SpinKitRandom number wheel: spin 1–10, 1–50 or 1–100
A random number generator the whole room can watch land.
Sometimes you need a random number and a plain generator feels flat: a button, a number, done. A number wheel does the same job in the open — the group watches 1 to 30 sweep past and slow onto the winner. For classrooms, games night, raffles with numbered tickets and anything bingo-shaped, the visible spin is the point.
Make a number wheel in under a minute
- Open the SpinKit wheel.
- Paste your numbers, one per line. Tip: type 1, 2, 3… in a spreadsheet column, drag the fill handle down, and paste the column straight in.
- Spin — every number gets an identical slice and an identical chance.
Pick the right range
- 1–10 or 1–20: perfect on a wheel — big readable slices, quick spins.
- 1–50: still works well; slices get slim but stay readable.
- 1–100: the wheel copes, but slices are thin. Consider two spins — one wheel for tens (0–9) and one for units — or draw from a Spin Sheet instead.
- Steps and custom sets: nothing says the numbers must be consecutive. Even numbers only, multiples of 5, ticket numbers you actually sold — paste whatever list matches reality.
No repeats: the bingo pattern
For bingo, tombolas and any draw-until-done game, switch on remove winner on spin. Each drawn number leaves the wheel, the pool shrinks, and nothing can come up twice — the digital version of pulling balls from a cage. The spin history doubles as your call record, and there's a full bingo caller guide if you're running a proper game.
Independent draws: leave repeats in
If each draw stands alone — dice-style rolls, random page numbers, picking a number for a game round — leave removal off. Getting the same number twice in a row is unlikely but perfectly fair, and removing numbers would quietly distort the odds of everything left.
Where a wheel isn't the right tool
Need a number between 1 and 10,000, or a thousand draws at once? That's spreadsheet territory: a Spin Sheet pulls random rows from any list at any size, and exports the results. The wheel earns its place when people are watching.
Inclusive ranges, and the 1–100 trap
Say the range out loud before you paste it. “One to a hundred” almost always means both ends count: ticket 1 and ticket 100 are real tickets. Spreadsheet fill handles are good at this; typing “1–100” into a chat and then pasting 1 through 99 is how raffles quietly lose a sold ticket. Count the slices. If you sold 87 tickets, the wheel should have 87 numbers — not a clean 1–100 with thirteen dead draws.
The same trap shows up in classrooms as “pick a page between 1 and 30”. If page 30 is the last page of the chapter, it belongs on the wheel. If you meant “a page we have actually read”, paste that shorter list. A number wheel is only as honest as the range you gave it.
Dice replacement — and when it is the wrong homework tool
A 1–6 wheel is a fine substitute for a missing die: big slices, a result the table can see, and no argument about a cocked roll. A 1–20 wheel does the same job for a classroom that is playing a one-shot and left the dice at home. Leave removal off. Independent rolls are allowed to repeat; a die that cannot roll 4 twice in a row is not a die.
Do not use a number wheel to “prove” a probability homework. The point of that work is usually a recorded sample from a stated generator, with the method written down. A theatrical spin is the wrong artefact. If the assignment wants 200 samples of a fair d6, a Spin Sheet column of 1–6 drawn with replacement, then exported, is the honest record. Use the wheel when the room needs to watch one number land — not when a spreadsheet of samples is the actual deliverable.
Number of the day, without turning it into a popularity contest
Primary classrooms often want a number of the day: a 1–20 or 1–100 that becomes the counting, place-value or times-table focus. Put the range on a saved wheel, spin once at the start, and leave the result on the board. If yesterday’s number should not repeat this week, turn removal on for the week and reset on Monday. That is a bingo cage for numbers, not a raffle — and it stops the same “lucky 7” arriving four days running while still looking fair to the class.
Keep the wheel on the device, not in a shared account the class can edit. Local-first means the register of remaining numbers lives where you spun it. If you need the same wheel on a second machine, copy it on purpose. A number-of-the-day that silently syncs from last period’s leftover list is how Thursday inherits Wednesday’s removals without anyone noticing.