Ball of Names | Random Name Selection Games

Who can play

Friends — who pays the bill, who drives, who picks the movie.

Teachers — pick a student name at random for questions, teams, or turns.

Events & streams — random winner selection for raffles, giveaways, and shout-outs.

Teams — yes or no games, ice-breakers, and fair draws when nobody wants to choose.

What is Ball of Names for?

Ball of Names is a free way to pick a name, photo, or idea at random — and make the pick something people actually want to watch. Add the list once, then play a ball race or a spinning wheel. Same names. Two games.

• Class: who answers, who presents, which group goes first — everyone sees the same finish.
• Giveaways: pick a customer, follower, or raffle winner in the open, not from a silent list.
• Events: a survey prize, a volunteer, or the next speaker from the people in the room.
• Work: who talks first in stand-up, who takes the next ticket, who runs the demo.
• Parties: who starts the game, who sits out, who does the dare.
• Everyday: dinner, chores, playlist order — drop the options on balls or slices and let it play out.
• Knockouts: Elimination mode removes the first finisher (or the landed slice) each round until one name is left.

How to use it

1. Type names in the box, paste a list with Bulk add, or add photos. Each name becomes a ball or a wheel slice.
2. Open Customize and choose Ball race or Spin wheel. Race options (track length, race background) and wheel options (colours, centre logo, picture on the wheel) stay separate, so switching games does not wipe the other.
3. Click the track to kick off, or click the wheel to spin. Need a shared draw? Press Go live and send the link — only the host can start.

Optional: press Sign in and choose your Google account. Your names, colours, photos, and settings are saved in that Google account so they can come back later.

What you can do here

All of it is free. You can play without an account.

• Two games, one list — race or wheel, switched in Customize.
• A real race — gravity, pegs, slopes with holes, spinning bars and bumpers. A new track is built every round from a secret seed.
• A wheel you can brand — slice colours, photos on names, a picture on the disk, a centre logo, and a backdrop.
• Winner or elimination — first across the line (or the slice under the pointer) wins, or that name is out until one champion remains.
• Rounds and a timer — one go, or a series of 3 to 20. Give people 10 to 60 seconds to join before it starts.
• Live rooms — the host types; everyone else sees the list, the race or spin, and the winner together. Viewers cannot start it.
• A hidden start — balls stay boxed until kick-off, then starting spots are shuffled in front of everyone.
• Full screen — faces on balls or slices, your own race background, the stage filling a hall or a stream.
• Big lists — up to 200 names, bulk paste, shuffle, sort, and a shareable names-only link.

Is my data private?

Without signing in, names, photos, colours, settings, and results stay in this browser. If you Sign in with Google, that list is saved in your Google account so it can come back next time. A live room shares only what viewers need, and that copy is dropped when you end the session. Ads, if you allow them, use their own cookies.

Can everyone watch live?

Yes. The host presses Go live and shares a link or a six-letter code. People who open it see names appear as they are typed, then the same race or the same spin, then the same winner. Only the host can edit the list or start. Leave the host tab open while others watch. Turn on the start timer if a class or an audience needs a moment to join.

Can I use this on a stream or a projector?

Press Full screen and the stage fills a board, TV, or projector. On a stream, capture this window. Put chat names or photos on the balls, set a background, and run a giveaway, a challenge list, or an elimination round while everyone watches the same result.

How ads work on this site

Ads keep Ball of Names free. They sit away from Kick off, Spin, and the name list, so a tap meant for the game does not hit an ad. We never ask anyone to click ads. If you need to change cookie choices, use Privacy & cookie settings in the footer.

Is the result truly random?

Yes. We never pick a winner first and then play an animation.

Every race and every spin starts with crypto.getRandomValues() — the cryptographically secure random generator built into modern browsers — not the weaker Math.random(). That seed is secret. It is not a name looked up in a table.

A ball race uses the seed to build a new course (sections, obstacles, spinner speeds, holes in the slopes) and a shuffled starting grid. Then physics takes over: sixty frames a second, six collision steps per frame, gravity, bounces, bumpers, until a ball crosses the line. The winner is whoever the simulation produces. Nobody, including us, can know that from the seed without running the same physics.

A spin uses the same kind of seed to set how many turns the wheel takes and how long it takes to slow down. The pointer stays on the right. Names rotate under it. We do not jump to a pre-picked slice.

The same name can win twice. That is how independent draws work — a fair coin can land heads twice. Past results do not change the next seed. To keep a winner out, remove them, or use Elimination mode.