A random number generator 1-4
Four is the number people reach for when they say “just pick one”. Four players around a table, four answers on a quiz, four corners of a room, four seasons. This page is an RNG for 1 to 4: four equal slices on a wheel, one spin, and one number.
It is free and runs in your browser. The wheel opens already set to 1 to 4, so press Spin to pick a number between 1 and 4 straight away. A window shows the result, and the Results tab keeps a list of your spins.
How to pick a number between 1 and 4
- Decide what the numbers stand for. They could be players, corners, seasons or answer letters.
- Press Spin. You can also click the wheel or press Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) plus Enter.
- Read the number in the result window.
- For a full order, switch on No repeats and spin four times. Each picked number leaves the wheel, so you end up with all four in a random order.
The odds on a four-number wheel
Each number has a one-in-four chance, exactly 25%, on every spin. Over a long run, each number turns up about a quarter of the time. In a short run it can look lopsided: in eight spins, seeing one number only once is entirely ordinary.
The number is picked by your browser’s secure random number generator before the wheel starts to move, then the wheel is turned to stop on it. The animation cannot change the answer. The how WheelSpinny picks page explains the method in plain terms.
Four players, four answers, four corners
- Who goes first. Number four players by where they sit and spin once. With No repeats on, four spins give the whole turn order.
- Multiple-choice answer keys. Writing a quiz? Let 1 be A, 2 be B, 3 be C and 4 be D, and spin to choose the position of each correct answer. It stops the right answers drifting towards one letter.
- Which corner. Number the corners of a room, a court or a field for a warm-up game or a hide-and-seek start.
- A season or a direction. Spring, summer, autumn and winter, or north, east, south and west.
- Teams of four. Number four teams and give each person a slip with a number, then spin to see which team plays first.
- A card suit. Hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades make four equal groups, so 1 to 4 picks a suit.
Guessing games with a 1 to 4 number
The wheel makes a tidy guessing game for small children. One person spins and keeps the result hidden, and the others guess. A random guess is right one time in four. With “higher” or “lower” hints, a player can find any number from 1 to 4 in at most two guesses, which makes it a first lesson in halving the possibilities.
Older players can try the same game on a bigger range, such as 1 to 10 or 1 to 20.
Other ways to pick from four
If your four choices have names, the random name picker lets you put them on the wheel as words. If you need a quick order for more than four people, the list randomizer shuffles everyone at once. For a tabletop game that asks for a four-sided die, this page works as a stand-in, and the dice roller offers a d4 along with other dice.
You can change the range on this page at any time. Edit From and To, or use the general random number generator for steps and left-out numbers.
Four spins, four tasks
Four is also a handy size for sharing out work. A household of four, a project team of four, or a four-part job can be split without anyone feeling picked on. Write the four tasks on paper, number them 1 to 4, then spin once for each person.
Switch on No repeats while you do this. Without it, the wheel might give the same task to two people and leave another one out. With it, each task is handed out once, and Copy on the Results tab gives you the list in the order the numbers were picked, ready to paste into a message.
If the tasks are very unequal, a single spin is not the right tool. Give the dull jobs a bigger share of numbers by spinning for a range such as 1 to 8, where 1 and 2 mean the first task, 3 and 4 the second, and so on. Everyone then knows how the odds were set up.
Settle the rules, then spin
Before the first spin, agree what each number means and how many spins you will make. With four options it is easy to forget which number was which, so write them on a scrap of paper where everyone can see.
Good to know
- The wheel holds 1, 2, 3 and 4, with both ends included.
- Your range and settings are saved in your own browser, and the Results tab lasts until you close or reload the page. Nothing is sent to a server.
- It works on phones, tablets and desktops, and with a keyboard. Results are shown as text and announced to screen readers.
- A device set to reduce motion skips the long spin.
- It is meant for games and everyday choices. Do not rely on it for security or regulated draws.