How to play ladder lottery
- Add the names. Type or paste up to 16 names, one per line. Each name gets its own line on the ladder, with its tag at the top and a covered slot waiting at the bottom.
- Start the draw. Press Trace the ladder, tap the ladder or press the Space bar.
- Watch the ladder build. Rungs appear between neighbouring lines at random heights. Two rungs never meet a line at the same height, so every path has only one way to go.
- Follow the paths. One or two other names are traced first and find empty slots. Then the winner's marker sets off, crosses every rung it meets and lands on the ⭐.
Why a ladder lottery?
Amidakuji has been used in Japan for generations to share out jobs, prizes and turns, because everyone can see that it is fair. Each rung swaps the two lines it joins, so the paths can twist across the whole ladder but can never land on the same slot. Every name ends somewhere different, and nobody can claim a slot that belongs to someone else. That makes it lovely to watch with a group: everyone follows their own line, and the suspense builds as the marker turns at each rung.
Here the winner is chosen by your browser's secure random generator before the ladder appears. The rungs are then placed at random, every path is followed to its end, and the ⭐ goes under the slot the winner's path reaches. The ladder is the show; the fair choice was already made.
The five levels
Press the 🗺️ Level button on the game to move through them, or choose one under Level in Settings. The draw works the same way on every level; only the picture changes.
- Classic ladder: a glossy bead slides down wooden poles and across pegged rungs to a row of wooden boxes.
- Water pipes: each name's water flows through metal pipes, past the valves on every cross pipe, and fills a tank at the bottom.
- Railway: a little train runs down the tracks, switches at the points onto each crossover and pulls into a station.
- Electric circuit: a spark races along copper traces on a green circuit board and lights up a chip.
- Mountain trails: a hiker walks the footpaths, crosses the rope bridges between them and arrives at a tent in camp.
Ideas for the ladder lottery
- Who goes first: settle the first turn of a board game, the first speaker or the first pick of the sweets.
- Prize places: set Winners to 3 and the ladder hands out the ⭐, 2nd and 3rd in turn.
- A full order: tick Rank everyone to get the order for presentations, solos or the queue for the slide, with every slot showing its place.
- Classroom turns: No repeats until everyone is picked is on from the start, so every pupil gets a turn before anyone comes up twice.
- Teams and partners: to split a group into pairs rather than pick one name, use the random pair generator.
Like every game here, the ladder lottery uses the same list as the name picker and the hat, so you can switch games without typing the names again. Short of names? Start from one of the ready-made lists.
Questions people ask
What is amidakuji?
Amidakuji is a traditional Japanese way of drawing lots, also known as a ladder lottery or ghost leg. Everyone has a vertical line, short rungs join neighbouring lines at random heights, and you follow your line down, crossing over every rung you meet. Where you come out at the bottom is your result. On paper the bottom is hidden until everyone has chosen a line; here the slots stay covered until a path reaches them.
Why is a ladder lottery fair?
Because of how a ladder works. Each rung simply swaps the two lines it joins, so two paths can never end in the same place: every name finishes at a different slot, nobody shares a slot and nobody is left without one. On this page there is a second safeguard. Your browser's secure random generator chooses the winner first; then the ladder is built at random, every path is followed to its end, and the ⭐ is placed under the slot the winner's path reaches. The ladder only acts out a result that was chosen fairly beforehand. How it works explains the random generator.
What happens when I press Trace the ladder?
The rungs appear first, built down the ladder in a moment. Then, for suspense, one or two other names are followed and land on empty slots. Finally the winner's path is traced with a glowing marker that crosses every rung on its way down, and lands on the ⭐. The other slots then open as well, so you can see they were empty. Choose Quick, Normal or Dramatic under Speed in Settings.
What are the five levels?
The same draw in five settings: a bead sliding down a classic wooden ladder, coloured water running through water pipes with valves into tanks, a little train on a railway switching at the points on its way to a station, a spark racing along an electric circuit to light up a chip, and a hiker walking mountain trails over rope bridges to a camp. Press the 🗺️ Level button on the game to move to the next level, or pick one under Level in Settings. The 🎨 button changes the colours.
Can I draw more than one winner?
Yes. Set Winners in Settings and the paths are traced one after another in winning order: the first winner lands on the ⭐, the next on 2nd, then 3rd and so on. Tick Rank everyone and every path is traced together, with every slot labelled with its place. For a prize draw with back-up winners, the raffle picker is built for it.
How many names can the ladder hold?
Up to 16, one line each. On a narrow phone the names turn on their side and read upwards, so they stay readable; fullscreen helps too. For bigger groups the picker switches to Quick pick, or use the names in a hat, which takes any number of names.