Number Wheel Generator: how it works
Spin a number from 1 to 20. This number wheel generator opens as a wheel of numbers 1-20, and the numbers sit in the Your list box under the wheel, one per line. Delete lines for a shorter range, or type your own, such as the seat numbers still free. Every line gets the same chance.
Cut the wheel to the range you need
Your list already holds 1 to 20. Delete from the bottom up and the wheel redraws. Stop at 9 and you have a number wheel 1-9 for the nine places in a batting order. Stop at 5 for a 1-5 spinner beside a five frame: spin, then lay out that many counters. The box takes up to 100 typed or pasted lines, but past about 40 the labels on the rim shrink too far to read, so go by the result line.
Dice from a number wheel, and the two-dice trap
Cut the list to 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 20 numbers and the wheel matches the usual game dice. For two dice, spin the wheel 1-6 twice and add. Never build one wheel numbered 2 to 12. Two dice land 36 ways: six of them total 7, and only one totals 2 or 12. A flat 2 to 12 wheel would show 12 about three times as often as real dice do, and 7 about half as often.
Tips
- With eight teams, spin the wheel 1-8 in Elimination until it is empty. The order the numbers come out is the seeding, top seed first.
- Call Monday 1 and a number wheel 1-7 picks a day of the week.
- Four Corners: number the room's corners, cut the list to 1-4 and spin. Everyone in that corner is out.
Questions and answers
Is a wheel as fair as a random number generator?
It is one. The number is drawn first, in your browser, with an equal chance for every line in the list, and the spin is only the reveal. What the wheel adds is an audience: a whole room can watch it slow down and agree on where it stopped.
Can the wheel start at 0, skip numbers or go past 20?
Yes. Every line in Your list is one segment, so type 0 to 9 for a single digit, leave out 13, or carry on to 30 for a class of 30. A number written twice gets twice the chance. Reset list brings back 1 to 20.
Can I send my trimmed wheel to someone else?
Yes. Edit the list, then press Share. The link carries your numbers, so a number wheel 1-8 built for a bracket draw opens as the same eight segments on a team-mate's phone.