the wheel.
- Remove duplicates shows how many copies it found before you press it.
- Clear empties the wheel, and Undo steps back through up to 40 list changes.
- Export CSV saves the list with its weights, colors and hidden entries, ready to edit and import again.
- Find an entry appears in the weights table once a list passes 100 lines, so one name in a long list is quick to reach.
- Past 150 slices, names leave the wheel face: hovering shows each one, and a line under the wheel names the slice at the pointer.
Names and turns
Spin the wheel with names, without repeats
To use the wheel for names, paste one name per line and spin. A class of 30 copied from a spreadsheet becomes 30 slices in one paste. When nobody should win twice, pick one of these three ways to take names off.
Remove by hand
Press Remove in the result popup. When the same name sits on several lines, “Remove all” takes every copy in one press.
Remove automatically
In Customize, under After a pick, choose That entry or Every copy. A 1 to 15 second countdown runs in the popup, “Keep it” cancels it, and Undo brings the name back.
Elimination mode
Each pick is knocked out for this round only, until one entry is left. Your list stays as it was, and the Results tab can start a new round.
With “Count duplicates separately” on, a name typed on 2 lines gets 2 slices and twice the chance; switch it off and repeated lines share 1 slice. For lessons, the random name picker adds a no-repeat class mode, a progress count and a timer after each pick. To split a list into groups instead, use the random team generator.
This site, Wheel Spinning, runs on its own and has no tie to any other wheel-of-names site or app.
Odds
How the odds work each time you spin the wheel
An entry's odds equal its weight divided by the sum of every weight on the wheel. With 8 entries at the standard weight of 1, each one has a 1 in 8 chance, or 12.5%, on every spin.
To change the odds, press “Weights, colors & images” under Entries, then type a number beside an entry. A weight of 2 is twice as likely as a weight of 1. Entries you hide, and any knocked out in Elimination mode, don't count toward the total.
| Entry | Weight | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Ava | 1 | 1 ÷ 8 = 12.5% |
| Mateo | 1 | 1 ÷ 8 = 12.5% |
| Priya | 2 | 2 ÷ 8 = 25% |
| Kenji | 4 | 4 ÷ 8 = 50% |
Repeats are normal, because the wheel has no memory. The name that just won has the same chance as everyone else on the next spin. With 8 equal names, some name comes up twice within 3 spins 34.4% of the time.
- A repeat within 2 spins12.5%
- A repeat within 3 spins34.4%
- A repeat within 4 spins59%
- A repeat within 5 spins79.5%
- A repeat within 6 spins92.3%
- 12.5%Each of 8 equal entriesOn every spin, including the last winner
- 76%Of each slice can stop the pointerThe outer 12% on each side never does, so no result sits on a line
- 34.4%A repeat within 3 spins8 equal names, nobody removed
Where each result comes from
Your browser's crypto.getRandomValues picks the winner before the wheel moves, and the spin then lands inside that slice, so speed, spin time and Stop change nothing. MDN's reference calls it a cryptographically strong pseudo-random generator seeded with enough entropy: not physical “true” randomness, but impossible to predict or steer. It is part of the W3C Web Cryptography API.
Weighted picks use a 53-bit random fraction, so rounding shifts a chance by far less than one in a trillion. Shuffles use the Fisher–Yates method with rejection sampling, which redraws any number that would favor some positions. No setting chooses a winner in advance. To check the odds yourself, the randomness test charts 10,000 picks from a list of your own.
On a phone
Use it like an app on your phone
You don't need a spin the wheel app: this page runs in Safari, Chrome and other current phone browsers, with nothing to download. Tap the wheel, or the Spin button, and it turns.
Home screen icon
Open your browser’s Share or menu button and choose Add to Home Screen. Wheel Spinning then opens full screen from its own icon, like an app.
Full screen
Full screen clears the page down to the wheel and its Spin button. On iPhone, browsers can’t put one part of a page into full screen, so the wheel takes over the browser window.
Laptop to phone
Each browser keeps its own saved wheel. Press Share on the laptop and scan the QR code with the phone’s camera, or send yourself the link.
The wheel works in current browsers on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebooks, Windows and Mac. Your list and settings stay on the device you used.
Keep it
Save, share and back up your wheel
Every change is saved in this browser as you go, and Share packs the whole wheel into a single link. Pick the option that matches where the wheel needs to go next.
| Option | What it keeps | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Autosave | Your wheels as you left them, on this device and browser | Reopening the page tomorrow |
| Named saves | As many named wheels as you like, such as one per class, in this browser | Lists you reuse every week |
| Share link | Entries and settings, compressed into the part of the link after the # sign | Sending a wheel, with no account and no expiry |
| QR code | The same link, shown when it is short enough to fit a code | Opening a wheel on a phone |
| Backup file | Every wheel on the page as JSON, images included | Moving to another device with Import file |
Browsers never send the part of a link after the # to a website's server, so a share link has nothing stored online to expire. Links leave images out when they would grow too long; the backup file always keeps them. To place a wheel on your own website, blog or Notion page, the embed code generator writes the code in one step.
What happens to the names you enter
This site never uploads your entries, and it has no accounts. Autosave, named saves, images and custom sounds live in your browser's storage on your device, and they are gone once you clear this site's data. With read aloud switched on, some browsers pass the spoken text to their own voice service.
Big screens
Spin on a projector, a stream or a video call
In full screen, the display holds nothing but the wheel and its Spin button, scaled to fit. Press Esc to leave it.
For a stream, add the browser window as a source in your streaming software, then switch on full screen. The streaming guide walks through OBS, and the slides guide covers Google Slides and PowerPoint.
Add wheel puts up to 4 wheels on one page, each with its own list and settings. Spin all turns them together and lists every result in one popup, handy for drawing a person and a task at once.
Timer runs a countdown when you start it, or by itself after every pick, from 10 seconds to 5 minutes. Blind mode keeps the names hidden during the spin, so the room guesses until it stops.
Sound and celebration
- Tick sounds: Click, Wood block, Soft tick or your own file.
- Winner sounds: Fanfare, Chime, Pop or your own file.
- Effects: confetti, fireworks, emoji rain with an emoji you choose, sparkles, or none.
- Volume slider and a Mute all sounds switch.
- Read aloud speaks each result, preferring a voice that runs on your device. Some browsers have only online voices.
Accessibility
Keyboard shortcuts and accessibility
You can spin the wheel without a mouse: every control works from a keyboard, and each result is announced to screen readers.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Spin, when the cursor is not in a text box |
| Ctrl + Enter (⌘ + Enter on Mac) | Spin from anywhere, including the Entries box |
| Enter on the focused wheel | Spin |
| Esc | Close the result popup or leave full screen |
| ← → on the panel tabs | Move between Entries, Results and Customize |
The wheel has a text label, and its entries are listed for screen readers. When your device asks for reduced motion, a spin is one plain turn of no more than 1.5 seconds, with no confetti. The Hyperlegible label font, designed for low-vision readers, is one of the 5 fonts in Customize. The site opens in dark mode, and the sun button in the header switches to light mode, which your browser remembers.
Who uses it
Who spins a random wheel, and the settings that help
A random wheel settles a choice in a way the whole room can watch. Teachers spin the wheel to call on students, streamers and giveaway hosts draw winners on camera, and families settle who washes the dishes. The same search also brings up TV game shows and store promotions; this wheel is a free picker that you control.
| Setting | Example | Helpful settings | Page made for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classrooms | Choose who answers next, who presents first or which group goes to the board. | Elimination mode, a countdown after each pick, read aloud | Random name picker |
| Giveaways and raffles | Draw a winner from a list of entrants, with extra entries as weights. | Odds shown as %, timed history, CSV export | Prize wheel |
| Streams and video calls | Let viewers watch the draw happen live. | Full screen, large wheel, blind mode for suspense | Streaming guide |
| Family and friends | Decide chores, movie night, dinner or who goes first in a game. | Several wheels with Spin all, custom colors | What to eat wheel, decision wheel |
| Meetings | Pick the next speaker or the order of stand-up updates. | Remove the winner, timer | Name picker |
For a prize draw, publish the entry list and the rules before you spin, and record the screen while the wheel turns. Entrants can then check the list, the odds and the result for themselves. Each step is set out in the fair giveaway guide.
Each job in the table has its own page. Browse all spinning wheels by group, or read the spinning wheel guides for classrooms, giveaways and streams.
FAQ
Spin the wheel FAQ
Is this wheel free to use?
Yes. Every feature is free to everyone, with no account to create and nothing to install.
How many entries fit on one wheel?
Up to 10,000 entries per wheel, each as long as 300 characters. One page can run 4 wheels side by side.
Can the wheel be rigged?
No. Nothing in the settings picks a winner ahead of time. Odds change only through weights, and the weights table lists every entry's chance as a percentage.
Is there an app to download?
No, and you don’t need one. The page works in any current phone browser. Add it to your home screen from the browser’s Share or menu button, and it opens full screen from its own icon.
Can I pick more than one winner?
Yes. Turn on “Remove the winner automatically” and spin once per winner. If a person appears on several lines, pick “Every copy” so they can’t win again. To draw from different lists at once, add up to 4 wheels and press Spin all.
Do share links expire?
No. The wheel is stored inside the link itself, so there is nothing on a server to delete. The link keeps working while wheelspinning.net is up.
Can I put pictures on the wheel?
Yes. In the Entries tab, the “Weights, colors & images” table has an image button beside each entry. Images stay in your browser, and a backup file carries them to another device.
Why does the wheel never stop on a line?
The pointer always stops at least 12% of a slice's width in from either edge of the winning slice. That keeps every result clear on screen and on camera, and the exact spot inside the middle 76% is random too.
Is Wheel Spinning the same as Wheel of Names?
No. Wheel Spinning is an independent website. “Wheel of names” is also a general name for any wheel that picks names, and this wheel can be used that way.
Is there a wheel for yes or no questions and numbers?
Yes. The yes or no wheel offers best of 3 and a running tally. The random number wheel turns any range of whole numbers, as far as ±1,000,000,000, into a wheel of at most 10,000 numbers.
Last updated · Written and tested by Melissa T. Brown