Yes or No Wheel

What Is the Yes or No Wheel?

The Yes or No Wheel is a free spinner that answers any yes or no question at random. Type a question if you like, spin, and the wheel lands on Yes or No, or on Maybe if you switch it on. Each answer has exactly the same chance on every spin.

It is made for the moments when you are stuck between two options that are both fine, and for games, classrooms and settling small arguments. The answer is picked by your browser's cryptographic random number generator before the wheel starts to move, and you can test the odds yourself further down this page.

How to Use It?

Using the wheel takes a few seconds. Here is each step, with the part of the page it happens in.

1. Type your question

   Click the box under Your question and type what you are deciding, such as “Should I order pizza tonight?” This step is optional. You can skip it and spin straight away.

   

2. Choose the answers

   Pick Yes or No for a straight 50/50, or Yes, No or Maybe to add a third answer. Each answer is always equally likely.

   

3. Spin the wheel

   Press the Spin button in the middle of the wheel or the one beside it, or press Space on your keyboard. You can also grab the wheel and flick it, which is explained in the next section. The wheel winds up, ticks past every segment and settles on the answer.

   

4. Read the answer

   The answer is stamped on the middle of the wheel and the winning segment stays bright while the others fade. A short jingle plays, a different one for each answer, and confetti pops out of the wheel.

   

5. Notice how it feels

   Below the wheel, the result card repeats your question and the answer, then asks how the answer feels. Tap Relieved, Disappointed or Nothing much to see what your reaction means.

   

6. Spin again or share

   Press Spin again for a fresh answer, or use Share result and Ask a friend at the bottom of the card. Every spin is independent of the last one.

   

Flick to Spin

Instead of pressing Spin, you can spin the wheel by hand. Grab it with your mouse or finger, drag it round and let go. It ticks as each segment passes the pointer, just like a real prize wheel.

The harder you flick, the further and longer it spins, and you can flick it either way. A quick tap without dragging spins it like the button. If you let go slowly, the wheel simply stays where you left it.

A flick only decides how far the wheel turns. The answer was chosen before the wheel moved, so no flick, however strong, can steer it.

Wheel Customization

Three settings change how the wheel looks and sounds. None of them change the odds.

1. Answers. Yes or No gives each answer a 1 in 2 chance. Yes, No or Maybe gives each a 1 in 3 chance.
2. Sets. Use the minus and plus buttons to show each answer from 1 to 12 times. One set splits the wheel in half. Twelve sets make 24 segments, or 36 with Maybe, and a lot more ticking.
3. Sound and vibration. The round speaker button at the top corner of the wheel turns the tick sounds, the answer jingles and phone vibration on or off. Your choice is remembered next time.

Type Your Question

The question box is optional, but a typed question makes the result easier to read and to share. It appears in quotes above the answer on the result card, and on your share image.

Press Enter while you are in the box to spin straight away. The box holds up to 140 characters, which is plenty for a yes or no question.

Your question never leaves your browser. It is not saved, not sent to our server and not sent to our analytics. Close or refresh the page and it is gone.

View Your Results

Under the wheel, a row of counters shows how many times you have spun this session and how many spins landed on each answer.

When the same answer comes up three or more times in a row, the result card shows the real odds of that streak. It is there to show the run is chance, not a stuck wheel.

Your sticker book

Every spin also counts toward your sticker book. Press Stickers at the top of the page to see all 12 stickers and what earns each one, from your first spin to five of the same answer in a row. A sticker pops up the moment you earn it.

Share Results

After a spin, press Share result to turn your answer into an image. It shows your question, the answer sticker and any streak, sized for chats, stories and feeds.

On a phone it opens your share menu, so you can send it straight to WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. On a computer the image downloads, ready to post. The image is drawn in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

Full Screen View

Full screen turns the page into a big, clean wheel for a classroom projector, a TV, a stream or a party. Press the full screen button at the top corner of the wheel, or press F on your keyboard.

In full screen your question becomes the title, the wheel fills the screen, and Spin, the answer switch and sets sit underneath. Space still spins, flicking still works, and the sound, confetti and stickers all carry on.

On iPhone, Safari does not allow web pages to go truly full screen, so the wheel fills the whole browser window instead. It works the same way.

When to Use This Yes or No Wheel?

A random yes or no works best when both answers are acceptable and the real problem is that you cannot make up your mind.

Everyday decisions

• Should I order takeout tonight?
• Should I go to the gym today?
• Should I buy it, or wait?
• Should I watch one more episode?

Classroom and group activities

Teachers use a yes or no spinner for quick class votes, warm-up questions and deciding whether the lesson ends with a game. With the sound on and the page on a projector, the ticking wheel holds a room's attention. Turning on Maybe gives the class a third outcome to cheer for.

Work and team activities

Teams use the wheel to settle small ties that are not worth a debate, such as whether to order lunch in or whether to start the meeting with a quick game. Keep it for low-stakes calls. Anything with real consequences deserves a proper discussion.

When you cannot choose between yes and no

If you have weighed both sides and they still feel equal, a random answer is a fair way out, and the way you react to it often tells you what you wanted. The next section explains why, with the research behind it.

How to Get a More Useful Yes or No Answer

The wheel answers instantly. Getting an answer you can actually use takes a little care before and after the spin.

Ask one clear question

Keep it to two real options. If there are three or more choices, a yes or no wheel is the wrong tool. Then make yes mean change. Ask “Should I apply for the new job?” rather than “Should I stay where I am?” so that yes points at the option you are nervous about. The study further down shows why that framing matters.

Decide whether one spin is final

Before you spin, decide whether you will follow the answer or treat it as a prompt, so the result cannot bully you. Then spin once. If you want a second spin, notice why. Wanting a do-over usually means you already know.

Use yes, no or maybe when needed

Switch the wheel to yes, no or maybe and each answer gets exactly a 1 in 3 chance, about 33.3 percent. The answer comes from the same code as in two-answer mode.

Treat maybe as not yet. It is the wheel saying the question is missing something, such as a fact, a price or a conversation. Find that and ask again. Do not switch modes halfway through a question. Adding maybe cuts the chance of yes from 50 percent to 33.3 percent, so switching after an answer you disliked changes the odds, not the question.

Pay attention to your reaction

The most useful thing a yes or no wheel does happens in the second after it stops. You feel something about the answer, relief or a small drop in your stomach, and that feeling tells you what you wanted all along.

This is more than folk wisdom. In a 2019 study published in PLOS One, psychologists Jaffé, Reutner and Greifeneder found that using a coin flip as a decision aid made people's feelings about the result stronger. People did not necessarily do what the coin said. They decided according to the feeling the coin brought to the surface. That is why this wheel asks how the answer feels after every spin.

• Relieved. You wanted this answer before you spun. Take it.
• Disappointed. You were hoping for the other answer. Take that hope seriously, it is usually the real preference.
• Nothing much. The options are close in value. This is the one case where letting the wheel decide is exactly right.

What happened when 20,000 people let a coin decide

In the largest real test of this idea, economist Steven Levitt invited people who were stuck on a decision to flip a virtual coin on his website. Heads meant make the change. Tails meant stay as you are.

The decisions ranged from small ones, such as whether to break a bad habit, to large ones, such as quitting a job or ending a relationship. Two findings matter for anyone using a yes or no wheel.

First, the coin moved people. Those whose coin came up heads were 25 percent more likely to make a change, and the effect was strongest on small questions. On breaking a bad habit, more than 80 percent did what the coin said. On weightier decisions the coin had less pull, which is how it should be.

Second, change tended to pay off. People who made a change were no worse off two months later and much better off six months later. The study's conclusion was that people facing big choices may be excessively cautious.

Keep the limits in mind. The participants chose to take part and reported their own happiness, so the result describes people who were genuinely torn, not everyone. It is a reason to take the wheel seriously as a prompt, not a reason to let it run your life.

Use the Wheel for Games and Parties

Put the wheel on a big screen or pass a phone around, turn the sound up, and it becomes a party game. Three that work well:

1. Call it. Before each spin, every player calls Yes or No. Anyone who calls it wrong is out, and the last player standing wins. Switch on Maybe to knock players out faster.
2. Dare or pass. When a player is given a dare, the wheel decides whether they have to do it. Yes means do it, No means they are let off.
3. Streak hunt. Players take turns spinning. The first to land the same answer three times in a row on their own turns wins. In yes or no mode, any three spins match about 1 time in 4, so rounds stay short.

For extra drama, raise the sets to 12. More segments mean more ticks as the wheel slows down.

How to Share the Spinner with Friends?

You can ask a friend to spin your question for you. Type your question, then press Ask a friend on the result card after any spin. On a phone this opens your share menu. On a computer it copies a link you can paste into any chat.

When your friend opens the link, your question is already in the box and the result card tells them a friend wants their answer. If they share their result, the image says a friend asked and they spun.

The question travels inside the link after a # sign. Browsers never send that part of a link to a server, and the page removes it from the address bar as soon as it opens.