How to use the wheel

Every wheel on WheelWhirl works the same way. Here is what each control does, in the order most people use them.

1. 1

   Add your entries

   Open the entries panel (on a phone, tap Entries) and type or paste names, one per line. Every line becomes a slice. The toolbar below the list can shuffle, sort, remove duplicates, import or export a CSV file, undo your last change and clear the list. Blank lines are ignored.

2. 2

   Set the odds and the look

   On the Weights and colors tab, each entry has a weight (a weight of 2 is twice as likely as 1), a color, an optional picture and a checkbox to leave it out of the next spin without deleting it. The eye icon adds a hidden task, such as a dare or the answer to a question, which stays covered after the spin until someone presses Reveal. The palette menu changes the colors of the whole wheel.

3. 3

   Spin

   Press Spin, click or tap the wheel, press Space or Enter, or swipe across the wheel. The winner is chosen by your browser's secure random number generator before the wheel starts to move, so the animation never changes the result. Read how the randomness works.

4. 4

   Draw more than one winner

   Turn on Remove winner after each spin to take every winner off the wheel, or use Settings to pick several winners at once with no repeats. The History button lists every result from your visit.

5. 5

   Make a draw anyone can check

   For giveaways, choose Verified draw (the shield icon). You lock the list, announce its fingerprint, and the winner is worked out from the list plus a public randomness round that nobody can know in advance. The winner dialog then gives you a receipt link. How verified draws work.

6. 6

   Change the speed and sound

   In Settings, choose how long the spin lasts, from a quick spin to a long, dramatic slowdown. Pick a sound style or let each wheel use the one that suits it, turn confetti on or off and change the volume. Read the result aloud makes your device say the winner out loud. Phones only play sound after you tap, so press Spin once first.

7. 7

   Save, share and embed

   My wheels saves a wheel in your own browser. Share makes a link (and a QR code) that holds the wheel inside the address, so your names never reach our servers. Embed gives you a snippet to put the wheel on your own page, and Fullscreen is best for classrooms and live events.

Good to know

• Use fullscreen on a projector or shared screen so everyone can read the slices.
• Record your screen while you spin if you need to prove a giveaway was fair.
• Keep long lists in the List tab and use Weights and colors only for the few entries that need special odds.
• Streaming? Open the Streamer Studio for a transparent overlay and entries from Twitch chat.

More questions? See the FAQ. Ready to spin? Try the main wheel, browse all wheels or open the Streamer Studio.