Random Draw
(Press + button or Enter to add)
Add at least 2 participants
How it works
Add your participants
Type each name and press Enter. You can also paste a list separated by commas, semicolons, or line breaks. You need at least 2 participants to run a draw.
Run the draw
Click Draw. The plouf-plouf animation walks through the list at random and stops on the winner, using your browser's cryptographic generator — every participant has strictly the same probability of being picked.
Share the result
Copy a link that already contains the full list and the winner. No server round-trip: your friend sees exactly the same draw, no sign-up, no account, from any device.
Why Plouf-Plouf?
"Plouf-plouf" is a traditional French children's rhyme, chanted while pointing fingers to pick who goes first. The name is in the public domain.
A popular website, plouf-plouf.fr, served as an online random-draw tool for years before going offline in 2025. We are not its publishers: that site is independent, operated by a third party unrelated to us.
Plouf-Plouf.app is our own modern take on the idea: a cryptographically fair random name picker, no account, no trackers, bilingual French and English, entirely free. Sharing happens through a self-contained URL — no server stores your participants.
Add 2 or more people, hit Draw, and let the rhyme decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is the random draw really random?
Yes. We use your browser's crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling to avoid any modulo bias. Every participant has strictly the same probability of being picked.
Is my data sent to a server?
No. Everything happens in your browser: participant entry, the draw itself, even the share-link generation. No server receives or stores your data.
How does sharing work?
The link you copy already contains the whole result: the participants list and the winner. Your friend opens the link and sees the exact same draw, no sign-up, no account, on any device.
Does Plouf-Plouf work offline?
Yes, the draw works without an internet connection once the page has loaded. Only sharing requires your recipient to be online to open the link.
Is there a participant limit?
No limit for typical use — a classroom, a team, a group of friends, a secret santa. For very long lists (hundreds of names), sharing by link may become impractical, but the draw itself keeps working.
Can I use Plouf-Plouf in a classroom?
Yes — it's one of the most natural uses of the site. No sign-up, no trackers, no advertising cookies: the tool fits classroom contexts and works well for picking students, teams, or volunteers at random.
Are you the old plouf-plouf.fr?
No. The old plouf-plouf.fr is operated by an independent third party, and we have no legal or editorial connection to it. We share only the inspiration: the traditional French children's rhyme.