Who goes first? The straws decide.
Every game night starts with the same argument. Youngest first, winner of the last game, whoever shouts loudest: none of it ever feels fair. Hold out the straws instead. Everyone pulls one, and whoever draws the short straw goes first. Nobody can argue with a straw.
Draw Straws runs the ritual on one phone: add names, pass the phone around, everyone pulls. The result comes with a cryptographic receipt anyone can check, so the argument actually ends.
It works for more than board games: pickup teams choosing ends, kids deciding who bats first, a meeting picking who presents. Anywhere the order matters and nobody wants to be the one who chose it, the straws take the blame instead of you.
Draw straws now →
How it works
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1
Add the players
Type names or paste the whole list. Two to two hundred.
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2
Pass the phone
Each player taps a straw to pull it. The tension is the fun part.
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3
Short straw goes first
The result is saved with a proof anyone can replay.
When going first is actually an advantage
In a lot of games, the first move is a real edge. In Catan you get first pick of the board; in chess white moves first; in most party and racing games the leader sets the pace. Pretending the order does not matter just moves the argument to the end, when the loser blames the start. Better to make the pick visibly fair before anyone has a reason to care.
The flip side: in games with strong catch-up mechanics, going last can be the better seat. Either way, what keeps the table calm is not which end is better, it is that everyone watched the same random draw decide it.
House rules worth setting first
Decide your rules before the first pull, not after. The common ones: rotate the first player each round so the edge spreads out, redraw only if two people genuinely tie, and give anyone who shows up late the next open slot rather than restarting the draw for everyone.
If your group plays the same game every week, save the roster as a group and let the order regenerate each session. The draw stays honest because the randomness is fresh every time, even when the names are not.
Straws, wheel, or dice
Straws are the slow-reveal option: everyone pulls, and the short one loses. It is the most dramatic, and the best fit for a circle of people sharing a single phone. The wheel is faster and reads well on a screen everyone can see. Dice suit ranking several players at once. All three draw from the same verifiable randomness, so pick the one that fits the room.
Questions
Is it actually fair?
Yes. The pick uses your device's cryptographic random number generator, and every saved draw records the exact random bytes used. Anyone can replay them on the result page and confirm the outcome.
How many players can draw?
From 2 up to 200. With big groups, use the Reveal the rest button once the short straw is out.
Can we spin a wheel instead?
Yes. The same picker has a wheel and dice; straws are just the most dramatic way to lose.
What if it is just two of us?
Two names turn the picker into a coin: one face each, flip it, and the short straw equivalent is whoever loses the toss. Same fairness, less ceremony.
Someone showed up late, do we redraw?
Your call, but the clean rule is to slot latecomers into the next round rather than rerunning a finished draw. A draw that already has a saved receipt is settled; reopening it is how arguments restart.
Does it work without signal?
The pick itself runs entirely in your browser, so a dead zone at the cabin is fine. You only need a connection to save the result or share its verify link.