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Board game night team generator

Codenames, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit — all need fair teams. Paste your guest list, get balanced teams in seconds.

0 participants

Tip: set ratings with the ★ pickers below, or paste them inline like Alice, 5 on each line.

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The free version does the job. The optional template pack just makes brackets look beautiful for events, classrooms and clubs.

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Use case

When to use this

For weekly game nights with regulars and newcomers. Skill ratings keep the experienced players spread evenly.

How to use it

Step by step

  1. 1

    Paste guest names

  2. 2

    Rate experience

    Veteran = 5, first-timer = 1.

  3. 3

    Generate

    Two balanced teams.

Codenames-friendly default

Two teams, balanced — exactly what Codenames wants. For Pictionary, use 3–4 teams instead.

Why a generic generator works for this audience

There's a temptation to think a sport-specific or classroom-specific tool would be 'better' than a generic generator. In practice the opposite is true: the rules of fair team-splitting are the same whether you're dividing a Year 7 PE class or a Sunday-league football squad. What changes between audiences is the framing — the language used in the guide, the typical group size, the kinds of ratings people record. The underlying maths (Fisher–Yates shuffle, snake-draft balancing) is identical. That's why this site uses one generator across many audience-specific pages: the same engine, with copy and presets tuned to the context.

Save your roster between sessions

If you'll regenerate teams from the same roster repeatedly — every Tuesday training, every Friday game night — paste the names once, click 'Copy as text', and save the result in a note app or a pinned message. Next session, paste it back. There's no account system to maintain and nothing to forget; the names live wherever you keep your other notes. For coaches managing multiple squads, prefix each name with a one-letter squad tag (e.g. 'A Alex', 'B Sam') and use the filter step to keep only the relevant tag before generating.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can I include host couples on opposite teams?

Run the generator and re-roll until they land separately, or enter them as separate single names and just trust the shuffle.

Is it appropriate to use this with under-18s?

Yes. The generator doesn't ask for personal information, doesn't display ads inside the tool itself, and runs entirely client-side. Many teachers use it weekly. See the trust and safety page for the full position on under-16 use.

Can I export the roster to a spreadsheet?

Yes — the 'Export CSV' button gives you a two-column file (team, name) that opens cleanly in Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers. From there you can pivot, filter, or merge with attendance records.

What if someone arrives late?

Add their name to the textarea and regenerate. If you want to preserve the existing teams and just slot the latecomer in, use the 'Add to smallest team' shortcut instead of regenerating — it places them on whichever team currently has the fewest members.

Keep exploring

Related tools & guides

Ready to run your event?

Free forever for basic use. No signup required. The free version really does do the job.

Open team generator Open bracket maker

Want prettier prints? See the optional template pack