Random Groups

Secret Santa generator

Names 6 names

Press Draw to see who gives to whom

Seed (optional) Type anything here and the same seed always gives the same result — useful when somebody wants the draw checked.

Local · Sattolo cycle — no self-draws, no swaps

Everyone gives a present to exactly one person and receives one from exactly one person, and nobody draws their own name. The draw forms a single chain — Ana gives to Ben, Ben gives to Chiara, and so on back round to Ana.

How to draw Secret Santa names

1 Paste everyone taking part, one name per line.

2 Draw. The list shows each giver and who they buy for.

3 Tell each person their own name privately, or copy the list and paste each line into a separate message.

The single chain is deliberate and is what separates this from a plain shuffle. A naive draw can produce mutual pairs — Ana and Ben buy for each other — which is technically valid but ruins the game, because each of them immediately knows who has them. Sattolo’s algorithm produces a single cycle instead, so no pair is mutual and knowing your own recipient tells you nothing about who has you. The honest limitation is the obvious one: whoever runs the draw sees every assignment. If that matters, have someone outside the group run it.

Questions

Can someone draw their own name? −

No. The algorithm makes it structurally impossible rather than redrawing until it happens not to.

Can two people be assigned to each other? +

How do I keep it secret from myself? +

Can I exclude couples from drawing each other? +

What is the minimum number of people? +

Is the list of names uploaded? +

Sources

Sattolo’s algorithm — a cyclic permutation shuffle MDN — Crypto.getRandomValues()

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