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Draft order generator: random, snake and third-round-reversal boards

Paste in the teams, choose how the order runs from round to round, and draw a random order — or keep the order you entered. The page then lists every pick each team will make, so everyone knows their turns before the draft starts.

The draw uses the Fisher–Yates shuffle, which gives every possible order the same chance, fed by your browser’s cryptographic random number generator. Add a seed instead if the league wants a draw anyone can repeat and check.

By Reign Creative LLCPublished More in the sports hubs

Generate a draft order

One team per line. The order you type is round one’s order until you draw a random one.

Leave empty for a cryptographically random draw. Any text works as a seed; share it so others can repeat the draw.

Showing the order as entered. Team 1 picks first; 12 teams, 15 rounds, snake — 180 picks in all.

Every pick, by team
SlotTeamOverall picks
1Team 11, 24, 25, 48, 49, 72, 73, 96, 97, 120, 121, 144, 145, 168, 169
2Team 22, 23, 26, 47, 50, 71, 74, 95, 98, 119, 122, 143, 146, 167, 170
3Team 33, 22, 27, 46, 51, 70, 75, 94, 99, 118, 123, 142, 147, 166, 171
4Team 44, 21, 28, 45, 52, 69, 76, 93, 100, 117, 124, 141, 148, 165, 172
5Team 55, 20, 29, 44, 53, 68, 77, 92, 101, 116, 125, 140, 149, 164, 173
6Team 66, 19, 30, 43, 54, 67, 78, 91, 102, 115, 126, 139, 150, 163, 174
7Team 77, 18, 31, 42, 55, 66, 79, 90, 103, 114, 127, 138, 151, 162, 175
8Team 88, 17, 32, 41, 56, 65, 80, 89, 104, 113, 128, 137, 152, 161, 176
9Team 99, 16, 33, 40, 57, 64, 81, 88, 105, 112, 129, 136, 153, 160, 177
10Team 1010, 15, 34, 39, 58, 63, 82, 87, 106, 111, 130, 135, 154, 159, 178
11Team 1111, 14, 35, 38, 59, 62, 83, 86, 107, 110, 131, 134, 155, 158, 179
12Team 1212, 13, 36, 37, 60, 61, 84, 85, 108, 109, 132, 133, 156, 157, 180
Show the full board, round by round

  1. Round 1

    1. Team 1 · 2. Team 2 · 3. Team 3 · 4. Team 4 · 5. Team 5 · 6. Team 6 · 7. Team 7 · 8. Team 8 · 9. Team 9 · 10. Team 10 · 11. Team 11 · 12. Team 12

  2. Round 2

    13. Team 12 · 14. Team 11 · 15. Team 10 · 16. Team 9 · 17. Team 8 · 18. Team 7 · 19. Team 6 · 20. Team 5 · 21. Team 4 · 22. Team 3 · 23. Team 2 · 24. Team 1

  3. Round 3

    25. Team 1 · 26. Team 2 · 27. Team 3 · 28. Team 4 · 29. Team 5 · 30. Team 6 · 31. Team 7 · 32. Team 8 · 33. Team 9 · 34. Team 10 · 35. Team 11 · 36. Team 12

  4. Round 4

    37. Team 12 · 38. Team 11 · 39. Team 10 · 40. Team 9 · 41. Team 8 · 42. Team 7 · 43. Team 6 · 44. Team 5 · 45. Team 4 · 46. Team 3 · 47. Team 2 · 48. Team 1

  5. Round 5

    49. Team 1 · 50. Team 2 · 51. Team 3 · 52. Team 4 · 53. Team 5 · 54. Team 6 · 55. Team 7 · 56. Team 8 · 57. Team 9 · 58. Team 10 · 59. Team 11 · 60. Team 12

  6. Round 6

    61. Team 12 · 62. Team 11 · 63. Team 10 · 64. Team 9 · 65. Team 8 · 66. Team 7 · 67. Team 6 · 68. Team 5 · 69. Team 4 · 70. Team 3 · 71. Team 2 · 72. Team 1

  7. Round 7

    73. Team 1 · 74. Team 2 · 75. Team 3 · 76. Team 4 · 77. Team 5 · 78. Team 6 · 79. Team 7 · 80. Team 8 · 81. Team 9 · 82. Team 10 · 83. Team 11 · 84. Team 12

  8. Round 8

    85. Team 12 · 86. Team 11 · 87. Team 10 · 88. Team 9 · 89. Team 8 · 90. Team 7 · 91. Team 6 · 92. Team 5 · 93. Team 4 · 94. Team 3 · 95. Team 2 · 96. Team 1

  9. Round 9

    97. Team 1 · 98. Team 2 · 99. Team 3 · 100. Team 4 · 101. Team 5 · 102. Team 6 · 103. Team 7 · 104. Team 8 · 105. Team 9 · 106. Team 10 · 107. Team 11 · 108. Team 12

  10. Round 10

    109. Team 12 · 110. Team 11 · 111. Team 10 · 112. Team 9 · 113. Team 8 · 114. Team 7 · 115. Team 6 · 116. Team 5 · 117. Team 4 · 118. Team 3 · 119. Team 2 · 120. Team 1

  11. Round 11

    121. Team 1 · 122. Team 2 · 123. Team 3 · 124. Team 4 · 125. Team 5 · 126. Team 6 · 127. Team 7 · 128. Team 8 · 129. Team 9 · 130. Team 10 · 131. Team 11 · 132. Team 12

  12. Round 12

    133. Team 12 · 134. Team 11 · 135. Team 10 · 136. Team 9 · 137. Team 8 · 138. Team 7 · 139. Team 6 · 140. Team 5 · 141. Team 4 · 142. Team 3 · 143. Team 2 · 144. Team 1

  13. Round 13

    145. Team 1 · 146. Team 2 · 147. Team 3 · 148. Team 4 · 149. Team 5 · 150. Team 6 · 151. Team 7 · 152. Team 8 · 153. Team 9 · 154. Team 10 · 155. Team 11 · 156. Team 12

  14. Round 14

    157. Team 12 · 158. Team 11 · 159. Team 10 · 160. Team 9 · 161. Team 8 · 162. Team 7 · 163. Team 6 · 164. Team 5 · 165. Team 4 · 166. Team 3 · 167. Team 2 · 168. Team 1

  15. Round 15

    169. Team 1 · 170. Team 2 · 171. Team 3 · 172. Team 4 · 173. Team 5 · 174. Team 6 · 175. Team 7 · 176. Team 8 · 177. Team 9 · 178. Team 10 · 179. Team 11 · 180. Team 12

The three draft orders

In a straight draft, every round runs in the same order. In a snake draft, the order reverses every round. In a third-round reversal (3RR) draft, round three repeats round two’s order instead of reversing, and the snake resumes from round four:

Direction of each round in a 12-team draft
RoundSnakeThird-round reversal
11 → 121 → 12
212 → 112 → 1
31 → 1212 → 1
412 → 11 → 12
51 → 1212 → 1

Overall pick, for slot S in a league of N teams

forward round: (round − 1) × N + S · reversed round: (round − 1) × N + (N − S + 1)

Worked examples

A 12-team snake draft from slot 5: the picks, and how many other picks pass before each one.

Slot 5 of 12, snake, rounds 1 to 4
RoundPick in roundOverall pickPicks since your last
155—
282014
35298
484414

From slot 5, the waits alternate between 14 and 8 picks. In a third-round reversal draft the ends of the order change places at the second turn:

First three picks in a 12-team third-round reversal draft
SlotRound 1Round 2Round 3
112436
12121325

The first slot picks at 1, 24 and 36, while the last slot picks at 12, 13 and 25 — the format gives the end of the order an earlier third-round pick in exchange for the first overall pick.

How the random draw works

The generator shuffles the team list with the Fisher–Yates algorithm: working from the last position to the first, it swaps each team with a team chosen uniformly at random from the positions not yet fixed. Done with unbiased random numbers, every possible order is equally likely.

  • Without a seed, the random numbers come from your browser’s cryptographic generator, and values that would favour some teams through rounding are discarded and redrawn.
  • With a seed, the draw is repeatable: the same seed and the same team list always give the same order, so a league can check it afterwards. As NIST’s note on the shuffle points out, a small pseudo-random generator cannot reach every possible order of a large list, so use the unseeded draw when that matters more than repeatability.
  • Nothing is sent anywhere: the draw happens on your device when you press the button.

What this generator does not do

  • Weighted lotteries, where worse teams get better odds. Those are explained in the guide to draft lotteries.
  • Keeper picks, traded picks and auction drafts, which change who picks when in ways a fixed order cannot show.
  • Choosing players. It tells you when you pick, not whom to pick.

For the strategy side, read snake draft vs auction draft and what makes a good draft board.

Pro Football GM Club Soccer is a draft game for soccer: each run offers a fresh set of player choices, and limited drafts, budget challenges and computer battles change what a good squad looks like.

Reign Creative LLC makes Pro Football GM Club Soccer, so we have a commercial interest in it. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any league, team, players’ association or athlete.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

What is a snake draft?
A draft in which the pick order reverses each round — 1 to 10, then 10 to 1, then 1 to 10 again, as ESPN’s fantasy help puts it. The team with the first pick waits longest for its second, which evens out the advantage of picking first.
What is a third-round reversal (3RR) draft?
A snake draft in which round three repeats round two’s order instead of reversing again; after that it snakes as usual. The team that picked first now waits longest at the next turn too, which shifts some of the first pick’s advantage back to the end of the order.
Is the random order fair?
Without a seed, yes: the Fisher–Yates shuffle gives every order of the teams the same probability, and the random numbers come from your browser’s cryptographic generator with no bias toward any value. A seeded draw is repeatable, which makes it checkable, but it comes from a small pseudo-random generator that cannot produce every possible order once a league is large.
How many picks pass between my turns in a snake draft?
In a league of N teams, the team in slot S waits through 2 × (N − S) other picks after each odd-round pick and 2 × (S − 1) after each even-round pick. The two waits always add up to 2 × (N − 1).
Which draft slot is best?
None in general. The first slot gets the top player but waits longest for its next turn; a middle slot gets evenly spaced picks; the last slot picks twice in a row at every turn. Which suits a team depends on how the player pool falls into tiers, which a generator cannot know.

Sources

  1. Live Online Snake Drafts (opens in a new tab)ESPN Fan Support — accessed
  2. Draft Order Help — snake, 3RR and straight drafts (opens in a new tab)Fantasy Postseason — accessed
  3. Fisher-Yates shuffle (opens in a new tab)NIST Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures — accessed

League, governing-body and team names appear here only to identify the formulas and rules being used. Reign Creative LLC's sports games and calculators are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.

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