Random Team Generator

This free random team generator splits any group into fair, shuffled teams in one click. Paste your list of names (or just enter a headcount), choose how many teams you need, and you're done.

How to use the random team generator

1. Add your people. Paste names one per line or separated by commas. Copying a column from a spreadsheet or a list from Slack works fine, and numbered or bulleted lists are cleaned up for you. No list handy? Switch to Just a headcount and everyone gets a number instead.
2. Pick how to split. Choose Number of teams when you know how many groups you want (for example, four tables at dinner). Choose People per team when the activity has a fixed size, like pairs for a walking 1:1 or groups of six for an escape room.
3. Set your options. Keep Balance team sizes on so leftovers are spread out and nobody ends up on a team of one. Turn on fun team names if you want each group to have an identity right away.
4. Generate, then reshuffle if needed. Every shuffle is completely random. If two people who always sit together land on the same team, hit Reshuffle until the mix feels right.
5. Copy and share. Copy results gives you a clean, plain-text list you can drop into Slack, an email or the run-of-show doc.

Your last list is saved in your browser, so you can come back and reshuffle the same group later. Nothing is uploaded or stored on our side.

Tips for splitting teams at an offsite

Random teams are one of the simplest ways to get people talking to colleagues they don't usually work with. A few things make them work better in person:

• Size teams for the activity. Three to five people per team keeps everyone involved in discussions and problem-solving. Six to eight works for scavenger hunts, cooking classes and trivia, where there's more to divide up. Go bigger than that and quieter people tend to drift to the edges.
• Reshuffle between sessions. Use a new random split for each block (a morning workshop, an afternoon activity, dinner seating) so people meet more of the company over the course of the trip.
• Mix departments on purpose. If your goal is cross-functional connection, paste names grouped by team and check the result. If one group is all engineers, reshuffle. A random split usually does the job, and a quick glance catches the rare lopsided draw.
• Keep managers spread out. One easy approach: generate teams for everyone except leadership, then drop one leader into each team by hand.
• Announce teams before people sit down. Post the copied list in your offsite Slack channel or put it on a screen so groups form quickly instead of everyone hovering by the coffee.
• Give each team a name. It sounds small, but a name gives a team something to rally around in a competition. Our team name generator has hundreds of ideas if the built-in list isn't enough.

Ways to use random teams

Team building activities

Trivia, scavenger hunts, cook-offs and build challenges all need fair teams fast. Browse our team building hub for activity ideas that work for groups of 10 to 200.

Icebreakers and breakout discussions

Split a large group into small circles of three or four, then hand each circle a prompt from our list of icebreaker questions for work. Small groups get people talking much faster than going around a room of 40.

Dinner seating and transfers

Use People per team with your table size (often 8 or 10) to create a random seating plan, or to split the group across vans or boats for a transfer.

Workshops and strategy sessions

Breakout groups of five or six are a good size for brainstorming. Generate a fresh mix for each session so ideas don't come from the same cluster every time. For more session formats, see our team retreat ideas.

Planning the offsite around the teams

Sorting people into teams is the easy part. Venues, flights, room blocks, meals, activities and the budget take a lot longer. If you're weighing a trip, our guide to corporate retreat costs breaks down what to expect per person, and our team building retreats page shows what a fully planned trip looks like.

When you're ready, request a free offsite proposal. Tell us your headcount, dates and goals, and we'll send back an itemized plan within 48 hours.

FAQs

Is this random team generator really random?

Yes. It uses a Fisher-Yates shuffle with your browser's built-in cryptographic random number generator, so every arrangement of people is equally likely. Each click of Reshuffle produces a completely new split.

What happens if the teams can't be exactly equal?

Extra people are spread one at a time across teams, so team sizes never differ by more than one. For example, 22 people in 4 teams become two teams of 6 and two teams of 5. In People per team mode you can turn balancing off if you'd rather have full teams plus one smaller leftover team.

How many people and teams can I use?

You can split up to 500 people into as many as 500 teams. If you ask for more teams than you have people, the tool makes one team per person and tells you.

Can I split a group without typing everyone's names?

Yes. Choose Just a headcount, enter the number of people, and the tool numbers everyone from 1 to N. Ask people to call out or count off their number, then check which team it landed on.

Are my names saved anywhere?

Only in your own browser, so your last list is there when you return. Nothing is sent to Offsiteio or any server. Click Clear to remove it.