Duck Race Generator

How to use it

1. Add the racersType up to 40 names, one per line. Add *2 after a name to give it two chances to win, as if it had two tickets.
2. Choose the racePick a race time of 6, 10 or 20 seconds. Tick Verifiable race if others need to be able to check the result later.
3. Start the racePress Start the race. When every duck has finished, the winner and the full order appear below the track, ready to copy.

What the duck race does

• Runs a duck race game for any list of up to 40 names, each on its own duck.
• Works as a duck race random generator: the finishing order is drawn with cryptographic random numbers before the ducks set off, and the race only shows it.
• Acts as a duck race name picker for one winner or a whole order: the first duck home wins, and every place is listed at the end.
• Takes weights such as Sam *2 for extra chances, shown before the start.
• Offers a verifiable race that ties the order to a public drand round and gives a proof link anyone can open.

How the race is decided

The finishing order is drawn first, with the same cryptographic random generator that every TwirlPick picker uses. The first place is drawn from all racers, the second from those left, and so on, each with chances in proportion to its tickets. Only then does the animation start, and it is built to arrive at that order.

Along the way each duck gets its own speed wobble, so ducks overtake each other and the leader can change on the way. The wobble comes from the random generator too, but it only shapes the picture: the order at the line was fixed before the first frame was drawn. Nothing you see can change who wins.

A verifiable race

With Verifiable race ticked, the list of racers is locked and fingerprinted, and the order comes from a public random value published by the drand beacon a few seconds later. Nobody can know that value in advance, including the person running the race.

After the race you get a proof link. Anyone who opens it on the verify a draw page sees the racers, the beacon round and the finishing order recomputed in their own browser. If a name was added, removed or changed after the race, the fingerprint no longer matches and the check fails.

A proof cannot show whether someone ran several races and kept the one they liked, so announce the race and share the beacon round before you start, as with any public draw.

Reading the track

Each racer gets one lane, with the name on the left and the finish line on the right. Ducks with longer names show a shortened label in the lane, but the results list always uses the full name. When a duck crosses the line, its place appears at the end of its lane, so you can follow second and third place as well as the winner.

The race time sets roughly how long the winner takes to reach the line, and the last duck arrives a little after that. Six seconds suits a quick decision, twenty seconds builds suspense for a prize. If your device asks for reduced motion, the race skips the animation and goes straight to the result.

The track resizes with the window, and on a phone the lanes stack down the screen. With many racers the lanes get narrow, so use Present mode on a large screen when more than twenty ducks are racing.

Racing the same list again

Press Start the race again and a new finishing order is drawn from scratch. Earlier races do not influence it: a duck that won the last race has the same chance as everyone else in the next one, unless you changed its weight.

For a decision that matters, agree beforehand that the first race counts. Running races until a favorite wins defeats the point of a random pick. With the verifiable race switched on, every race has its own beacon round and time, so announcing the round before the start makes clear which race counts.

When a duck race is the right picker

A race shows a whole order, not only a winner. It suits deciding who presents first, second and third, who picks a gift first, or which team takes the field first, with something to watch while the answer arrives. For a plain list in order without the show, the list randomizer is faster.

For one winner on screen, a wheel or the random name picker is quicker, and its spin is shorter. The race is at its best with five to twenty names, where every duck is easy to follow. Up to 40 fit, with narrower lanes.

Present mode hides the menus and the entry box and leaves the track and the results, which suits a classroom screen, a stream or a party television.

Ideas for duck races

Turn order: put the players of a board game on the track and play in finishing order. Presentations: race the speakers, and the first duck goes first. Chores: race the household, and the last duck takes the bins out this week, which makes losing a little more dramatic.

Prize draws: race the entrants and give prizes in finishing order, with the verifiable race switched on if people outside the room need to trust the result. Sports days and parties: race team names before a match to decide who picks first.

Weights and fairness

Every racer without a weight has the same chance to win. A racer written as Ana *3 has three times the chance of a plain entry, as if it held three tickets in a raffle. After the winner is drawn, the remaining places are drawn from the remaining racers in the same way, so weights also tend to lift a racer up the order.

Names are not uploaded. The list is kept in this browser for next time. In a verifiable race, the browser asks the beacon for one round number and sends no names; the names travel only inside the proof link you choose to share.