Random card generator: pick a card

A deck of cards online, ready when you are

This random card generator works like a real deck: it shuffles, turns over the top card and spells it out (“Ace of spades”). Draw one card or up to 13 at once, with or without replacement, and deal hands to several players. Everything runs in your browser, with no account.

It helps when the real deck is at home: on a camping trip, on a train or on a video call with family. People also pick a card to decide who goes first or who deals (high card wins), to run probability experiments in math class, to practice a simple card trick with kids, or to set a prompt for a writing or drawing game: hearts for a story about friendship, spades for a mystery. At a party, everyone draws and the lowest card picks the next song.

How to use it

1. Choose a deck: “52 cards” (the default), “52 + 2 jokers”, “32 cards”, “Spanish (40)” or “Italian (40)”.
2. Click “Draw a card” or press the space bar. To draw several at once, set “Cards per draw (1 to 13)”.
3. Watch the “Cards left” counter. Deck empty? Click “Reshuffle”.
4. For a game, under “Deal the cards”, enter the “Number of players (2 to 8)” and the “Cards per player”, then click “Deal”. Each hand appears sorted by suit, and later draws come from the remaining stock.

The “History” list keeps every card you drew, newest first.

What is in each deck

• 52 cards: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, 13 cards each, 2 to 10 then jack, queen, king and ace (J, Q, K and A).
• 52 + 2 jokers: the same deck plus a red joker and a black joker.
• 32 cards: 7 to ace in each suit, with no 2 to 6. This short deck is common in France and Germany.
• Spanish (40): coins, cups, swords and batons, 1 to 7 then jack, knight and king, with no 8s or 9s.
• Italian (40): the same layout and suits, drawn as simple symbols: a yellow coin, a red cup, a blue sword and a green baton.

The odds, worked out

In a well-shuffled 52-card deck, each card has a 1 in 52 chance of coming up. The rest follows by counting the cards you want:

With or without replacement?

By default, cards are drawn without replacement: once a card is out, it stays out, just like a real deck. After 52 draws you have seen all 52 cards exactly once and the counter reads 0. That is why the second ace is less likely: only 3 aces are left among 51 cards.

Tick “With replacement (the card goes back into the deck)” and every draw starts from the full deck: the same card can turn up twice in a row, and each draw is independent of the last. That suits a classroom experiment: over 520 draws, expect about 130 hearts.

A fair shuffle

The deck is shuffled with the Fisher-Yates method: starting from the last card, each card is swapped with one picked at random from those not yet placed, down to the first. Every possible order of the deck (a 68-digit number of them for 52 cards) is exactly as likely as any other. The randomness comes from the browser's cryptographic generator, with no bias.

Frequently asked questions

Can the same card come up twice?

Not until you reshuffle. Yes when “With replacement” is ticked, even within one multi-card draw.

What happens when the deck runs out?

The counter shows 0 and a message points you to “Reshuffle”, which brings the full deck back.

How many cards can I deal?

As many as the deck holds: 4 players × 13 cards uses all 52; 5 players × 5 cards deals 25 and leaves 27 in the stock.

Are my draws stored anywhere?

No. Only your settings (deck, cards per draw, players) stay on this device.