Random Team Generator

Start with the names you already have

Put one participant on each line. A list copied from a message, document, or plain text note can go straight into the editor. Blank lines are ignored, and surrounding spaces are removed.

Repeated names stay separate. Two participants called Alex still receive two independent places in the draw. Occurrence numbers distinguish duplicate-equivalent names in Teams and Pairs, including their copied, printed or downloaded results. Unique names keep their original labels. These numbers do not change your roster. Use initials or recognisable labels if you need to tell people apart.

Same-tab transfer: If you came from the WheelSays decision wheel, its current choices can arrive here during the same tab visit. Nothing is placed in the page address, and a refresh starts a clean editor.

Choose partners with Pairs

Choose Pairs for classroom partners or one round of matchups. Enter at least two names, then select Make pairs. Every person appears once. With an even roster, each group has two people. With an odd roster, Make one group of three is the default; Leave one person unpaired keeps the other groups strictly in twos. The preview accounts for everyone before you generate.

Seven people make two pairs and one trio, or three pairs and one explicitly listed unpaired person. With 29 people, those choices give 13 pairs and one trio, or 14 pairs and one unpaired person. The random draw decides who joins the trio or stays unpaired; it does not rotate that place between people.

Make new pairs draws independently from the same names and odd choice. Some or all partners may repeat. There is no partner history, guaranteed new partner, fixed pair or keep-apart rule. With two people there is only one pair; with three people and the trio choice there is only one group, so re-pair is unavailable.

Copy results includes every pair, trio or unpaired person, with the same names, duplicate qualifiers and counts shown here. Pairs can be copied or printed. Download team PDF is available in Teams mode. Print results opens the browser print dialog for this exact grouping. Your browser or device may offer Save as PDF; WheelSays does not generate a Pair PDF. Long rosters can use several A4 or Letter pages. Names stay as text, with Pair, Trio and Unpaired headings. Browser headers, footers and paper settings are under your control. Cancelling keeps your pairing, and WheelSays cannot tell whether you printed, saved a copy or cancelled. Changing modes starts a new grouping; it does not convert the current pairing into a Team PDF. To correct names or the odd choice, use Edit names and settings and confirm discarding the result. Start over clears the names and resets the odd choice.

What even team sizes mean here

Random balances headcount only. WheelSays does not know anyone’s skills, experience, preferences, or relationships. Before you make the teams, the size note tells you whether every team can have the same number of people.

Size guarantee: When an exact split is impossible, the first few teams receive one extra person. The largest and smallest teams differ by no more than one. This is not a claim that the groups are equally matched in ability.

If you need one complete running order rather than groups, use the Random List Shuffler.

To pair people with a separate list of tasks or roles, use the Random Assignment Generator instead of turning each task into a team.

Balance teams using your ratings

Random is the default. For an activity you know well, choose Balance by rating, enter names and select Set ratings. Rate each person from 1 to 5 for that activity. Every rating starts blank; duplicate names have separate entries. Names are fixed while you rate them. Edit names clears the ratings after confirmation.

WheelSays uses its own additive rating model. It aims to reduce differences between team totals, not averages. Team sizes and Keep in this team take priority. Smaller teams can receive higher average ratings. These subjective scores do not measure actual ability or guarantee a fair outcome for your activity.

The method compares feasible starting arrangements and makes a bounded set of improving swaps. Ties use browser randomness; this is not a uniform random draw or a promise of the smallest possible gap. Balance again, or Balance others with keeps, preserves or improves the current rating score. Memberships may repeat. A manual swap can increase the gap and never keeps either person automatically. Kept members can prevent a closer split; allow rebalancing if you want them to move.

Edit ratings and settings first asks to discard the current teams and keeps; your entered ratings remain ready to change. A new result needs an explicit Balance teams action. Switching to Random or Pairs clears ratings after confirmation. Loading a saved roster also clears them, even when the names match.

Adjust the current teams

After Make teams, open Adjust teams. Select a participant and someone in another team, review the swap preview, then choose Swap participants. Both people must be unkept. The swap exchanges their places immediately and leaves every team the same size. Everyone still appears exactly once.

Swap does not imply Keep. A swap changes the current result but does not automatically keep either person during a later reshuffle. To retain a participant in their current named team, select them and choose Keep in this team. Allow reshuffle removes that keep. A kept participant must be allowed to reshuffle before they can be swapped.

Reshuffle others leaves kept participants in their named teams and draws again for everyone else, using the same team sizes. Some or all memberships may repeat. If all participants are kept, or only one team has space for unkept participants, memberships cannot change. Allow someone in another team to reshuffle first. With nobody kept, the usual Reshuffle draws for everyone.

These are manual changes to one current result. They do not create automatic keep-together or keep-apart rules, balance actual ability, or track previous partners. Optional rating balance uses only the scores you enter. Adjust teams is available only in Teams. After an adjustment, Edit participants asks before discarding the result and keeps. Keep current teams or Escape returns to the same teams; confirming returns to your names and team count.

Save the roster, not the result

Named rosters can be saved in this browser and reused by both the wheel and this generator. The wheel accepts up to 12 names, while this page can load all 100. An oversized roster is never shortened to fit the wheel.

• Saved: the roster name and ordered participant names.
• Temporary: Teams/Pairs mode, the odd-person choice, pairing results, the team count, assignments, swaps, kept memberships, ratings, rating totals, copy messages, and reshuffle results. They disappear when the page is refreshed or closed.

In Teams mode, Download team PDF uses only the assignment currently shown. This includes your manual swaps and the same duplicate qualifiers as the team lists and Copy all teams. Kept flags and internal identities are excluded. Ratings and rating totals are also excluded from Copy all teams and the PDF. Rated PDFs identify the rating method and any later manual adjustment; ordinary random PDFs retain their random-assignment title. WheelSays builds the printable pages in this browser without sending names to a server or reshuffling the teams. The PDF pages are image-based so names keep the characters displayed by the browser; their text is not selectable.

Read the privacy explanation for the exact browser-storage boundary.

Use a fresh random arrangement when needed

With nobody kept, Reshuffle runs the assignment again from the same participant snapshot, keeping each person’s temporary identity intact. Random results can occasionally repeat. WheelSays does not distort the draw to force a visible change.

Copy all teams produces a plain-text block with fixed Team 1, Team 2, and later labels, using the current adjusted result. To change the roster, return to the editor. The names and valid team count remain ready for correction.

If the roster is for a one-to-one gift exchange instead, open the private Secret Santa generator. If the workflow feels unclear in your browser, send focused details through the feedback form.