Frequently asked questions

Random Duck Race is a free online duck race game and random name picker. Every name you enter becomes a duck, all the ducks race down the same 3D river, and the first one across the finish line wins. It is a fun, fair way to pick a winner, a volunteer, a group order or a giveaway winner — and far more exciting to watch than a spinning wheel.

Yes. Racing is free — up to 1,000 ducks, as many races as you like — and you never need to sign up.

No. It runs in your web browser on phones, tablets, computers and classroom projectors. There is nothing to install, and you never need an account to play — not as the host, and not as a player joining a room.

The Sign in button is optional. Signing in with Google keeps your saved lists and your race history on your account, so they follow you to any phone, tablet or computer you sign in on, and fills in your name when you join a room. Everything else works the same with or without it.

Up to 1,000 ducks in a single race. A room takes up to 50 players on their phones, and the host can set a lower limit.

It depends on the course: at 100 m a race takes about ten seconds, at 300 m most are over in under a minute, at 900 m expect two to three minutes. For a quick answer, pick 100 m; to skip the rest of a race, press S (End race now) and the result comes straight up.

Absolutely. Instead of spinning the same wheel again and again, you get a live 3D race with commentary, lead changes, photo finishes and a podium — plus up to 1,000 entries, finishing times for every name, and players who can join and follow along on their own phones. See the comparison.

Sixteen: English, Tiếng Việt, Español, Français, Deutsch, 日本語, 한국어, Português, Bahasa Indonesia, 简体中文, 繁體中文, ไทย, Filipino, Русский, हिन्दी and Bahasa Melayu. Players in a room can each use their own language.

Yes. Every duck gets exactly the same chance. The lanes are drawn at random at the start, and the river — its currents, rapids and slipstreams — treats every duck the same way. Nothing in the race knows or cares about the names, and nothing steers any duck towards the finish.

You don’t have to take our word for it: the fairness test runs thousands of races with the game’s real race physics and shows you how often each duck wins.

That is what real randomness looks like — just like getting heads a few times in a row when flipping a fair coin. Each race is independent and has no memory of the previous ones. If each name should only win once, remove the winner from the field before you race again.

No. Skins, names, card styles and the order of the list are only for show. Every duck races under exactly the same rules, and the starting lanes are shuffled for every race.

Yes, for free giveaways and contests — it is a great way to pick a winner live, on stream or in front of an audience. A race result has no money value, and you are the organiser of your giveaway: you set its rules, hand out the prize and make sure it follows the law where you run it. Please don’t use it for gambling, betting, paid raffles or lotteries (see our terms).

Yes. When the race is to find who pays for coffee, who goes first or who does the chore, open Settings › The race › First across the line and choose Loses. The first duck home is then announced as the loser, with its own message and no confetti — on the big screen, in the history, on a result page, and on every phone in a room.

Yes, and many leagues do. Give every team a duck, race them live in front of the league, and the finishing order is your draft order: first duck home picks first. A result page keeps the full order as a record nobody can edit. The fantasy draft order page sets the race up for your league in a few seconds.

Type or paste them into the box — one per line, or separated by commas. For big groups, import a CSV or Excel file (drag it onto the box), or use Quick fill for numbered runners. Lists you save can be loaded again in one tap. More in How to play.

Yes. Import a .csv, .xlsx or .xls file (from Google Sheets, use File › Download › CSV or Excel). You choose which column holds the names, whether the first row is a header, and whether to keep or remove duplicate names.

Yes. Pick a theme for the whole field from 100+ 3D duck skins — classic yellow, colourful ducks, characters, lifestyle ducks and mythical creatures — or use My picks to choose exactly which ducks race and give a particular name its own duck. In a room, every player picks their own duck and card style on their phone.

Not in the 3D version — every duck is one of our 3D duck skins, so the race always looks sharp on the water. In a room, the host can upload their own picture (a school or company logo, for example) as the lobby background.

Try our list of 100 cute and funny duck names — you can send them straight to the starting line.

Yes — that’s what rooms are for. The host creates a room on the big screen; players scan the QR code or go to randomduckrace.com/join and enter the 5-character PIN. Each player picks a name, a duck and a card style, then waits in the lobby with everyone else.

Chat with the room, answer messages with emoji, and send reactions that float across the big screen. When the race starts, phones count down with the big screen, then show live standings and the player’s own place — or the race itself with Watch the race. Everyone gets their own result at the finish.

The room size, whether players need to be let in one by one, the chat (on or off, pin or delete messages), locking the room, the lobby theme or your own background picture, a set start time (the race then starts by itself), and removing a player. The host can also add a duck for someone without a phone.

A room stays open while the host’s screen has it open. It ends about 30 seconds after the host leaves (a quick reload doesn’t count), or after 6 hours without any activity — and everything in it is deleted.

• Save a list as a roster and load it again in one tap.
• Share the race setup or the result with a link or QR code, or straight to WhatsApp, Telegram, Teams, Facebook, X or email.
• Download a result image, or the full result — every place and time — as an Excel sheet.
• Create a result page: the winner, the podium and the top 100 places on a page of its own, with an address you can share anywhere. It can’t be edited, so it also works as the record of the draw, and it is kept for 12 months (you can delete it sooner).
• Your last 100 races stay in your race history.

If you are not signed in, they are kept only in this browser, on this device (its local storage): nobody else can see them, but they don’t follow you to another device, and clearing your browser’s data for randomduckrace.com deletes them. Up to 100 saved lists and your last 100 races are kept.

If you sign in, they are also kept on your account and synced: save a list on your laptop and it is there on your phone, and every race you run appears in your history wherever you are signed in.

VAR stands for video assistant referee — in football, referees watch a replay of a close moment before they decide. Random Duck Race does the same at the finish line: the last metres play again in slow motion, with a line across the finish, so everyone can see which duck’s beak crossed first.

With Settings › Replay on, a close finish is replayed by itself before the winner is announced. Either way, the Replay button on the winner’s screen shows the finish again whenever you like — you can pause it and step through it frame by frame.

Yes. The Embed button builds the code for you: choose the size, whether it opens on the setup or straight on the start line, the time of day and more, then paste the code into your site, blog or LMS.

Of course — streamers use it for giveaways and viewer challenges. Use a browser source or share your screen; with a room, viewers can even join with their phones.

Yes, on any modern browser — Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox — on iPhone, Android, iPad, Chromebook, Windows and Mac. It needs JavaScript and WebGL, which every recent browser has.

Open Settings and set Graphics to Low, close other heavy tabs, or race a smaller field. The game also lowers the graphics by itself when a big race needs it — only on devices where the graphics are what’s holding it back.

Browsers only play sound after you have tapped or clicked the page once. Check the sound button on the top bar and the volumes under Settings › Sound.

Yes. You never need an account to play, your lists and settings stay in your own browser, and a room only keeps what it needs to run (names, ducks and chat) until it ends — then it is deleted. Read the full privacy policy.

Yes. Thousands of teachers use it. Students never need an account or an email address, and in a room the host can let each player in, switch the chat off, delete messages and remove players.

We’d love to hear it — email us at support@randomduckrace.com.