Guides & Ideas
SpinForFree does one thing: it runs a random draw that everyone in the room can watch. These guides cover how to set one up, how the randomness underneath it actually works, and the specific situations people use it for: a classroom, a stand-up, a livestream giveaway, a tournament bracket, or just deciding what is for dinner.
If you only read one, make it how to run a raffle people trust. Nearly every complaint about a draw turns out to be about the process around it rather than the pick itself.
Getting started
How to Use the Wheel
Build a wheel, set the odds, share the link and run your first live spin, start to finish.
Random Name Picker Guide
What makes a name picker actually fair, and what to look for before you trust one with a real prize.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fairness, cheating, entry limits and repeat winners. The questions people ask before their first draw.
Fairness and how randomness works
The mechanics, and the arguments they settle. Worth reading before somebody asks you a question about odds in front of an audience.
How Random Number Generators Work
Pseudorandom versus cryptographic, modulo bias, and why a perfectly fair draw so often looks rigged.
How to Run a Raffle People Trust
Write the rules, publish the odds, close entries properly and keep a record. The process around the draw.
Wheel, Dice, Hat or Shuffle?
Five ways to pick at random, and what each one can actually prove to an audience watching.
Ideas and use cases
Specific formats, with the settings that suit each one.
Classroom Use Cases
Cold-calling, group assignments, line leaders and quiz order, without the same three hands every time.
Team Building Ideas
Standup order, retro facilitators, hackathon teams and Friday raffles for teams in the office or remote.
Giveaway Ideas
Social media, livestream and in-store giveaways that hold up when someone asks 'was that actually random?'
Running a Tournament Draw
Brackets, byes, group stages, seeding and constrained draws, without painting yourself into a corner.
Secret Santa Draws
Drawing a gift exchange so nobody gets their own name, including the cycle trick that cannot fail.
Decision Maker Guide
Use a weighted wheel as a tie-breaker for the choices a coin flip is too blunt for.
Curious how it works under the hood?
The blog covers how the live spin, weighted odds and draw history are built, covering where the pick happens, what gets written down, and why those two things are the whole basis for calling a draw fair.
Ready to try it?
The wheel on the home page is free and needs no account. Type names in and spin. If you need everyone to watch the same draw on a shared link, with a result recorded on the server, create a free account and your first wheel is ready in under a minute.