Random Name Picker

How the draw stays fair

Running a giveaway people will trust

Because the draw happens on your device, nobody else can verify it after the fact. If the prize matters, make the process visible instead.

• Publish the entry list first, or its length, before drawing.
• Record the screen while you paste the list and press the button. A continuous recording is far more convincing than a screenshot of the result.
• Draw live if you can — a stream removes the question entirely.
• State the rules in advance: how duplicates are handled, whether one person can win twice, and what happens if a winner does not respond.

For anything with legal or regulatory weight — a prize promotion with significant value, or anything classed as a lottery — use a service that provides an audit trail. This tool is designed for informal draws.

Using it in a classroom

Cold-calling from a random picker is a well-established technique for spreading participation, but two adjustments make it work much better in practice.

First, turn remove winners on. Without it, the same few students get picked repeatedly by chance, which feels arbitrary and lets the rest disengage. Removing each name as it comes up guarantees everyone is asked once before anyone is asked twice.

Second, give thinking time before revealing the name. Asking the question, pausing, and only then drawing means the whole class prepares an answer rather than only the person selected.