Team generator — split a name list into teams
Pick one name from a team roster — for assignments, rotations, or splitting a list into sub-teams via repeated picks. Type each person on a separate line, tap Pick, and the result names one. "Random team picker" / "team generator with names" / "split into teams" all land here. Fourteen people on the morning standup need splitting into a frontend team of seven and a backend team of seven. Paste all fourteen names into the picker (one per line), tap Pick to draw the first member, copy them into your frontend team note, delete that name from the list, and tap Pick again. Repeat until the team is filled. The remaining seven default to backend. The roster lives in the URL, so a copy-paste shares the same team setup with whoever needs to see it — no spreadsheet to send around. Disambiguation: this is for splitting people, not for picking favorite sports franchises (different intent — "Random NFL team" type queries do not land here). For pure single-person picking from a list of three or more, the same tool works directly.
Frequently asked questions
Can it split a list into multiple teams in one click, or do I pick one at a time?
One at a time today. Tap Pick to draw one name, remove it from the list, and tap again for the next. For 14 people into 2 teams of 7, that's 7 taps with manual list edits between picks. The shareable URL updates as you edit, so a copied link reflects the current pool.
Does it work for sports-team picking — random NBA team, random NFL team?
No. This is for splitting groups of people into teams, not for picking favorite sports franchises. Queries like "random NFL team" or "random NBA team" want a list of franchise names, which isn't what Plinkr's picker is built for. Type a list of people; the picker treats each line as one entrant.
Can teammates see the same draw without sending screenshots?
Yes. The roster is encoded in the URL, so anyone with the link sees the same name list and can run their own pick (or watch the same setup on a second device). Useful for remote standups where the team lead pastes the URL into Slack and everyone watches the picks happen on their own screen.
Is the result fair across all team members, including those at the bottom of a long list?
Yes. The picker uses cryptographic rejection sampling, so every name has exactly equal probability regardless of position in the input. The first name and the last name are equally likely. List length up to a few thousand is no problem; performance and fairness stay constant.
More ways to use the Random Picker:
← Random Picker overview