Random team generator

How the split works

Paste names from a spreadsheet, a group chat or a sign-up sheet; blank lines and extra spaces are ignored, and repeated names get a number so nobody is lost. Choose how many teams you want, or how many people should be on each team, and press Make teams.

Sizes are as even as the numbers allow. Team sizes never differ by more than one. The teams with an extra person come first in the list, so Team 1 is never smaller than Team 3.

Random mode shuffles the whole list and deals it out, so every possible split is equally likely. With keep-apart pairs, any shuffle that puts a pair together is thrown out and a new one is drawn, which keeps every allowed split equally likely too.

Balanced mode is for pickup games and quiz nights where pure chance can stack one side. Rate each person 1 to 5 (be kind, and be honest). The teams come out with close totals, and the totals are printed on each card. Because equal skills are shuffled before placing and swaps are tried in random order, pressing Reshuffle gives a different set of balanced teams, not the same one every time.

Results are large so they can be read off a phone held up to the room, or shown on a TV. Copy as text gives one line per team for a chat; Print gives a clean sheet with just the teams.

How the randomness works

Every random step uses your browser's cryptographic random generator (crypto.getRandomValues), the source used for security keys, rather than the everyday Math.random. Shuffling is done with the Fisher-Yates method, and any random number that would not divide evenly into the choices is discarded and drawn again, so no name is a fraction more likely to land on Team 1. Automated tests split lists tens of thousands of times and check each person lands on each team as often as the sizes say they should, that sizes stay within one, and that balanced totals stay within the bound stated above.

Your names, skills and pairs are saved only in this browser so the list is there next time. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Team and group questions

What happens when the names do not divide evenly?

Some teams get one extra person, and never more than one. With 10 names in 3 teams you get teams of 4, 3 and 3. If you ask for people per team instead, no team goes over that number: 10 names at 4 per team also gives 4, 3 and 3.

How does "balance by skill" work?

Give each person a number from 1 to 5. The generator places the strongest players first, each onto the team with the lowest total so far, breaking ties at random. Then it keeps swapping pairs between teams whenever a swap brings two team totals closer. Each team's total is shown so everyone can check.

How even are balanced teams?

With teams of equal size, the highest and lowest team totals differ by no more than the gap between your strongest and weakest player (at most 4 on the 1 to 5 scale), and usually by 0 or 1. When some teams have an extra person, the gap can reach 5. Keep-apart pairs can make it a little wider.

Can I keep two people on different teams?

Yes. Open "Keep people apart", pick the two names and add the pair. You can add several. If no split can honor every pair, for example three people who must all be apart but only two teams, the page tells you instead of quietly ignoring it.

Is this a random group generator too?

Yes. Teams and groups are the same split. Use it for classroom groups, breakout rooms, golf foursomes or tables at an event; rename the teams with the color or game-night name sets, or copy the result and paste it wherever you need it.