Team Randomizer

Nobody has to be the captain

Picking teams by taking turns is how school taught most of us, and it is the one method guaranteed to leave somebody standing at the end. Dealing them out removes the choosing altogether — there is nobody to be picked last by.

Dealt like cards, not cut in half

The names are shuffled, then handed out one at a time round the teams. That is the whole method, and it is why the teams always come out within one player of each other no matter how the numbers fall. Cutting a shuffled list into blocks would do the same for eight players and two teams, and go wrong the moment there are seven.

When it does not divide evenly, it says so rather than leaving you to count. Seven players into two teams is four and three, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.

Teams, or a team size

Sometimes the number of teams is fixed — two sides of a board, or however many boards you own. Sometimes it is the size that is fixed: pairs, or threes. Switch between the two and the other number works itself out, always rounding up, because a team that is a player short is a smaller problem than a player with nothing to do.

An honest shuffle

The one thing a randomizer can quietly get wrong is the randomness. The one-line version everybody reaches for hands a random answer to a sort function, which looks fine and is skewed — the comparison breaks the assumptions the sorting algorithm relies on, so what comes out depends on which algorithm the browser uses.

This one walks the list backwards, swapping each name with a randomly chosen earlier one. Every possible arrangement is equally likely. It is four lines instead of one, and it is the difference between a draw and something that merely looks like one.

The rest of the evening

Once the teams are set, the turn timer keeps them moving and the score sheets add up as you type. If it is turn order you need rather than teams, the first player picker settles that with a finger on the screen.

Frequently asked questions

How does it split the names? It shuffles everyone first, then deals them out one at a time, going round the teams like cards. That way the teams differ by at most one player however the numbers fall, and because the list was shuffled first it makes no difference which team gets the extra one.

Can I say how big each team should be instead? Yes. Switch from number of teams to players per team and it works out how many teams that makes, rounding up. Better one team that plays a player short than somebody sitting out.

What is the rules explainer? One player is drawn at the same time as the teams and badged as the one who explains the rules. It is the job nobody volunteers for and it has nothing to do with which team you land in, so it is drawn from everybody.

Is the draw actually random? Yes. It uses the Fisher-Yates shuffle, where every arrangement of the names is equally likely — not a sort with a random comparison, which is the common shortcut and is skewed.

Does it remember the names? The list does, on your own device, because the same group tends to play again next week. The teams do not: a saved draw would not be a draw. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.

How many players can it take? Up to twenty-four names, into as many as six teams. Pasting a list from a chat message splits it across the rows in one go.

Also in the toolbox: boards to print with pieces and rules on the sheet, and games to play in the browser.