How to Split People into Random Teams
Random teams can help start a game or group activity quickly. Orbit balances the number of people, not their experience or compatibility.
Check who belongs in the activity
Write the participant list before choosing team settings. Include each person once, and distinguish people who share a name. Team Generator treats identical names on different rows as different participants. It cannot infer that a duplicate was accidental. For a group of ten people, make sure you have ten actual rows before generating.
Use the bulk names field for one name per line. The tool accepts up to 200 participants, with a readable label for each. Optional images can help identify people on a group display. They use Orbit's existing upload compression and raster conversion; a photo is not necessary for random selection and does not change the result.
Choose count or maximum size
Number of teams means exactly that many groups. Ten people and three teams gives group sizes of four, three and three. The tool does not create empty teams, so the requested team count cannot exceed the participant count. If an activity requires pairs, decide how to handle an odd person before generating.
Maximum team size asks Orbit to calculate enough groups so none exceeds that number. Ten people with a maximum size of four produces three groups, again four, three and three. It does not make two groups of four and leave a separate pair unless that happens to be the balanced distribution. Balanced groups differ in headcount by at most one.
This distinction matters for an activity with fixed equipment. If you have three tables, choose three teams. If each table can seat at most four people, use maximum size four and check how many tables the result requires. Orbit supplies the grouping arithmetic; you still need to confirm that the real setup can support it.
Generate and inspect the result
Before generating, you can drag participant rows or use their up and down buttons. Ordering helps you review the list, but it does not lock participants into particular teams. Orbit securely shuffles the list with Web Crypto, then distributes the shuffled people across groups in turn. Every input row appears exactly once in a generation.
Press Generate teams to create the groups. Review headcounts and labels. Rename Team 1 or Team 2 to a name your activity uses, then copy a group or export all groups as TXT, CSV or JSON. CSV export escapes fields and protects spreadsheet-formula prefixes. It remains your responsibility to handle the exported names appropriately.
A new generation is a new shuffle. Decide in advance whether you will accept the first result or allow a specific kind of adjustment, such as separating two facilitators. Repeatedly regenerating until you see preferred groups changes the practical process, even though each individual shuffle is random. Explain adjustments to the group rather than presenting them as unavoidable.
Know what random grouping cannot do
The tool has no skill, experience, age or availability metadata. It cannot promise equally strong teams, avoid personal conflicts or meet accessibility needs. For those requirements, use a separate agreed grouping rule or make transparent manual adjustments after generation. Do not describe headcount balance as skill balance.
The last five generations are stored locally, including participant labels and compact images used in those results. Clear history when you no longer need it, and export a backup if you need to keep a result. The tool does not automatically publish participant lists. Team setup sharing is not part of this version; exports give you an explicit way to distribute groups.
After the service worker activates online, you can generate teams offline and use presentation mode. Clipboard or native fullscreen permission may vary by browser; displayed results remain readable and export controls remain available. To pick a captain from a completed group, copy that group's names into Name Picker and apply your chosen turn rule.