Random Wheel
The Random Wheel is an overlay widget that spins to a randomly selected outcome when an alert fires. You can use it for donation prize draws, viewer challenges, or anything that benefits from a fair weighted random pick shown live on stream.
It has two visual modes:
- Wheel — a circular spinning prize wheel with coloured segments.
- Carousel — a horizontal scrolling strip, similar to a slot machine reel.
The Wheel Legend is a companion widget that sits alongside the wheel and lists all possible outcomes, then highlights the winner automatically after the spin finishes.
How It Works
- Place the Random Wheel widget on your overlay canvas in the editor.
- On an alert, add a Stream Overlay action and select the canvas. The wheel settings (items, mode, timings) are configured inside that action.
- When the alert fires, TipLink randomly picks a winner based on the chance weights you have set, and the wheel animates to land on it.
- Optionally, place a Wheel Legend widget on the canvas to show viewers all the possible outcomes while the wheel spins.
Quick Start
- Go to Overlays and open your canvas in the editor.
- Click Add Widget and add Random Wheel to the canvas. Resize and position it as needed.
- Optionally add Wheel Legend alongside it.
- Go to the alert that should trigger the wheel. Add (or open) the Stream Overlay action, and look for the Random Wheel section to set up your items and options.
- Save the alert and use Test Actions to see the wheel spin.
Configuration
All wheel settings are configured inside the Stream Overlay action on your alert.
Mode
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Wheel | A circular prize wheel. Each item is a coloured segment. The wheel spins fast and decelerates to land on the winner. |
| Carousel | A horizontal scrolling strip of item cards. Cards scroll rapidly and slow to a stop on the winner. |
Items
Each item on the wheel represents one possible outcome.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | The text label shown on the wheel segment or carousel card. |
| Chance | Relative weight for random selection. Higher numbers mean the item is more likely to be chosen. An item with chance 3 is three times as likely to be selected as one with chance 1. |
| Colour | The segment or card colour. If left blank, a colour from the default palette is assigned automatically. |
| Min Display Count | How many times this item appears visually on the wheel. The item's total angle is divided equally among its visual copies, so this does not change the actual chance. Useful for filling the wheel when you have only a few items. |
Timing
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Spin Duration | 5s | How long the main spin animation runs before landing on the winner. |
| Pre-Spin Duration | 1.5s | A brief pause before the spin begins, giving viewers time to see the wheel before it moves. |
| Linger Duration | 0s | How long the wheel stays visible after the winner popup closes before disappearing. |
Winner Popup
After the wheel lands on the winning item, a popup card appears over the wheel showing the winner's name and colour.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Show Winner Popup | On | Whether to show the popup. Disable this if you want the wheel to simply slow to a stop with no announcement. |
| Popup Duration | 3s | How long the popup is visible. |
Animations
Controls how the wheel enters and exits your overlay.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Entrance | Snap (instant), Fade In, Slide from Top, Slide from Bottom, Slide from Left, Slide from Right |
| Exit | Snap (instant), Fade Out, Slide to Top, Slide to Bottom, Slide to Left, Slide to Right |
Carousel Options
These settings only apply when mode is set to Carousel.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Visible Count | 3 | How many item cards are visible in the strip at one time. |
| Gap | 1 | The spacing between item cards. |
Center Image
Wheel mode only. Displays a custom image in the center hub of the wheel.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Center Image URL | None | A direct link to the image to show in the hub. |
| Center Image Size | 15% | How large the center image is, as a percentage of the wheel's radius. |
Spin Sound
The wheel plays a synthesized ticking sound as it spins, matching the speed of the spin — fast at the start, slowing as it approaches the winner. No audio file is needed.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Spin Sound | On | Whether to play the tick sound during the spin. |
| Spin Sound Volume | 50% | How loud the tick sound is. |
Persistent Mode
When Persistent is on, the wheel stays on screen after the spin completes and never exits on its own. Useful if you want the wheel visible for an entire stream segment and plan to remove it manually by toggling the widget's visibility in the editor.
Other Options
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Randomize Item Order | Off | Shuffles the visual display order of the wheel items before each spin. The items are shown in a different arrangement each time, which prevents viewers from predicting where a specific item will appear. This does not affect the underlying weighted probability — each item still has the same chance of being selected. |
Re-Spin Chains
A re-spin chain lets you spin the wheel multiple times in sequence before arriving at the final result. For example: a first spin narrows down to a category, then a second spin picks the specific item.
Re-spin chains are set up by selecting multiple items in the Stream Overlay action's winner configuration. Each spin plays through its full animation, shows the winner popup if enabled, then automatically advances to the next spin in the chain.
Wheel Legend
The Wheel Legend widget is a companion panel designed to sit next to the wheel on your canvas. It shows the complete list of possible outcomes with their colour indicators matching the wheel segments.
Once all spins in a chain are complete, the legend automatically highlights the winning item — timed to match the wheel's full animation duration.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Legend Title | The heading shown above the list. Defaults to "Wheel Items". |
| Hide Numbers | Removes the position numbers from each item row. |
| Hide Colours | Hides the colour indicator squares. |
| Hide Chance | Hides the percentage chance shown next to each item. |
Tips
- Keep spin duration at 5–8 seconds for a satisfying animation. Much shorter and the result appears too abrupt.
- If you have only a few items and the wheel looks sparse, set Min Display Count to 2 or 3 on each item. This fills the wheel visually without changing the actual odds.
- Place the Wheel Legend to one side of the wheel at roughly matching height so it remains readable while the wheel is spinning.
- For a more dramatic reveal, disable the winner popup and use a longer linger duration. The wheel simply slows to a stop with no announcement overlay.
- In Carousel mode, set Visible Count to 5 or more for a wide scrolling strip effect.