Pick a Stick
Stylized Random Array Picker
Too many choices? Put them on sticks in a jar and pick one — digitally!
The Rundown
Putting options on popsicle sticks and picking one is still a fun way to make a decision when you’re not tied to a specific outcome. If you don’t have popsicle sticks and a jar on hand, don’t worry, our Pick a Stick Decision Maker is here for you. You can customize your own options by typing them on sticks. Then, click “Pick one!” You’ll see a fun animation of the sticks going into a mug, a quick shake, and then the stick that got pulled. If you don’t like it, you can “Pick Another”.
Don’t know what to eat for dinner? Pick a Stick can help. Need to randomly assign chores to people in a fair way? Pick a Stick can help. You can use some of the predefined presets, customize your own, create and save your own presets for use later, and more. Under options, you can define and add multiple sticks all at once, change the cup color, save presets for future use, and manage presets.
The Functionality
Pick a Stick Decision Maker is a browser-based application built around the random array picker function. Inputs can be pulled from saved templates or customized via individual manual input or bulk edit functions. Animations and designs were added to create the popsicle stick effect and provide additional shaking and picking a stick elements for a more engaging, interactive experience. The ability to save and manage preset templates was added for convenience, practicality, and overall user experience.
Practical Business Use Cases
Being able to pull and present a data point or option from an array is a useful function. This version, in particular, is using a random array picker to provide a digital version of pulling a popsicle stick to choose an option.
However, you can design and build a variety of interactive elements and useful features around the random array picker functionality. There are tons of possibilities, especially when you integrate and combine with other functionalities or data sources.
7 Ways to Use a Random Array Picker
Although Pick a Stick is built for fun decision-making, the random array picker function at its core has plenty of practical applications. Here are just a few examples of different ways random array pickers could be used:
- Shuffling cards or elements for a game
- Drawing random numbers or names from a lottery
- Shuffling songs in a playlist
- Generating random inputs from a sample for testing
- Pulling random samples from a study for research
- Selecting items from a production batch for inspection and quality testing
- Displaying random text or images on a website for dynamic content elements
