Splitting a group into teams is easy. Splitting a group into teams that everyone accepts is the hard part, and it is a social problem rather than a maths problem. The person who runs the generator is always the person suspected of running it twice.
Run or Rumble settles that by making the draw a thing people watch rather than a result they are told. Paste the whole group in, run a Race, and the finishing order is your draft order — first and second on opposite teams, snaking down the list, or however your group does it.
Three ways groups use it to make teams
- Snake the finishing order. Run one race with everyone in it. Take 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th for one side and 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th for the other. One run, balanced split, visible to all.
- Pick the captains. Run a race with just the candidates and let the top two captain the sides. Then the captains draft in the order they finished.
- Decide who picks first. Already have your teams? Run a Coin Flip or a two-name race for first pick and stop arguing about it.
Why a watched draw beats a generated one
Every random team generator produces a defensible split. Almost none of them produce a split that the losing side believes was the first one you generated. Rerolling is invisible, and everyone knows it is invisible.
Because the result here is fixed into the share link at the moment the link is made, a reroll is not something you can do quietly. You send the link, everyone opens it, and the draw happens in front of all of you at once.
Group sizes it handles
Up to 30 people in one run, which covers a class, a five-a-side league, a department, or a party. Team names work just as well as people's names if you are seeding a bracket rather than splitting individuals.
How it works
Paste the group
Names, one per line, or a column from your spreadsheet.
Run one race
The finishing order is your draft order, top to bottom.
Split the order
Snake it, alternate it, or captain-draft from it.
Questions
How do I turn a finishing order into balanced teams?
Snake it. First pick goes to team A, second and third to team B, fourth and fifth to team A, and so on. This is how fantasy leagues balance a draft and it works the same way here.
Can it split people into more than two teams?
Yes — deal the finishing order out across as many teams as you need, the way you would deal cards. For three teams, positions 1, 6 and 7 land on the same side.
How many people can I split at once?
Up to 30 in one run.
Is it free?
Yes, with no sign-up and no limit on how many times you run it.