Wheel of Names Spinner
Spin an animated wheel of names that picks a winner using a crypto-secure random draw.
Written by Golam Rabbani, Founder & Lead Engineer
How to use this wheel of names spinner
- Enter the names that should appear on the wheel, one per line or comma separated.
- Press Spin — the wheel rotates with a smooth ease-out and lands on the winner.
- Read the winner under the wheel.
- Press Copy winner to share, or Spin again for another draw.
About this wheel of names spinner
The wheel of names spinner picks a winner first using crypto.getRandomValues, then animates the wheel to land on that segment — so the visual spin is showmanship, not the source of randomness. Each name gets an equal slice of the wheel, the pointer sits at the top (12 o'clock), and the CSS animation uses a long ease-out curve so the wheel feels like it is decelerating physically.
Internally the tool computes the centre angle of the winning segment, subtracts that from a full rotation to bring it under the pointer, and adds six extra full spins for visual drama before applying the result via a single CSS transform. Because the result is fixed before the animation starts there is no chance of off-by-one cheating or visual rounding errors changing the outcome.
For example, with names [Alex, Bea, Chris, Dee, Eli, Finn] the wheel splits into six 60° slices. Pressing Spin draws a uniformly-random index (say Chris at index 2), then rotates the wheel so the centre of Chris's slice lands at the pointer. The settle time is just over four seconds — long enough to feel suspenseful, short enough to keep things moving.
FAQ
- Is the spin really random?
- Yes. The winner is chosen first using crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling, then the wheel is animated to that winner. The animation cannot bias the outcome.
- How many names can I add?
- There is no hard limit, but readability drops below 8px per label past roughly 30 names. For very long lists, consider the giveaway randomizer instead.
- Does the wheel reset between spins?
- No — the wheel keeps its rotation between spins and adds another six full turns for the next animation, so successive spins look continuous.
- Can two people share a slice?
- No. Each name gets exactly one equal slice. Add a name twice if you want them to have two chances of being picked.
- Is the winner saved anywhere?
- No. The result lives in your browser tab and clears when you refresh.