How to use
- Set the number of players with − and +, or type a number. You can have 2 to 30 players, and the page starts with 4.
- Type a name for each player, up to 6 characters. If you leave a name blank, that player is shown as “Player 1”, “Player 2” and so on.
- Fill in the outcomes. There is one outcome per player, up to 8 characters each. The page starts with one “Chosen” and the rest “Pass”. Three buttons can fill them in for you:
- Number chosen: pick how many outcomes say “Chosen”. The rest say “Pass”.
- Numbered: fills in 1, 2, 3 and so on, for turn order or seating.
- Clear all: empties every outcome so you can type your own, such as chores or team names.
- You can still edit any outcome after filling them in. Press Start to draw the ladder.
- Tap a name at the top to follow that player’s path down to an outcome. Press Show all to draw every path and list who got what in the table below.
- Press Shuffle again for a new ladder with the same players and outcomes. The results are picked again too.
- Press Share to get a link to the same ladder. People who open it see the ladder with the paths hidden, and tap their own name or Show all to see the results.
Use it to decide who buys coffee, who presents first, where people sit or how to split into teams. It also works at parties and team dinners.
How it works
- Results are set before the ladder is drawn. When you press Start or Shuffle again, the tool first pairs players with outcomes at random, and only then draws the ladder.
- Every player has the same chance of getting each outcome. With 4 players, each player gets a given outcome with a probability of 1 in 4.
- Following the ladder by hand leads to the same result. After drawing the ladder, the tool places each player’s outcome where that player’s path ends. That is why the outcomes along the bottom are not in the order you typed them, and why they move with every new ladder.
- Why pair first? If rungs are only drawn at random, the results can be uneven. With few rungs, a player tends to end up near the column where they started. Pairing first keeps the shape of the ladder from tilting the results.
- The order you open paths does not matter. On the same ladder, the table is the same whether you tap the names in any order or press Show all first. Only Shuffle again picks new results.
- How the site tests this: each time the public version of the site is built, the tool picks results 100,000 times for 4 players and 100,000 times for 30 players. The build goes ahead only if every player and outcome pair stays within 25% ± 1 percentage point for 4 players and 3.33% ± 0.5 percentage points for 30 players.
Example
Four people, Ana, Ben, Chloe and Dev, want to decide who buys coffee.
- Set the number of players to 4 and type the four names.
- Keep the outcomes as they start: one “Chosen” and three “Pass”. Each of the four has a 1 in 4 chance, or 25%, of getting “Chosen”.
- Press Start, and let each person tap their own name. If Chloe’s path ends at “Chosen”, Chloe buys the coffee.
- To send the ladder to a group chat, press Share. Everyone who opens the link sees the same ladder and the same results.
To split six people into two teams, type “Team A” in three outcomes and “Team B” in the other three. Each person has a 3 in 6 chance, or 50%, of being on Team A.
When you copy the table, the first line is “Ladder game results”, followed by one line per player such as “Chloe: Chosen”.
Edge cases
- Same name twice: the ladder is not drawn, and “Two players have the same name. Use different names.” appears under the later box. Spaces at the start and end are ignored, and capital and lowercase letters count as different, so “Ana” and “ana” are two names.
- Empty outcome: the ladder is not drawn, and “Fill in every outcome” appears under the empty box. A box with only spaces counts as empty.
- Same outcome in several boxes: allowed. That is how you split people into teams.
- Too long: names over 6 characters and outcomes over 8 characters are cut as you type, with a note under the box.
- Combined limit: names and outcomes together also have a character limit, which keeps the share link short. Plain English letters, digits and spaces count as one each, and accented letters, other scripts and emoji count as more. An outcome typed in several boxes counts only once. With plain English names and outcomes filled in by the buttons, you will not reach the limit. When you get close, a note under the boxes shows how many characters are left. If adding a player or filling in outcomes with a button would go over the limit, nothing changes and a note explains why.
- Number of players: from 2 to 30. Other numbers show “Enter 2 to 30 players”, and decimals show “Enter a whole number”.
- Changing entries after drawing: the ladder is cleared and “The entries changed. Press Start again.” appears.
- Wide ladders: with many players the ladder can be wider than the screen. Swipe sideways inside the ladder box to see every player.
- Opening a share link: the names saved on your device are not read or replaced, so someone else’s list does not overwrite yours.
- Reduced motion: if your device is set to reduce motion, paths appear at once without moving.
Frequently asked questions
Is a ladder game the same as Ghost Leg or Amidakuji?
Yes. They are names for the same way of drawing lots with a ladder. Ghost Leg comes from its Chinese name, Amidakuji is its Japanese name, and in Korea it is called sadaritagi, or ladder climbing.
Does every player have the same chance?
Yes. On this page every player has the same chance of getting each outcome. A ladder drawn by hand can lean toward outcomes near each starting column when it has few rungs, so this tool decides who gets what first and draws the ladder after that. Which box you type an outcome in does not change anyone’s chance.
What is in the share link?
The link includes player names, outcomes and the value that redraws the same ladder. The people you send it to, and others in that chat, can see them. The link does not show the names as plain words, but anyone can turn it back into the original text. It does not include which results were opened.
Can the person sharing pick the result?
There is no setting that sends a chosen outcome to a chosen player. But each press of Shuffle again makes a new ladder, so whoever shares the link could try several ladders and send the one they like. If everyone needs to trust the result, play once on a screen everyone can see.
Are the names I enter stored or sent anywhere?
The names and outcomes stay in your browser. They are not sent to a server, to visit statistics or with ad requests. When you press Start, they are saved in this browser so the form is filled in next time. The ladder and its results are not saved, so you get a new ladder next time. Press Clear saved values to remove them.