Randomantic How to use the list randomizer
- Type or paste your list, one item per line (pasting a column from a spreadsheet works too).
- Optionally tick Remove duplicate lines to keep each item once.
- Click Randomize list for a fair shuffle — click again any time for a new order.
Where a randomizer helps
Shuffling a whole list is handy whenever order matters and should be fair: setting the running order for presentations or performances, deciding turn order in a game, drawing raffle entries in sequence, randomizing quiz or survey questions to reduce bias, or mixing up a playlist or reading list. Because the shuffle is fair and repeatable on demand, nobody can argue the order was rigged.
What a fair shuffle actually requires
Shuffling sounds trivial and is famously easy to get wrong. The obvious approach — walk the list and swap each item with a random other one — produces a measurably biased result, where some orderings turn up more often than others. The correct method is the Fisher–Yates shuffle, which walks the list backwards and swaps each item with a random item at or before it. That one change makes every possible ordering exactly equally likely, which is what this page uses.
The difference is invisible on any single shuffle and very visible over hundreds — which is precisely the problem with a biased shuffle. Nobody notices until someone starts keeping score.
Shuffling versus drawing
These are different jobs and picking the wrong one causes most of the confusion. A shuffle reorders everything and keeps every item: use it when you need a full running order, a turn sequence, or a randomised question set. A draw pulls out one or a few items and ignores the rest: use it to pick a winner or choose a volunteer.
If you want winners rather than an order, the lucky draw picker draws multiple winners plus reserves, and the wheel spinner draws one at a time with more drama. A shuffled list does work as a draw — just take the top item — and that is a genuinely good approach when you need a ranked waiting list rather than a single winner.
Where the order needs to be defensible
- Presentation and performance order. Going alphabetically consistently disadvantages the same surnames; going last is a real advantage in judged events.
- Survey and quiz questions. Randomising the order of questions, and of the options within them, reduces ordering bias — people disproportionately pick the first plausible answer they read.
- Interview panels and judging. A random order you can show people is easier to defend than one somebody assembled.
- Chores and rotas. Shuffle once, then rotate the result each week rather than reshuffling — reshuffling means someone can land on the bad job twice running.
- Playlists and reading lists. Breaking the order you added things in is usually the point.
Duplicates, blank lines and pasted spreadsheets
Pasting a column straight out of Excel or Google Sheets works, but spreadsheet exports commonly bring trailing spaces and empty rows with them, and a duplicate name silently gets two chances in any draw you base on the result. The Remove duplicate lines option handles exact repeats; near-duplicates with different spellings or an extra space still need a human eye, so scan the list before you shuffle anything that matters.