Every name gets a bug. The first one over the line is your pick.
SELECTED NAME
A RACE. A RANDOM PICK.
Bug Garden Name Race turns your list into a race. Each name gets its own bug: a ladybug, an ant, a bee, a stag beetle. They line up, the countdown runs, and the first bug over the line is your random pick. It is a bug race version of a marble race name picker, playable in the browser with no sign-up.
Choose a race when you want the room to watch the pick happen. Choose Quick Pick on the main name picker when you need an answer in one second.
Choose who answers next or who presents first, with the whole class watching the lanes. Turn on No Repeats so every student gets a turn. See the random student picker for class routines.
Draw a winner in front of the audience instead of behind a spreadsheet. Entrants see their bug run and the photo finish. The giveaway winner picker explains the draw rules.
Pick who opens the meeting, who takes the first question or who gets the last slice. The meeting icebreaker picker has more team examples.
If you have used a marble race name picker or a horse race name picker, the idea is the same: one runner per name, a race everyone can watch, and the winner is the random pick. Bug Garden swaps the marbles for pixel bugs, keeps the race under fifteen seconds, and shows the margin and the next two places at the finish, so a random name race works as a name race generator for a class, a raffle or a team meeting without any setup beyond typing the names.
Unlike a physics-based marble race, the result here is drawn first and the animation follows it, which is what makes the draw provably uniform. The section below explains that in detail.
The winner is drawn the moment you press Bug Race, with the same cryptographically random selection every Bug Garden mode uses. The race then plays that result out: speeds, lead changes and mishaps are animation, not chance. No lane, bug or mishap changes who wins, so every name has the same probability on every race. With No Repeats on, the field only holds the names still waiting for a turn. Read how Bug Garden selects names for the details.
A race takes about twelve seconds and builds suspense for a single pick. Bug Hunt is faster for many picks in a row and keeps a leaderboard. A spinning wheel is the familiar option; see how Bug Garden compares as a wheel of names alternative.
Yes. The winner is drawn with a uniform random selection before the animation starts. The race only shows the result; a bug that trails and then surges was always going to win that race.
There is no limit. Up to twelve names get their own lanes. Longer lists race as one swarm on a shared track, with the leading names labelled and the current order shown above the track.
By default each race is independent, so yes. Turn on No Repeats in Settings and everyone wins once before anyone can win again. The rotation is remembered in this browser.
Yes. The track fits the screen, with lanes stacked on phones and wider lanes on large screens. Nothing is uploaded; the race runs in your browser.
If your device asks for reduced motion, the race skips the animation and shows the result straight away. The pick is identical.