Wheel of Names

Eight names sit on this wheel, and their first letters run A through H in order. Alice to Henry is a sample list, not a real group. The wheel behind it is the part that matters: paste any list, click once, and get one random result.

The starting list is a demonstration

Alice, Ben, Chloe and Daniel open the sequence. Emma, Finn, Grace and Henry close it. Real rosters almost never line up alphabetically like this, so the pattern is a clear sign these entries were built to show the wheel working rather than to name anyone. There is a second pattern layered on top. The names alternate between those usually read as female and male, four of each, without breaking once. Somebody assembled this list with care so that no single name stands out and no group appears favored. That balance is useful for a first spin and useless for a real decision, because none of the eight entries corresponds to a person who actually needs picking. The list is meant to be replaced, and replacing it is the first thing most people do.

Building the list that matters

Entries go in through the Entries panel, and the wheel redraws as the list changes, so there is no separate save step to remember. Paste thirty student names and thirty slices appear. Delete four and the wheel shrinks to twenty-six. Most people paste from somewhere else rather than typing, since a class roster, a team sheet, or a signup list usually already exists in a document or a spreadsheet column. Anything can go on the wheel, not just names. Chores, seat numbers, restaurant options, and prize tiers all behave the same way once they are entries. The wheel does not interpret what it is spinning. It holds a list and picks one item from it, which is exactly what makes it usable for tasks that have nothing to do with names.

Every slice is the same size

This wheel gives each entry one equal slice, so a list of eight gives every name a one-in-eight chance and a list of forty gives every name a one-in-forty chance. Nothing on the wheel weights one entry above another, and adding a name lowers everyone else's share by the same amount. That simplicity is the point. It also means that if a name is entered twice, it occupies two slices and gets twice the chance of any other entry. Duplicates are easy to create accidentally when pasting from a list that already contains a repeated line, and they are worth checking for before spinning in front of a group. A quick scan of the Entries panel catches them.

A spin does not remove the winner

Each spin draws from the whole list, and landing on Grace leaves Grace on the wheel for the next one. Spin three times and the same name can appear twice or even three times. People expect a wheel to behave like a deck of cards being dealt, and it does not. For most uses this is the correct behavior. Picking who answers the next question, who serves first, or who gets the last slice all work better when everyone stays eligible every round. The behavior only causes trouble when the goal is to work through a whole group so that each person gets exactly one turn. In that case, the winner has to be taken out of the list manually between spins. It takes a moment in the Entries panel, and the wheel adjusts as soon as the entry is gone.

Short entries stay readable

The names in this sample list top out at six letters, and every slice holds one word. That is why the default wheel is easy to read. Real lists rarely arrive that tidy. Full names with surnames attached will still spin correctly, but a wheel of thirty entries reading Christopher Whitfield and Alexandra Richardson becomes hard to read across a classroom, since long text shrinks to fit its slice. First names work best. When two people in a group share one, a last initial separates them without adding much length, and that small edit prevents the awkward moment where the wheel lands on Sarah and two people look up. The same advice applies to non-name lists. Movie Night beats Watching a Movie Together at Home on a wheel face.

Sharing the wheel instead of the result

Once the list is right, the whole wheel can be shared as a single link. That link does more work than it appears to. A wheel decides things that groups care about, including who gets a prize, who takes an unpopular shift, and who goes first in a game with something at stake. When one person spins a list nobody else has seen and reports back, the outcome invites questions. When everyone opens the same link, the entries are visible to all of them and the spin settles the matter with nothing left to argue about. A shared wheel also saves rebuilding a recurring list. A teacher with the same roster, a manager with the same rotation, or a group of friends with the same restaurant shortlist can keep one link and reuse it rather than pasting the names again every week.