Help
What each tool does, how to share a list or collect one from the room, and where your names go.
Which tool do I need?
- Name wheel A name from a list, with a spin the room can watch.
- Name picker Several names at once, a long list, or everyone in a random order.
- Team maker Even teams from a list, balanced by skill, with people kept together or apart.
- Number wheel A number from a range, or from a list of your own.
- Yes or no wheel A yes or a no — or an answer from a short list of your own.
- Classroom A class list on a projector: everyone gets a turn, names stay on your device, no ads.
How to use the wheel
01
Add your names
Type one per line, paste a list from anywhere, or upload a CSV. Any script works, and mixed scripts sit happily on the same wheel.
02
Set the rules
Choose what happens after each spin, how long the spin runs, and whether a name should come up more often than the rest.
03
Spin
Click Spin or press Space. The picked name appears in a card you can read out, copy, or remove before spinning again.
04
Share it, or keep it to yourself
Share a link and a QR code when other people need the same wheel. Do nothing, and the names never leave your browser.
How to use the name picker
01
Add your list
Type or paste one name per line, or upload a CSV. The picker takes up to 200,000 names, and a long list stays smooth as you scroll.
02
Say how many
Choose how many names to pick. Leave the put-back switch off and nobody comes up twice in one draw; switch it on and the same name can come up again.
03
Pick, or line everyone up
Pick draws the number you asked for. Line everyone up puts the whole list in a random order — a queue, a presentation order, a rota.
04
Keep the result, or make it repeatable
Every draw lands in the history under the list, which exports as a CSV built in your browser. Put anything in the seed box before you draw and the same list with the same seed always gives the same order.
How to use the team maker
01
Add the people
One per line. Add a skill from 1 to 5 and a tag after the name if you have them — Amina, 4, keeper — and the preview shows what was read.
02
Choose the split
Either a number of teams or a number of people per team. Sizes never differ by more than one.
03
Add the rules you need
Balance by skill spreads the strongest players across the teams. Keep-together and keep-apart rules survive every reshuffle, and if a set of rules cannot all hold, the page says which ones clash.
04
Make teams, then shuffle again
Make teams gives one fair split; Shuffle again gives another under the same rules. Copy the teams, print them, or share them as a link.
How to use the number wheel
01
Set the range
Enter the lowest and highest number, or switch on Use my own numbers and type a list, one per line.
02
Decide about repeats
Off, the same number can come up twice, like a die. On, each number comes up once until they have all been drawn.
03
Spin, once or several times
Set how many spins one press runs, from one to nine, and every result is kept in the list under the wheel.
How to use the yes-or-no wheel
01
Choose the answers
Yes and no, yes, no and maybe, or your own — two or more, one per line. Three or four short answers read best on the disc.
02
Spin
One spin gives one answer. Set a run of spins and the tally under the wheel shows how the answers fell — best of five, if that is what you agreed.
03
Read the tally, then let it go
The tally lasts as long as the page is open and clears when you close the tab. Nothing about it is sent anywhere.
How to use classroom mode
01
Make a class
Give the class a name and add the students, one per line — first names are enough, and safer on a projector.
02
Pick
Each pick names one student. Nobody comes up twice until the whole class has had a turn, and a student you mark as away is skipped until tomorrow.
03
Put it on the projector
Projector mode fills the screen with the pick and the class list. Space picks, Esc leaves, the arrow keys move through the list. There are no ads on this page and never will be.
04
Keep the register
Class lists live in this browser only and are cleared 90 days after you last use them. Export a class as a small file to keep a copy or to move it to another device.
Draw records anyone can check
A draw record is a page that shows everything a draw was made from — the seed, a fingerprint of the list and the result — so anyone can run it again and get the same answer. Put a seed in the picker's seed box, draw, and turn the draw into a record; the record page redoes the draw in the reader's own browser and compares every field, sending nothing. Records are kept for 12 months, and whoever made one can delete it sooner. Namesome never runs a draw for money: no tickets, no entry fees, no prizes, no betting odds.
An account, if you want one
You do not need an account: every tool works without one, and always will. An account is free and keeps your saved wheels and the links you share together on every device you use. Sign in with a link or a code sent to your email — there is no password, and we keep your address and nothing else about you. Saved wheels and their links do not expire while the account exists, and you can export everything as one file or delete the account and its data at any time.
Where your names go
Names stay in this browser unless you share them, open a join list or ask for a draw record — and the page says so each time before it sends anything. The only analytics is a visit counter that sets no cookie and builds no profile, which is why there is no cookie banner. The storage page lists every item this site keeps on your device or on a server, by name; the privacy page says how long each is kept; the fairness page shows how a pick is made and lets you run a 50,000-spin audit yourself.
For programs and AI assistants
Everything here can be done by a program too: a free REST API and an MCP server pick a name, make teams, publish a wheel or run a checkable draw. The developers page has the reference and the limits.
Questions about the site
Is it really free?
Yes. Every tool, saved wheels, sharing, CSV import, history and export are free, with no trial and no card. There are no ads, and there will never be any on the classroom pages.
Do I need an account?
No. An account is optional: it keeps saved wheels and shared links together across your devices, and signing in is a link or a code sent to your email. Everything else works without one.
How do I change the language?
Use the language control in the header; the footer of every page links the six languages too. Each language has its own addresses, and the site remembers the one you chose.
Does it work without a connection?
Once a tool's page has loaded, spinning, picking and making teams keep working offline, and the site can be installed like an app. Sharing, join lists, draw records and signing in need a connection.
Can I take a list from one tool to another?
Yes. A join list can be sent to the wheel, the picker or the team maker, and a class in classroom mode can be used in any of them. The list travels inside your browser for the few seconds that takes and is not uploaded.
Something is wrong — where do I write?
The contact page has the address. A shared page has a Report link at its foot, and a sentence that reads wrong in your language is the fastest thing on the whole site to fix.