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About ExesTools

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ExesTools is a small set of free tools for the moments when a group needs a fair decision: who answers next, who wins the prize, which team you're on, who buys a gift for whom. There are ten of them, and each one is built for a specific job rather than being one general wheel stretched to cover everything.

Everything runs in your browser. There's no account to create, nothing to install, and the lists you type stay on your device unless you choose to share a link.

The tools, and what each one is for

  • Spinner wheel: a general decision wheel for up to 60 options, with example wheels for meals, weekend plans and word games.
  • Random name picker: one name at a time, with remove-winner on by default, for meeting order, volunteers and simple draws.
  • Classroom spinner: the same idea set up for teachers, with classroom example wheels and a roster that stays in your browser between lessons.
  • Prize wheel: prizes or entrant names on a wheel everyone can watch, for giveaways, streams, booths and reward days.
  • Yes or no wheel: a two-way spin, with a Yes / No / Maybe option and a Heads / Tails coin-toss mode.
  • Random number wheel: a number from any range, with a no-repeats option for tickets, questions and bingo calls.
  • Random team generator: splits a whole list into even teams or pairs in one step.
  • Secret Santa generator: draws names with exclusions for couples and housemates, and gives each person a private link that shows only their match.
  • Raffle generator: draws several winners and alternates for multiple prizes, one ticket at a time from those still in the draw, each with an equal chance.
  • Bingo card generator: up to 100 different printable cards from your own words or numbers, with a link per player for phone play.

The Guides section has longer, practical articles on the work around a fair pick: running giveaways, calling on students, making teams and more.

ExesTools is not affiliated with the reverse-engineering forum that has a similar name.

Who builds ExesTools

ExesTools is built and maintained by Arhum Waheed, a software engineer. He writes the code and every guide on the site.

He built ExesTools after needing a fair, on-screen pick for group decisions and finding most free wheels either needed an account, hid how they worked, or tried to be one tool for every job.

The idea behind the site is simple: a fair pick should be easy to run in front of other people, and it should be obvious that nobody's steering it. That's why every tool shows the full list before you pick, lets you remove winners so everyone gets a turn, and lets you share a link to the exact list you used.

Who uses ExesTools

  • Teachers and students, for calling on students, classroom jobs, groups and review games.
  • Groups, teams and workplaces, for meeting order, door prizes and gift exchanges.
  • Streamers and creators, for on-screen giveaways and viewer picks.
  • Friends and families, for games, parties and everyday decisions.

How ExesTools picks a result

Every pick uses your browser's secure random number generator (crypto.getRandomValues) with rejection sampling, so each option still in play has exactly the same chance. The result is chosen first, and the wheel animation then stops on it, so the slice under the pointer is always the pick. How long or how hard the wheel spins changes nothing. Cosmetic details such as the spin duration and sound use the browser's ordinary random function, and they can't affect the result.

Each spin is independent, so streaks happen by chance. Switch on remove winner if every name should be picked once before any repeats.

  • Team generator: shuffles the whole list with a Fisher–Yates shuffle using the same generator, then deals names into teams.
  • Secret Santa generator: checks that a valid draw exists for your exclusions, then shuffles until everyone has someone they're allowed to draw. Nobody can draw themselves.
  • Raffle generator: draws one ticket at a time from the tickets still in the draw, so every ticket has the same chance. By default, a winner leaves the draw.
  • Bingo card generator: builds cards from a short set code, so the same code always makes the same cards, and checks that every card in a set is different. Its caller never repeats a call within a game.

ExesTools is a free random picker. For the long version, with worked examples, read How random is a spinner wheel?

What ExesTools won't do

Being clear about limits is part of being trustworthy, so here they are:

  • It doesn't store your lists or results. Nothing you type is uploaded, which also means there's nothing to recover if you clear your browser.
  • It doesn't collect entries for you. There's no connection to social accounts, comment sections or forms. You paste the list yourself.
  • It doesn't send messages. Secret Santa links, raffle results and bingo player links are sent by you, through your own chat or email.
  • It isn't legal advice, and it isn't an official drawing service. Raffle and giveaway rules vary by place. Check the ones that apply to you.
  • It doesn't give some entries better odds than others. Every option on a wheel has the same chance.

How the tools are tested and updated

The site is actively developed. Changes are checked before release, and automated tests cover the important wheel and random-pick behavior, so what you see under the pointer stays honest.

Every tool page and guide shows an Updated date. When a tool changes in a way that affects a page, the page is revised and the date moves. The changelog below lists the bigger changes.

Your lists stay in your browser

Your lists are saved only in your browser, on your device, not on ExesTools servers. Share links carry the list inside the link itself, so anyone with the link can see it. Google Analytics counts visits and tool use, but the names and options you type are never sent to it. The Privacy Policy has the details.

How ExesTools is paid for

ExesTools is free, and it's paid for by ads from Google AdSense on some pages. Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are asked for consent through Google's consent message before ads use cookies for personalization.

Ads don't decide what gets built or written. Advertisers have no say in the tools, the guides or how results are picked, and the text you type into a tool is never used for advertising. ExesTools doesn't accept paid placements or sponsored guides.

Editorial policy

Guides on ExesTools are written to help you do one specific thing well.

  • Written by a named author. Every guide has a byline and a published date. All current guides are written by Arhum Waheed.
  • Checked against the live tools. Any feature a guide mentions is checked on the live tool page on the publish date.
  • Math shown, not asserted. Where a guide gives odds or percentages, the working is on the page.
  • Sources linked. Research is named and cited. No invented statistics, no made-up testimonials.
  • Honest limits. Guides say what the tools don't do.
  • Not professional advice. Raffle, giveaway and classroom guides are practical tips, not legal advice.
  • Corrections. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@exestools.com with the page address. Fixes are made on the page and the Updated date changes.

Changelog

Major changes to the site, newest first.

For teachers

Use the classroom spinner for fair turn-taking with no account. Your class list stays in this browser, Remove winner makes sure everyone gets a turn before anyone repeats, and you can share a link to the same wheel when your school's policy allows. For the teaching routine, see fair ways to call on students.

Get in touch

Found a problem or have an idea? Email hello@exestools.com or use the Contact page.