How to run a live group vote with LocalSelections

LocalSelections has a group mode, "Spin with friends", for the moment a group chat cannot settle on plans. One person hosts a session, everyone else joins from their own phone, each person ranks the options, and the group spins a wheel whose slices reflect everyone's votes. This guide explains each step and what happens behind it.

Who needs what

One person hosts, using a LocalSelections account. Everyone else joins with the link, QR code or join code, and the only thing they are asked for is a name to show to the others.

Step 1: create the session

Open Spin with friends. As the host you choose:

• What the group is deciding: "What to eat" or "What to do". The first uses cuisine categories, the second types of outings.
• The mechanic: the wheel is the default; dice, rock-paper-scissors, a coin flip, a card draw, a Magic 8-Ball or the swipe-style Decision Bracket are also available.
• Your display name.

You then get a join code, a shareable link and a QR code for people in the same room. The host can change the category or mechanic later from the session screen; changing either starts a new round.

Step 2: get everyone in

Send the link to your group chat, show the QR code, or read out the code. Each person opens it on their own device, enters a name and appears in the participant list, with the host marked by a crown. Joining works from a browser.

Step 3: rank the options

The options on screen are the preset list for the chosen category plus anything people have added. Each person taps options in the order they want them: the first tap is their top choice, the second tap their second, and tapping a ranked option again takes it out of their ranking.

Anyone can add an option with a short label, up to 20 added options per session. Added options can be removed again. You do not have to rank everything: leaving an option unranked means you did not vote for it, which is not the same as vetoing it.

Step 4: how votes become a wheel

Rankings are combined with a Borda count. For one person's ranking of n options, the first choice gets n−1 points, the second n−2, and so on down to zero. Points are added up across the group, and every option then gets one extra base weight so an option nobody ranked keeps a thin slice instead of vanishing.

The wheel's slices are sized by those totals, and the session screen shows the standings as people vote: a bigger slice means more support. It also shows how many participants have voted, and it says plainly that the spin will not wait for the rest. If someone is slow, the host can spin anyway.

Step 5: spin and share the result

When the host spins, the final weights are sent to every participant, so everyone sees the same wheel land on the same option. The host records the result once, and it appears in the session's results feed for the whole group.

Because the spin is weighted, the most-supported option is the most likely winner, but a lower-ranked one can still come up. If your group would rather leave nothing to chance, you can read the standings together and agree to take the biggest slice.

Tips that make it go smoothly

1. Decide the category before sharing the link. Switching halfway through resets the round and confuses people.
2. Settle hard limits in the chat first. Allergies, budgets and distances belong there, not in the ranking.
3. Keep added options short and specific. "Thai near the station" beats a joke.
4. Consider spinning once. A second spin on a result nobody likes can turn the vote back into an argument.
5. Check the place before you go. Place results come from open data and can be out of date; how LocalSelections chooses places explains the "Report closed / wrong" button.

When a group vote is the wrong tool

If only two of you are deciding, a wheel or coin flip is quicker. If the decision is expensive or hard to undo, score the candidates in a weighted matrix first. For the wider process around the vote, see how to settle a group dinner decision.