Draw Straws Online: Tap a Straw, See Who Gets the Short One: how it works
To draw straws is to let luck settle who gets a job nobody wants: one straw is cut short, all are held so they look the same, and whoever pulls the short one is it. Here you can draw straws online. Type the names or just a number of players, pass the phone, and each person taps a straw.
Set up the draw
The page opens with six sample players, so you can try a round before typing anything. For a real draw, enter one name per line, up to 80, or give only a number and the list fills with Player 1, Player 2 and so on. One straw is short unless you raise the count: two short straws suit a job for a pair, such as washing and drying. Names are kept in this browser and sent nowhere.
Pass the phone and tap
You see one straw for each player, all the same height. The short one was placed at random before the first tap and it does not move, exactly as in a closed fist. The screen names whose turn it is. That person taps any straw still standing, it slides up, and everyone sees long or short. Stop as soon as the short straw shows, or let the rest draw so nobody wonders where it was.
Why the order you draw in does not matter
People argue about going first, but the numbers say it makes no difference. With five straws the first person has a 1 in 5 chance of the short one. The second person only gets a real draw if the first missed, which happens 4 times in 5, and then picks the short straw from the four left 1 time in 4. Multiply those and you get 1 in 5 again. Going last changes when you find out, not your odds.
Tips
- Say out loud what the short straw means before anyone taps: which job, for how long, and whether swaps are allowed.
- With real straws the holder takes whichever straw is left, because the holder knows where the short one sits. On a screen nobody knows, so the organizer can draw in any seat.
- For a chore that comes round every week, start a new round without the last short straw, so nobody is picked twice before everyone has had a turn.
- With two short straws among six players each person's chance is 2 in 6, or 1 in 3. Say the number before the draw, not after. It is a quick way to pick a clean-up crew.
- Need a full running order, not one unlucky person? Real straws can be cut to all different lengths. Here, the pairing tool or a number draw does that job.
Questions and answers
What does it mean to draw straws?
It is a way of choosing one person by luck, usually for a task nobody volunteers for. One straw in a bunch is shorter, the bunch is held so the ends look level, and each person pulls one. The saying "to draw the short straw" comes from it and means being the unlucky one picked. The wider name is drawing lots.
Is it better to draw first or last?
Neither. Every seat has the same chance, as the sum above shows. The one real weakness of the paper version is the straws themselves: a short straw that is reused can get bent or marked, and a sharp-eyed player can then avoid it. On a screen there is nothing to spot and nothing to mark.
Can we draw straws if we are not in the same room?
Yes, with one person running it. Share your screen on a call, number the straws from the left, and let each person call out the one they want while you tap it. Afterwards the share link opens on the finished result, so the group chat has a record of who drew what. A link never holds an unplayed draw, because whoever opened it could peek.
Has drawing straws ever decided anything serious?
In November 2015 a seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives was settled by drawing straws after both candidates finished on 4,589 votes, and in May 2017 a tied council ward in Northumberland, England, went the same way. Ancient Athens filled its council of 500, its juries and most of its public offices by lot, using an allotment machine called a kleroterion. Both facts were checked in Wikipedia's articles on drawing straws and sortition on 18 September 2026.
Can there be more than one short straw?
Yes. Raise the number of short straws to anything below the number of players, and the draw carries on until every short straw has been found. Each person's chance is the short straws divided by the players, so three short straws among twelve people gives everyone 3 in 12, or 1 in 4.