Random Group Generator & Team Maker

A random group generator takes a list of names and splits it into teams of a chosen number or size, with every possible split equally likely. This one also balances teams by skill or by a tag such as gender, keeps chosen people apart or together, and locks anyone to a fixed team. It runs entirely in your browser.

How to Use the Random Team Generator

1. Paste your names. One per line works best; a single line separated by commas also works. Duplicate names get a number so nobody disappears.
2. Choose how to split. Pick a number of teams (say, 4 teams for a class of 28) or a team size (pairs, groups of 3). If the list does not divide evenly, choose whether you want one more team or slightly bigger teams.
3. Add rules only if you need them. Skill numbers, tags, keep-apart and keep-together lines are all optional.
4. Split, then adjust. Press Split into teams. Lock anyone who must stay where they are, then Shuffle again as often as you like. The locked people stay put and everyone else moves.
5. Share the result. Present it full screen, copy it into a chat, download a CSV for a spreadsheet, or print it.

How to Make Fair Teams, Not Just Random Ones

Pure chance is fair to each person, but it can still put the four strongest players on one side. This random team generator lets you add the rules people actually use when they pick teams by hand:

• Skill balance. Give each person a number from 1 to 10. The generator keeps the total for every team as close as it can, so a 5-a-side match or a debate does not start lopsided. People without a number are counted as average.
• Tag spread. Tag people girl and boy, or new and returning, and each tag is shared out evenly across the teams.
• Keep apart. Two friends who never get any work done together, or two siblings at a party, can be put on one line and will never share a team. Keep-apart rules are treated as hard rules: if one cannot be met (for example, five people kept apart but only four teams), the tool says so instead of hiding it.
• Keep together. A student who needs their support partner, or a couple who drove together, stays as one unit.
• Mix it up. With this ticked, a reshuffle avoids pairing people who were on the same team last time, which is handy for weekly rotations.

Behind the scenes the generator builds many random splits and keeps the one that breaks the fewest rules, so the result is still random wherever your rules leave a choice. With no rules at all it does a plain Fisher–Yates shuffle using your browser's cryptographic random number generator (crypto.getRandomValues), then deals the names out.

Random Groups for the Classroom

Teachers use random groups because students accept a split they did not choose when they can see it was not rigged. Showing the shuffle on the projector helps: Present opens a full-screen view that hides the names and reveals them one at a time (press the space bar or the right arrow), which turns grouping into a small event rather than a negotiation. Typical uses are lab partners, reading circles, group projects, peer marking and station rotations.

A few habits keep it fair over a term. Save the class list once; it stays in this browser for next time. Use keep-apart sparingly, because every rule reduces the randomness the class can see. Tick Mix it up from last time so the same pairs do not keep landing together. If you then want to quiz the new teams, the question randomizer shuffles your questions into a fresh order.

Teams for Sports, Games and Work

For pickup football, basketball or a pub quiz, rate players 1 to 5 and switch on skill balance: the summary line shows the lowest and highest team total, so you can see at a glance how even the sides are before anyone kicks off. For board-game nights, split into pairs. At work, use groups of 4 to 6 for workshop breakouts or icebreakers, tag people by department so each group mixes teams, and lock facilitators so there is one per group.

Number of Teams or Team Size?

Choose the number of teams when you have a fixed number of courts, tables or projects. Choose the team size when the activity needs a fixed number of people, such as pairs or groups of three. When the numbers do not divide evenly, the leftover people are spread out so that no two teams differ by more than one person:

For pairs with an odd number of people, pick fewer teams so the extra person joins a pair instead of working alone.

Last updated: October 2026.