Random team generator

How are the teams made fair?

The generator shuffles the whole list first, so every name is equally likely to land in any position. It then deals the names out like cards, one to Team 1, one to Team 2 and so on, looping round until everyone is placed. Dealing that way guarantees that team sizes differ by at most one: 12 people in 3 teams gives three teams of 4, and 11 people in 3 teams gives 4, 4 and 3.

Random teams are fair in the sense that nobody chooses them. They are not balanced for skill, which is a separate problem. Our guide on how to split people into fair teams covers skill-balanced methods, captain picks and when each approach works best.

Number of teams or people per team?

Use Number of teams when the teams are fixed by the activity: two sides for a match, four tables for a workshop. Use People per team when the group size matters more, such as pairs for peer review or groups of five for a project.

In People per team mode, the generator works out how many teams are needed so that no team is bigger than the size you asked for, then deals as usual. With 10 people and a size of 4 you get three teams of 4, 3 and 3, not two teams of 4 and a lonely pair. If you ask for more teams than there are people, you get one person per team.

Random teams for PE and classroom groups

Teachers use random teams to avoid the playground ritual where the same children are always picked last. A few tips from real lessons:

• Save your class list in a document once, then paste it in each lesson. Remove anyone absent before you press Make teams.
• Show the result on the board so students can see nobody arranged it.
• Agree the re-roll rule first. For example, one re-roll is allowed if two best friends land together, then the result stands.
• Pick a captain or first speaker inside each team with the name picker for teachers.

Work breakouts and meetings

For breakout rooms, workshops or hackathons, paste the attendee list and split by the number of rooms you have. Press Copy teams and paste the text into the meeting chat so each person can find their room. Mixing departments this way is a simple way to get people talking who normally would not.

Duplicate names are treated as separate people, so if two colleagues are both called Sam, add an initial so you can tell them apart in the results.

Prefer to pick teams on a wheel?

If the reveal is part of the fun, for example at a party or on a stream, the team picker wheel spins names into teams one at a time. This generator is the quicker choice when you just need the lists. To set a speaking or playing order afterwards, the random order generator shuffles any list.