Practical guide
How to pick raffle winners without repeats
The prizes are on the table, the names are in the bowl, and someone is ready to do a drumroll. Here’s how to keep the fun going when you need more than one winner.
Skip to the experimentPicture a neighborhood picnic. There’s a board game, a little potted plant and a box of chocolates to give away. You’ve volunteered to pull the names.
First up: Alex. Cheers! You set that slip aside and reach for the next one.
Alex. Again.
You didn’t put the winning slip back. So what happened? Alex had two slips in the bowl. Removing one stopped that slip from winning twice, but it didn’t stop Alex.
That’s the small detail to settle before the picnic: are you giving each person one chance, or letting people enter more than once?
to the same person.
For our practice draw, everyone gets one entry. Pick a few names and watch each winner leave the bowl.
And the next name is…
Here are twelve made-up guests, with one entry each. Draw a name, then another. Nobody can be picked twice.
Still in the drawing
12 remainingThe names are ready. You supply the drumroll.
See the picks 0 / 12
- No picks yet.
Just a practice run: these names are made up, and reloading starts the drawing over.
A little planning saves an awkward pause.
If the plan is one chance and at most one prize per person, put each person on the list once. Then keep each winner out of the next draw. Simple.
If people can hold several tickets, keep that rule clear. Should winning one prize remove all of that person’s tickets? If so, you’ll need to remove those other tickets too. A tool that only avoids repeating the exact same entry can’t make that decision for you.
It’s also worth checking the names. Two entries both saying “Sam” might be an accidental duplicate—or two different neighbors. “Sam R.” and “Sam T.” will save some puzzled looks later.
Make the choices before you know the names.
Pick your prize order, who can enter and how many winners you need. Decide what you’ll do if a winner can’t be reached. Then you can enjoy the draw without inventing a new rule halfway through.
The same goes for a result that feels surprising. Your next-door neighbor might win. So might the last name you added. If the list is right and the draw followed your rules, surprise is part of the fun—not a reason to have another go.
Ready for the real list?
Open the raffle picker, paste one entry per line, and turn on Pick each entry once in Options. Tap the colored area for each winner. As names are picked, they leave the available list.
Stop when you’ve picked the winners you planned. You can copy the picks from Drawing history and keep them with the list you used. That way, “Who got the chocolates?” has an easy answer.
And once everyone knows what to expect, you can concentrate on the important bit: a properly over-the-top drumroll.
A couple of useful details about the picker
Matching names on separate lines count as separate entries. Names are handled in your browser, and remembering your list is optional. Leave that option off on a shared device. For a continuous range of numbered tickets, you can use unique numbers instead.
Your names. Your drumroll.
Bring the list and choose “Pick each entry once” in Options.
Open the raffle picker