What the yes or no wheel does
The yes or no wheel gives you a random answer to a question you cannot settle. Click or tap the wheel, or press Space, and it spins for about four seconds before the pointer stops on Yes or No. You can add Maybe, replace the answers with your own, give one answer a bigger share of the wheel, or play a best of 3 or best of 5 match. A tally under the wheel counts how often each answer has come up.
The odds are shown next to the wheel, so you always know what you are spinning: 50% each for plain Yes and No, 33.3% each with Maybe added. The result comes from your browser's cryptographic random number generator, the same source used for passwords and encryption keys.
How to spin
- Pick the answers. The tabs above the wheel switch between Yes / No, Yes / No / Maybe and Custom, where you type 2 to 12 answers of up to 24 characters each.
- Set weights if you want. Under Weights, each answer can count from 1× to 10×. A 3× answer gets three times the space and three times the chance of a 1× answer.
- Choose a match. "Single spin" answers straight away. "Best of 3" and "Best of 5" keep score until one answer wins the majority.
- Spin. Click the wheel, tap it, press the Spin button, or press Space when no button or field has focus and most of the wheel is on screen.
- Read the result. The answer appears in the colored box, and the history adds a line with the time.
Turn on Sound for a tick each time the pointer passes into a new slice and a chime at the end. If your device asks apps to reduce motion, the wheel skips the animation and shows the answer at once.
How the wheel picks an answer
A physical wheel decides by friction: where it stops is the answer. This wheel works the other way round, because that is easier to make fair and to check:
- The answer is chosen first. The tool takes a random number between 0 and 1 and lays the weights end to end along that line. With Yes at 3× and No at 1×, numbers below 0.75 mean Yes and the rest mean No.
- The stopping point is chosen inside that answer. It picks one of the answer's slices and a spot in the middle 76% of it, so the pointer never ends on a dividing line.
- The animation is aimed at that spot. The wheel turns clockwise 5 to 8 full times plus whatever extra angle is needed, starting fast and slowing gently.
The chance of each answer is simply its weight divided by the total:
chance = weight ÷ sum of all weights
Yes 3×, No 1×: Yes = 3 ÷ 4 = 75%, No = 1 ÷ 4 = 25%
The share of the circle follows the same rule: 75% of 360° is 270° for Yes and 90° for No. With two answers the wheel splits each answer into four slices and alternates them, so Yes/No looks like eight slices of 45° rather than two halves. That changes the look, not the odds.
Reading the wheel's angle
The pointer is fixed at 12 o'clock. If the wheel ends up turned 1,000° clockwise from where it started, the pointer sits over the point that began 80° clockwise from the top, because 1,000 = 2 × 360 + 280 and 360 − 280 = 80. On the Yes/No wheel, 80° falls in the second 45° slice, which is No. The tests for this page check that every planned stop lands inside a slice of the chosen answer.
Weights, Maybe and your own answers
- Yes / No / Maybe gives each answer 33.3% and draws six slices of 60°.
- Weighted Yes for when you are leaning one way: set Yes to 2× and the chance becomes 66.7%.
- Custom answers turn the wheel into a picker for anything: "Pizza" at 2× with "Sushi" and "Tacos" at 1× gives Pizza 50% and the others 25% each.
- Repeated labels work, but the history counts them as one answer, so a weight is the clearer way to tilt the odds.
Best of 3 and best of 5
A single spin can feel too abrupt for a real decision. In a match the first answer to reach a majority wins: 2 wins in a best of 3, 3 in a best of 5. Matches also magnify any tilt in the weights, which the odds panel shows next to each answer:
| Weights (Yes : No) | Yes, single spin | Yes wins best of 3 | Yes wins best of 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 : 1 | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| 2 : 1 | 66.7% | 74.1% | 79% |
| 3 : 1 | 75% | 84.4% | 89.6% |
| 4 : 1 | 80% | 89.6% | 94.2% |
For two answers, the best of 3 figure is p² × (1 + 2 × (1 − p)), where p is the single-spin chance. At 75% that is 0.5625 × 1.5 = 0.84375, shown as 84.4%.
With Maybe on the wheel, three spins can end 1–1–1. Nobody has a majority, so the match goes on until one answer reaches 2 wins. The panel says so instead of declaring a winner on a tie.
Streaks are part of fair randomness
People expect a fair wheel to alternate, but each spin is independent. The wheel has no memory of the last result. Some numbers that surprise people, all from a plain 50/50 wheel:
- Three No answers in a row: 12.5%, or one start in eight.
- Ten spins split 7–3 or more lopsided, either way: 34.4%.
- Ten spins split exactly 5–5: under 25%.
If you see a run of one answer, that is the wheel behaving normally. To check the odds over many spins, download the history as a CSV and count it in a spreadsheet.
Ways people use it
- Settling small choices. Order in or cook, walk or drive, watch one more episode.
- Classroom games. A teacher projects the wheel for true-or-false review questions, or to decide whether the class gets a bonus question.
- Game nights and streams. Best of 3 adds a little suspense to a dare or forfeit.
- Breaking a tie in a meeting. When two options are equally good, a spin ends the debate and nobody has to be the one who chose.
For one-off decisions with two outcomes, the wheel does the same job as a coin toss, but it can also handle three or more answers, uneven odds and a recorded tally.
Tips and common mistakes
- Decide what each answer means before you spin. "Yes" to "Should I stay in?" and "Yes" to "Should I go out?" are opposite decisions.
- Use a match for anything that matters. If you are not happy with a single spin, agree on best of 3 before you start rather than spinning until you like the answer.
- Notice your reaction. If you feel disappointed when the wheel says No, that tells you what you wanted. Many people use the wheel exactly for that.
- Do not use it where real randomness is regulated. Raffles, lotteries and prize draws often have legal rules about how winners are picked.
Privacy and limitations
The wheel is a page of code that runs on your own device, so spins never leave it. The answers, weights and sound setting are saved in local storage; the history is kept in this tab's session storage and cleared when you close it. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
The wheel holds up to 12 answers. Labels longer than 14 characters are shortened on the wheel, and very thin slices hide their label, but the full text always appears in the odds table and the result box. Space only spins when no field or button has focus and at least 60% of the wheel is in view, and it is ignored while the wheel is turning. Once you scroll down to read this article, Space scrolls the page as usual.
For a fair draw where every person gets a different name, use the Secret Santa generator. To count real-world events instead of random ones, try the online tally counter.
Frequently asked questions
Is the yes or no wheel really 50/50?
Yes, when both answers have the same weight. Each spin draws a number from your browser's cryptographic random generator and maps it onto the weights, so Yes and No each have exactly a 50% chance, and earlier spins have no effect on the next one. A real wheel can be slightly unbalanced or spun with the same force each time; this one cannot.
Why did I get No three times in a row?
Because streaks happen with fair odds. A fair wheel lands on No three times running 12.5% of the time, one start in eight. Over ten spins, a split of 7–3 or more lopsided in either direction comes up about 34.4% of the time. The wheel has no memory, so a run of No does not make Yes any more likely on the next spin.
Does the wheel decide the answer before it spins?
Yes, and that is what keeps it fair. The answer is picked from the weights the moment you spin, then the animation is aimed so the pointer stops well inside a slice of that answer. Where exactly it stops, and how many turns it makes, is decoration. Animating first and reading the result afterward would not change the odds, but could leave the pointer on a line between two slices.
How do I make Yes more likely than No?
Open the Weights section and set Yes to 3× while No stays at 1×. Yes then gets 270° of the wheel and a 75% chance per spin, and the odds table beside the wheel updates straight away. Weights run from 1× to 10×. In Custom mode each answer has its own weight, so Pizza at 2× next to Sushi and Tacos at 1× gives Pizza half the wheel.
How does best of 3 work when Maybe is on the wheel?
The first answer to win twice takes the match. With only Yes and No that always happens within three spins. With Maybe added, the first three spins can come out Yes, No, Maybe, a 1–1–1 tie, so the match continues until one answer reaches two wins. Best of 5 works the same way with three wins. The panel shows the score and each answer's chance of winning the match.
Can I turn off the spinning animation or the sound?
The tick sound is off until you switch it on, and it only plays after you press a button, as browsers require. If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel skips the animation and shows the answer instantly. The answer is chosen the same way either way, so a reduced-motion spin is just as random as an animated one.
Are my spins and answers saved?
Your mode, custom answers, weights and sound setting are kept in this browser's local storage so they are still there next time. The spin history lives in session storage, so it disappears when you close the tab, and you can download it as a CSV first. Nothing is sent to a server, and no account is involved.