Random Picker

Random Picker draws names or items from a list you paste in. Pick one for a draw, pick several for a shortlist, or shuffle the whole list into a random running order. Names go one per line, and a single line of comma-separated names works too.

Two things make it fair rather than roughly fair. Draws use rejection sampling on the browser's cryptographic random source, so every entry has exactly the same chance. Shuffles use Fisher-Yates, which produces every possible ordering with equal probability. The common shortcut — sorting the list with a random comparator — looks shuffled and is measurably biased, which matters when the result decides who wins something in front of other people.

Picking several at once draws without replacement, so one run never returns the same name twice. The remove option takes each winner out of the list as it is drawn, which is what you want for a multi-prize draw where nobody should win more than once.

• One name per line, or comma separated
• Pick one or several at once, with no repeats in a run
• Remove each pick for a multi-prize draw
• Fisher-Yates shuffle, which a random sort is not
• Cryptographic randomness with rejection sampling
• The odds for each entry shown with the result
• A record of every pick in the session
• Nothing uploaded, so the list stays yours

The random picker is used by writers, developers, students, marketers and anyone else who needs the job done once without installing software. Common cases include:

• Drawing a winner for a giveaway or raffle
• Picking who goes first, or who presents next
• Choosing a random restaurant from a shortlist
• Putting a class or a team into a random order
• Assigning tasks without anybody choosing