Fun · Online ladder game
Ladder Game
Enter the players and the outcomes and the ladder is drawn instantly. A just-for-fun online ladder game (Amidakuji) for picking who gets what.
Choose from 2 to 10 players.
Each press draws new random rungs. Even the person who set it up cannot know the results in advance.
Tap each name to reveal the result
Everything is revealed! Press the button below to play again.
How to use
Just three steps
Enter the number of players and their names
Write the outcomes freely: winner, loser, order and more
Press start, then tap each name one by one to see your outcome
How this ladder game works
This online ladder game, known in Japan as Amidakuji and sometimes called “ghost leg,” matches players to outcomes with a drawing that looks like a ladder. Choose how many players there are (2 to 10), type each player’s name and write an outcome for each box at the bottom. The outcomes can be anything: prizes, chores, the order in which people present, who pays for coffee. Press Start the ladder and the tool draws vertical lines with random horizontal rungs between them. Tap a name and an animated path travels down the ladder, turning at every rung it meets, until it lands on an outcome. You can reveal players one at a time for suspense or press Reveal all to finish at once, then play again with fresh rungs.
Why every player gets a different outcome
The ladder has one vertical line per player. Each horizontal rung connects two neighboring lines, and when a path meets a rung it crosses to the neighboring line. Think of every rung as two players swapping places. Starting with players in a row and applying a series of swaps always leaves everyone in a different position, so no two paths can ever end in the same box. That is why four players always receive four different outcomes, even if you type the same text in two boxes. The tool does not allow two rungs in the same row to touch, which keeps each row a clean set of swaps. A new ladder is drawn every time you press Start, so the previous result cannot be reused, and even the person who typed in the names has no way to know the result without tracing the paths.
Be aware: it is a game, not a perfect lottery
A random ladder is great fun, but its odds are not perfectly equal. Paths tend to stay near where they started, because they only move one column at a time at a rung. In a four-player ladder with this tool’s settings, the player on the far left lands in the first box about 31% of the time and in the last box only about 19% of the time, instead of 25% each. With ten players the effect is bigger: the far-left player almost never reaches the far-right box. So for friendly choices, such as who goes first, the ladder is perfect. For anything where fairness really matters, such as a prize with real value, use a true shuffle, for example the Random Team Generator, or place the names in a random order before you start so that nobody can pick a favorable column.
Ideas for outcomes
- Speaking order. Write “1st,” “2nd,” “3rd” and so on to pick who presents first.
- Who pays. Put one “Buy coffee” among several “Free” boxes.
- Chores. Share out dishes, trash and cleanup duty fairly among housemates.
- Teams. Fill the boxes with “Team A” and “Team B” to split a group.
- Gifts and prizes. Hide a prize among blanks for a party game or a gift exchange.
Tips for a smooth game
- Keep names short. Short names fit better across the top of the ladder, especially on a phone.
- Reuse a group. Press “Load last players” to bring back the most recent names you used in this browser.
- Use the same outcome twice. The number of boxes always equals the number of players, but you can repeat an outcome, for example three “Free” boxes and one “Pay.”
- Let everyone watch. Reveal one name at a time on a shared screen to build suspense.
- Play again freely. Each round is a new ladder, so you can run best-of-three or settle ties.
A short history
Amidakuji is believed to date back to Japan’s Edo period, and its name comes from the radiating lines of an Amida Buddha halo, which the original diagrams resembled. Similar games are popular in China and Korea, where the ladder game is a common way to decide who buys lunch. The same idea appears in mathematics and computer science as a way to build permutations from adjacent swaps.
Making the draw feel fair
Because the ladder is a game of chance, how you set it up matters as much as the drawing itself. Enter the names in an order that nobody chose on purpose, for example alphabetical order or the order people arrived. Fill in the outcome boxes before the players see the ladder, and avoid putting the best prize in a spot that people believe is lucky. If someone suspects a bias, simply start a new ladder and repeat. Because the rungs are random each time, no player can build a long-term advantage, and a series of rounds evens out most quirks of a single draw.
Playing together in person or online
On a shared screen, let each player tap their own name for a reveal, which is part of the fun. On a video call, one person can share the screen and click names as players call them out. For a quick decision with two people, the ladder gives each player an exact 50% chance, because with two lines the only question is whether the path switches an odd or even number of times. For larger groups, treat the outcome as entertainment, and use the Random Team Generator when you need a mathematically even split.
Frequently asked questions
What is a ladder game?
A ladder game, or Amidakuji, is a drawing of vertical lines connected by random horizontal rungs. Each player starts at the top of a line, follows it down, and turns whenever they reach a rung. The box they end up in is their outcome.
Can two players end up with the same outcome?
No. Each rung swaps two neighboring paths, so the paths never merge. With four players you always get four different boxes, and you can still repeat the same text across boxes if you want duplicate outcomes.
Is the ladder game completely fair?
It is fair in the sense that nobody is singled out, and the result is hidden until paths are traced, but the odds are not exactly equal for each box. Paths tend to stay near their starting column, especially with many players. For high-stakes picks use a true shuffle or shuffle the names first.
How many players can I add?
From 2 to 10. Use the minus and plus buttons to change the number, and type a name and an outcome for each. Blank names and outcomes are filled in automatically as Player 1, Result 1 and so on.
Can I get the same ladder again?
No. Every press of the start button creates a new random ladder, so the results change from round to round.
What does Load last players do?
It refills the player names with the last group you used in this browser, which saves typing when the same people play often.
Is my data saved or shared?
The last set of player names is stored only in your own browser so you can reuse it. Nothing is sent to a server.