There is a river here. Float a leaf on it.

Settle something with it, or just watch a leaf go by.

Give each name a leaf, let them go upstream, and the order they arrive in is the ranking. Two to ten players, in the browser, with nothing to install — use it wherever you would otherwise draw straws or play rock-paper-scissors.

Once it is moving, it belongs to the river

Press start and you are asked for the names. Each one gets a leaf of its own shape. On the next screen you choose where in the river to drop it. Then you watch. First place is usually decided in about twenty seconds.

Once you let go, nobody can touch it. One leaf catches the fast water; another stalls behind a rock. It is the river deciding, not us.

Where you drop a leaf barely changes its chances. If you would rather not choose, press the automatic placement: it shuffles who goes where, so everyone stands exactly alike.

Names go nowhere

The name you give a leaf never reaches our servers. It does travel inside the result link, though, so think about who you send one to (Showing a race to someone, Privacy Policy).

Reading

• About Ask the RiverA leaf for every name, floated down a river, ranked by the order they arrive. Where the game comes from, what it does, and why the screen is one watercolour.
• How to playA round of Ask the River from start to finish: entering names, choosing where each leaf goes in, sharing the result, and playing again with the same leaves.
• The ten leavesThe ten leaves and petals you can float: maple, ginkgo, cherry, the nibbled one. What each looks like, and how to keep track of your own once the race is under way.
• Showing a race to someoneSend the result URL and the same race runs from the start on their screen. How to send one, why the names inside it deserve care, and why the link never expires.
• Where to use itSpeaking order, seating, chores, whose turn it is. What Ask the River is good for, and how it differs from drawing straws, rock-paper-scissors and a die.
• Frequently asked questionsHow many can play, whether names are stored, whether a result can be reproduced, which browsers work, and how advertising is handled on Ask the River.