The office duck race

Random Duck Race was born in an office in Saigon, during a lunch break nobody could agree on: where should we eat? Rock-paper-scissors caused arguments, name pickers were boring, and someone always felt left out. So the team raced ducks — and the whole office ended up cheering at a screen. (The full story.)

It still works for every small decision a team has to make. Put everyone’s name in, press Start, and the river decides. Nobody can say it was rigged, and everybody gets a laugh out of it.

Settle it in under a minute

1. Type the names of everyone in the team, or load the list you saved last time.
2. Agree what the race decides before the start — the lunch spot, the speaking order, who does the coffee run.
3. Press Start and gather round. A 300 m course settles it in well under a minute; 900 m gives the team a proper race.

Everyone in different places? Open a room: colleagues scan the code, pick a duck on their phone and watch it race from their own desk.

Things the office can let the ducks decide

• The lunch spot: every option becomes a duck; first across the line is where you eat.
• The coffee run: the last duck home goes.
• Stand-up order: the finishing order is the speaking order — no more awkward “who wants to go first?”.
• Who hosts next week: the meeting, the retro, the team quiz.
• Desk moves and parking spots: first across the line picks first.
• Party games at the end-of-year party: who goes first, who picks the next song. For a friendly giveaway, see our giveaway picker guide.
• Teams for a hackathon or an offsite: see the random team generator.

House rules that keep it friendly

• Keep it light. The ducks are for fun: no money on the line, ever.
• One duck per person. The game spots duplicate names for you.
• Same person on coffee duty three times in a row? That’s randomness too — like a coin landing heads three times. The fairness test shows every duck has the same chance.