One person, one role, exact counts

Random Role AssignmentGenerator

Set the roles and their places, then deal the complete roster at once. Reveal one card at a time or deliberately open the organizer list.

Assign the roles Read the role guide

Free • Local processing • No account

A miniature cream theater stage with teal and mint masks, role-symbol cards and a folded mystery sleeve

Deal the roles for your activity

Make the total number of role places equal the number of participants.

Participants and roles

One per line. 1–200 people, 120 characters per name, 30,000 input characters. Matching names retain separate IDs.

UTF-8 TXT up to 120,000 bytes. Import clears results and keeps role settings.

Participant ID list
  • Person 1: Alex
  • Person 2: Blair
  • Person 3: Casey
  • Person 4: Drew
  • Person 5: Emery
  • Person 6: Finley

Roles and exact counts

1–30 distinct role names, up to 80 characters each. Positive counts must total the roster size. No fixed roles or exclusions.

Role 1
Role 2
Role 3

Total role places: 6

6
People
—
Assigned
0
Viewed

One-device reveal only. Anyone holding this device can select names or open organizer records. No authenticated private delivery.

Six sample participants and six role places are ready.

Role cards

Assign roles to prepare individual cards. No assignments are shown automatically.

Names and roles stay in this tab without uploads or persistent tool storage. No email, private links, game rules or role history. Export before refreshing if needed.

Custom roles with exact headcounts

Prepare a complete cast before anyone sees a card.

Assign a responsibility or a game identity

A random role assignment generator pairs each participant with exactly one role from your chosen set. A workshop can have one facilitator, two observers and three reporters; a classroom exercise can use speakers, recorders and timekeepers. You decide the names and how many people receive each role. The tool deals every place in one operation and checks the final counts. It does not decide whether a role suits someone’s skills, write their instructions or select a balanced game configuration. Explain the activity and agree on the role counts before starting.

Set the role places
Adults rehearse complementary speaking, note-taking and observing roles in a bright learning studio

Choose what to reveal after the deal

The complete assignment exists before the first card is opened. Individual reveal displays one selected participant’s role, and Hide and pass conceals it before moving to an unread card. For visible classroom responsibilities, the organizer can explicitly open the full list and share it. For hidden-role activities, keep the screen away from other players and leave the organizer section closed. This is a convenience for trusted people sharing one device, not an authenticated private channel. Anyone controlling the device can select another name or deliberately open organizer records.

Try an individual reveal
A participant discreetly lifts a theater-mask role card from a sleeve while another hand waits to receive it

How to assign roles randomly

Finish the list and counts before dealing.

  1. 01

    Add every participant who should receive a role

    Paste one person per line or import a UTF-8 TXT roster. Blank lines and surrounding spaces are removed, while matching names keep distinct IDs. Use short distinguishing labels for people with the same name. The limits are one to two hundred participants, one hundred twenty characters per name, thirty thousand input characters and one hundred twenty thousand bytes per file. Roster changes clear the previous deal and reveal history while keeping your role definitions, so you can adjust counts for the revised attendance.

  2. 02

    Give each role a name and a positive count

    Add up to thirty role types. Names may contain up to eighty characters and must be distinct after trimming and case normalization. Every count is a whole number from one to two hundred. Remove a role row when you do not want it included; zero is not an active count. The sum must equal the participant count exactly. If you have eight people and only seven places, add the missing place deliberately. The tool will not silently invent a generic role, leave someone unassigned or give one person two roles.

  3. 03

    Deal, reveal and keep the records you need

    Press Assign roles to create a complete, checked deal. Select the participant ready to view, reveal their card and hide it before passing the device. A viewed marker helps you track who has opened a card, but it is not proof of identity or a delivery receipt. You can reselect someone for a second look. Reset results keeps the current roster and role settings. Editing any input clears the old deal, visible cards, organizer records and viewed markers, preventing a changed setup from retaining an outdated allocation.

A complete allocation that can be checked

Exact counts and careful disclosure support different activities.

Random role slots without replacement

Each role contributes the configured number of slots. Fisher–Yates shuffles those slots using the browser’s secure random source with rejection sampling, then matches one slot to each roster entry. For a role with c places among n participants, each person has c divided by n probability before the deal. Assignments within a deal are dependent because the counts are fixed. Revealing cards does not run a new draw. The tool validates that every participant appears once and that every role receives exactly its requested number of people.

Individual cards and explicit organizer access

A hidden card is absent from the visible result markup until revealed. Switching participants, hiding a card, leaving the tab or changing window focus conceals disclosed results. Opening all assignments requires acknowledging that the complete mapping will be exposed, then pressing the show button. This reduces accidental disclosure, while all assignments still live in the current browser’s memory. It does not protect against developer tools, screen recording, screenshots, shoulder surfing or a person who controls the device. Do not screen-share a secret reveal.

Copy and print at the intended scope

An individual card has its own copy and print actions. Full copy, CSV and printing all cards appear only after the organizer list is deliberately opened. Ordinary browser printing includes at most the currently revealed individual card; it never automatically prints the organizer mapping. If no card is revealed, the print sheet contains a neutral message. CSV retains person and role IDs alongside names and protects spreadsheet formula prefixes. Exported files and copied text are readable records, so handle them according to your activity’s disclosure rules.

Examples with visible and hidden roles

Role counts describe the activity; randomness chooses who receives them.

  1. 01

    Six participants in a discussion exercise

    Enter Alex, Blair, Casey, Drew, Emery and Finley. Use Facilitator with one place, Observer with two and Reporter with three. The total is six, so every person gets one role. Each participant has a one-in-six chance of facilitating, two-in-six of observing and three-in-six of reporting. Open organizer records to announce the responsibilities when they are intended to be public. The draw does not create subgroups or guarantee that each subgroup receives a facilitator; run a separate roster for each existing group if that is the requirement.

  2. 02

    Eight players with a concealed special role

    For a custom activity, create Scout with two places and Resident with six, and enter eight participants. Deal once, then pass the device for individual reveals. Exactly two people receive Scout, but their identities remain off the normal results screen until a card or organizer record is opened. Explain the game rules separately. A known role distribution can permit deduction from other disclosed cards, especially near the end; the interface cannot remove that mathematical information or keep a role secret after someone announces it.

Run the activity with clear expectations

Decide role meaning, visibility and redraw rules in advance.

  1. 01

    Separate a random deal from a fair rotation

    A fresh deal is independent of previous deals and can give someone the same role again. The tool has no role history, exclusion rules, fixed participant-role assignments or rotation schedule. If everyone must take a turn at every responsibility over several sessions, keep a deliberate roster of those turns rather than repeatedly drawing until you like the answer. For one session, ensure everyone is willing and able to perform every included role, or prepare an appropriate eligible roster before using the random allocation.

  2. 02

    Use the matching tool for multi-task work

    Here each person receives exactly one role and every configured place must be filled. Random Task Assignment Generator is the related tool when people may handle several tasks, task headcounts vary and incomplete work must be visible. This role picker does not track task completion, run a game’s night phases, count votes, eliminate players or calculate a winner. It also has no private links, email delivery or remote player rooms. The person holding the device remains responsible for showing the right card to the right participant.

  3. 03

    Keep a record only when the activity needs one

    Names, roles and assignments stay in the active tab without uploads or persistent tool storage. A refresh or closed tab loses the deal. Export beforehand if an organizer needs a record, and avoid full exports when nobody should know every hidden role. A CSV is an assignment record rather than a restorable setup; TXT import only reads participant names. After an attendance change, edit the roster, adjust the role places to match and create a new complete deal. The tool will not patch a partially revealed round behind the scenes.

Role assignment questions

Counts, individual reveals, organizer records and repeated rounds.

Can I set how many people receive each role?

Yes. Create up to thirty distinct role names and set each count from one to two hundred. The total number of places must equal the roster count exactly. A role with three places is assigned to three different participants; each person receives one role.

What happens if role places do not equal the number of people?

The tool refuses to deal and asks you to correct the total. It does not invent a default role, silently leave people out or assign multiple roles to one person. Remove unwanted rows instead of entering zero, and check counts again after importing a new roster.

Can players reveal only one role at a time?

The individual view shows the selected person’s card, then Hide and pass conceals it before advancing. Other assignments are absent from the result markup while hidden. This is a shared-device workflow: it cannot authenticate participants or stop a device user from selecting another person.

Can the organizer see and export all roles?

Yes. Open the organizer section, acknowledge that every assignment will be exposed, then press Show all assignments. Full copy, CSV and all-card printing become available. Hide all results or leaving the tab conceals the mapping and resets the acknowledgment.

Are roles decided when people reveal their cards?

No. All roles are assigned and validated when you press Assign roles. Revealing only changes what is displayed. Configured counts are exact, and each person has a role’s count divided by the total roster as their probability before the deal.

Will someone avoid getting the same role next time?

No. A new deal does not use earlier history, so repeated roles are possible. There are no per-person exclusions, fixed roles or multi-session rotation rules. For mandatory turns, keep an explicit rotation plan instead of relying on repeated independent draws.

Can I use this for classroom work or a custom hidden-role game?

Yes, when the activity needs one role per person and your counts are already chosen. Role names are custom. The tool does not decide skill suitability, game balance or rules, and it has no voting, night phases or winner calculation. Public responsibilities can use the organizer list.

What is printed, and are assignments saved or shared online?

Ordinary printing shows at most one revealed card, never the full organizer mapping. All-card printing requires its explicit organizer action. Names and roles stay in this tab without persistent tool storage, private links or email. Copy or export before refreshing if you need a record.

Random Role Assignment

Give everyone one clear role

Agree on the responsibilities and exact counts.

Deal once, then reveal at the right scope.

Assign roles Explore all tools
  • Free to use
  • No signup
  • Runs in your browser

A simple path to your next activity

  1. Enter people

    Use a complete roster.

  2. Set role counts

    Make places equal participants.

  3. Deal and reveal

    Show one card or open organizer records.

Exact role counts, one role per person, controlled local reveals.