Multi-wheel spinner

Spin several wheels at once

Most decisions have more than one part. Who does the dishes is one question, and which chore comes next is another. The multi-wheel spinner answers both with a single press. Give each wheel its own list, press Spin all wheels, and every wheel turns together and lands on a pick of its own. The combined result sits above the wheels as one line per wheel, so a glance tells you “Dev, vacuum” or “Friday, tacos, Maya’s choice of music”.

It is a free random wheel generator for the times a single list is not enough. There is nothing to install and no account to create. Open the page, edit the example lists, and spin.

Think of it as a picker wheel with extra wheels. A normal wheel picker gives you one answer from one list. Here the lists sit side by side, each with its own name and entries, so you can combine a person, a place and a time without spinning three separate pages and writing the results down. The two example wheels on this page, a list of people and a list of chores, show the idea straight away.

How to use the multi-wheel spinner

1. Name each wheel. A short label such as Who, Where or Reps keeps the combined result easy to read.
2. Fill in the lists. Type or paste one entry per line. The wheel redraws as you type.
3. Add or remove wheels. Use Add wheel for a third, fourth or sixth list, and the close button on a wheel to remove it.
4. Spin. Press Spin all wheels, or press Ctrl or ⌘ plus Enter.
5. Read the result. Every pick appears in the combined result, and the Results this visit list keeps a log you can copy.

To redo one answer and keep the rest, use Spin only this wheel on that wheel.

How the wheels pick fairly

Each wheel picks for itself. When you spin, every wheel chooses one of its own entries with equal odds, using your browser’s secure random number generator. The wheels then turn to land on those picks. The result is decided before anything moves, so where a wheel stops always matches what it reports.

The wheels do not influence one another. A six-entry wheel gives each entry a 1 in 6 chance whatever the other wheels land on, and a long spin or a short one makes no difference to the odds. Random also means streaky, so the same entry can come up twice in a row. If that is a problem, drop winners, as described below. Read more about how WheelSpinny picks.

Ideas for two or more wheels

• Who does what. One wheel of people and one of chores or jobs. One spin gives a name and a task.
• A night out. A wheel of places, a wheel of days, and a wheel to decide who picks the music.
• Writing and drawing prompts. A character, a place and a problem, spun together as a warm-up.
• Workouts. An exercise on one wheel and a number of reps on another.
• Classroom games. A student, a subject and a points value for quick review rounds.
• Prize draws. A wheel of winners and a wheel of prizes, where each prize goes out once.

For a plain draw with entrants and prizes, the raffle wheel is set up for it. To split a group into fair teams, try the team generator.

Drop winners so nothing repeats

Turn on Drop winners for a wheel and its winner comes off the list the next time you spin. The winner stays on screen until then, and the page says which entry is about to come off. Switch it on for both wheels in a who-does-what spin and every task goes to a different person with nothing left over. Switch it on for just one wheel when only that list must not repeat.

Put back returns everything dropped from a wheel to the end of its list. If a wheel runs out of entries, the wheels do not spin, and the page names the empty wheel rather than skipping it.

Limits, saving and sharing

• From 2 to 6 wheels, with up to 1,000 entries on each.
• Wheel names and lists are saved in this browser, so they are ready next time. Results are not saved.
• To weight a wheel, list an entry more than once. Each line is its own slice, so an entry listed twice has twice the chance.
• Share copies a link with every wheel’s name and list inside it. Nothing is uploaded, but anyone with the link can read the lists.
• The Sound button mutes the spin sounds, and sound never plays before you spin.

The page works with a keyboard and on a phone. Winners are shown as text and read out to screen readers in one line, so the result does not depend on seeing the wheels.

Just need one wheel?

The main spin wheel is built for a single list, with winner removal, a results history and color palettes. For a whole list shuffled into order, use the list randomizer. To put a wheel on your own page, build an embed code.