Random Picker
Runs in your browser — your text is not sent anywhere to use this tool.
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Keep Random Picker handy
Use your browser's Share menu, then “Add to Home Screen”.
Pick a random name from a list, in your browser.
- Paste your list, one entry per line
- Choose how many to pick, or shuffle the whole list
- Click Pick for a fresh draw
About this tool
Picking a name out of a hat is easy until the hat has four hundred names in it, or until somebody asks whether the draw was fair. This picker takes a plain list, one entry per line, straight from wherever you already have it — a spreadsheet column, a chat message, a sign-up sheet — and draws from it using your browser's cryptographic random source. Every entry is equally likely, and the shuffle uses a proper algorithm rather than the tempting one-line trick of sorting by a random key, which produces orderings that depend on the browser rather than on chance. Duplicate lines are kept on purpose: if a name appears twice, that is somebody weighting the draw deliberately, and quietly collapsing it would change the odds without saying so. Pick one winner, pick several without repeats, or shuffle the whole list into a random order for turns and seating. Everything runs locally, so your list is never transmitted, logged, or stored.
Frequently asked questions
Is my list sent to a server?
No. The list stays in your browser and the draw happens there, so nothing is transmitted and nothing is stored. That matters when the list is names, applicants, or customers.
Is the draw genuinely fair?
Yes. It uses the Web Crypto API and a proper shuffle, so every entry is equally likely to be picked and every ordering is equally likely. It does not sort by a random key, which is the common shortcut and does not produce a uniform result.
What happens to duplicate entries?
They are kept. A name written twice has twice the chance of being drawn, which is usually deliberate — weighted raffles work exactly this way. Remove duplicates first if you want everyone to have equal odds.
Can I pick several winners at once?
Yes. Set how many and they are drawn without repeats, so the same entry cannot win twice. Asking for more than the list holds is refused rather than quietly returning fewer.
What is shuffle for?
It returns the whole list in a random order rather than picking from it — useful for running order, seating, turn order, or splitting a group into teams by taking the first however many.
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