Wheel Spinner

To make a spinning wheel of names, paste your class list into the Entries box of the wheel spinner above, one name per line, and press Spin. The wheel lands on a random slice, and every slice has an equal chance of winning.

At Chalkbox, we build free classroom tools, and this wheel spinner opens in a browser with no account and nothing to install. Your list stays saved in that browser on that device, and nothing is sent to a server.

How to Make a Name Wheel

A name wheel takes five steps, from pasting the list to deciding whether each winner stays on the wheel.

1. Paste the names. Type or paste entries into the Entries box, one per line. Each line becomes one equal-sized colored slice. Blank lines are ignored, so a pasted list with gaps works fine.
2. Press Fullscreen. The wheel, the result and the Spin button fill the screen for the projector.
3. Spin. Press the Spin button, or press the Space bar when the cursor is not in a box or on a button. The wheel needs at least 2 entries. With fewer, it shows "Add at least 2 entries to spin".
4. Read the winner. The pointer at 12 o'clock marks the winning slice, and the name appears under the wheel with 🎉 beside it. The "Recent:" line lists the last 12 winners, so you can see who has already answered.
5. Choose the remove option. Tick "Remove the winner after each spin" if no one should be picked twice. Leave it off if every name should stay in play for every spin.

A Worked Example with the Default Names

The wheel opens with 8 names: Ava, Liam, Olivia, Noah, Emma, Oliver, Sophia and Elijah. Each slice is one-eighth of the wheel, so each name has a 1 in 8 chance on the first spin.

Turn on "Remove the winner after each spin" and spin three times. Three winners leave the list, 5 names remain, and a button reading "Put removed entries back (3)" appears. On the fourth spin, each remaining name has a 1 in 5 chance.

Press that button to return all three names before the next round. With the option off, all 8 names stay on the wheel after every spin. Each spin is a new 1 in 8 draw, so the same student can come up twice in a row.

What to Put on the Wheel Spinner besides Names

The wheel spinner accepts any short line of text, so numbers, topics and prizes work as entries just like names. Here are a few ideas for a class period:

• Review topics. Enter the units from an upcoming test, such as "Fractions" or "Area", and spin to choose what the class reviews next.
• Question numbers. Type 1 to 20 on separate lines and spin to choose which worksheet question to go over aloud.
• Brain-break activities. List short movement breaks, such as "10 jumping jacks" or "Stretch", and spin when the room needs a reset.
• Classroom jobs. List the jobs and spin once for each one, or list the names and spin once per job.
• Prize choices. Put the rewards you already offer on the wheel, and let the student who earned one spin for it.

Keep each entry short. With 40 or fewer entries, every entry is written on its slice, and long entries are shortened with "…" on the wheel. The winner line under the wheel shows the full text either way.

For more ways to run a review round or a game day, see the classroom games page. The class reward jar is another Chalkbox page to open alongside a prize wheel.

How the Random Wheel Spinner Picks a Winner

The random wheel spinner chooses the winner before the wheel starts moving, and every entry has an equal chance. It uses the browser's built-in cryptographic random number generator. The few random values that would favor some entries over others are thrown away.

Once the winner is chosen, the wheel turns 5 full times plus the extra distance to that slice. It slows to a stop over about 4.5 seconds and always comes to rest inside the winning slice. It never stops on the line between two slices.

If the computer has its "reduce motion" setting on, the wheel skips the animation and jumps straight to the result. The Entries box is locked while the wheel spins, so nobody can edit the list mid-spin.

Keeping the Spin Kind

A spin of the wheel puts one student on the spot in front of the class, and a few habits keep that moment low-pressure. The wheel spinner does not enforce any of these. They are habits you set with your class.

• Ask, pause, then spin. Read the question first and give everyone think time before pressing Spin.
• Pass and come back. Let a student say "pass" and return to them after the next spin or two. Ask them to repeat or add to a classmate's answer.
• Give everyone a turn. Turn on "Remove the winner after each spin" and keep spinning until the list is empty. Each name comes up once, and "Put removed entries back" starts the next round.
• Watch the Recent line. With remove off, a student can be picked twice. Glance at "Recent:" and decide whether to spin again before calling on the same student.

Wheel Spinner vs. the Random Name Picker

Use the wheel spinner when you want the class to watch the pick happen, and use the random name picker when you want a name fast.

The spin time adds up across a lesson. Ten picks on the wheel take about 10 × 4.5 = 45 seconds of spinning. If you call on students 20 or more times in a period, that becomes about 90 seconds, and the random name picker is the better choice.

The wheel spinner picks one entry per spin, so it does not split a class into groups. Use the random group generator to make groups, then name them with the team name generator. For a game that needs a die roll, open the dice roller. To compare more ways to pick students at random, read the guide to random name picker alternatives.

What the Wheel Spinner Does Not Do

The wheel spinner picks one entry at a time from an equal-chance list, and it has a short set of limits. Each one has a workaround.

• No weights. Every entry gets a slice of the same size. To make one prize come up more often, type it on two lines so it takes two slices.
• No pictures, color choices or sound. Slices hold text only, and their colors are set for you. Count down aloud during the spin if you want some build-up in the room.
• 100 entries at most. Past 100, the count line shows "(first 100 used)" and the extra lines are left off. Split a longer list into two lists of 100 or fewer and run them one after the other.
• Labels on up to 40 slices. With more than 40 entries, the slices have no text, so the class cannot read the wheel. The winner still shows in full under the wheel. Keep the list at 40 or fewer when students should see their names on the slices.
• One saved list per browser. Entries, the remove setting and the removed list are saved in this browser on this device. Another computer opens with the 8 default names. Keep each class list in a document and paste it in when you switch classes or computers.

To start, paste your class list into the wheel spinner above, press Fullscreen and spin.