TeamPick's 5 Draw Modes: Instant, Pinball, Cards, Ladder and Numbers

Instant

No animation, just the result. There's a quick transition and the team list appears as soon as you tap. This is the mode that's selected by default.

When to use it: when you want the next round going the second the last one ends. For custom game nights with lots of rounds, it's the most convenient. Balance teams, which uses past win rates, also works with this mode.

Pinball race

Every player gets a ball, and all the balls drop down a board full of pins. They bounce left and right off the pins, sometimes skip two columns at once, and occasionally get stuck on a pin for a moment. The order in which the balls hit the bottom is the ranking. One race takes about 11 seconds.

There are two ways to turn that ranking into teams. With “Alternate”, players go into teams in turn: 1st, 3rd and 5th place join Team 1, while 2nd, 4th and 6th join Team 2. With “Halves”, the ranking is cut from the top: 1st, 2nd and 3rd are Team 1, and 4th, 5th and 6th are Team 2. You'll find this option under the Pinball race and Number draw chips.

Every ball follows the same rules on its own path, so nobody starts from a better spot. Since the balls are the result, Balance teams doesn't apply here. With more than 16 players, the balls get too crowded on a phone screen, so that round shows the result without the animation.

When to use it: it's the most fun when everyone is watching together, like during a Discord screen share or a stream. Watching your own ball roll in dead last is half the fun of a custom game night.

Card flip

One face down card is dealt for every player. Which team each card belongs to is already shuffled and set when the round starts, and the screen shows whose turn it is (for example “Jake's turn”) in player order. The player whose turn it is taps any card they like, it flips to show the team color and number, and that card is locked.

Once the last card is picked, the teams are final and the alert goes out. Even if several people tap on their own phones at the same time, each card can only go to one person. If the player whose turn it is isn't looking at their phone, whoever is holding a screen can tap for them. Card flip works for up to 30 players.

When to use it: great for groups where people complain less when they feel they picked their own fate. Since choosing a card is the luck itself, Balance teams isn't applied.

Ladder

The top of each vertical line is a starting spot, and the slots at the bottom are teams. Just like Card flip, players take turns choosing a starting spot, and once everyone has picked, all the paths run down the ladder at once to reveal the result. The team slots at the bottom are shuffled randomly to fit the player count, and the outcome is evenly random no matter how the rungs are drawn.

Choosing starting spots works for up to 16 players. With more than 16, spots are assigned automatically in player order and the result is shown without the animation. Balance teams isn't used.

When to use it: everyone already knows how a ladder draw works, so there's nothing to explain. It's a good fit for friends trying TeamPick for the first time and for groups of around 10.

Number draw

Each player gets a random number from 1 to 100, and no number comes up twice. The lowest number takes 1st place, the next lowest 2nd, and so on, and the teams are formed with the same “Split by rank” rule as Pinball race. With “Alternate”, 1st, 3rd and 5th go to Team 1 and 2nd, 4th and 6th go to Team 2. With “Halves”, the lower half of the numbers is Team 1 and the upper half is Team 2. You'll find this option under the Number draw chip.

The numbers are the result, so Balance teams doesn't apply here. Nothing is decided in advance: the teams split exactly the way the numbers fall. For up to 30 players the numbers are revealed one by one, and once they have all stopped, the ranks and team colors appear.

When to use it: when you want pure luck like Pinball race but a shorter, simpler reveal. Until the last number stops, nobody knows who ends up on their team.

Everyone sees the same screen

In every mode, the result is decided first and the screen redraws it from the saved values. That's why everyone viewing the group sees the same ball movements and the same ladder at the same moment. Anyone who joins mid-animation goes straight to the result. If you don't feel like waiting, tap “Skip” to jump to the result on your own screen only.

Switching modes doesn't reset anything. Records and win rates carry over, so you can use Pinball race tonight and Instant next week and it all adds up in the same group. How to log results is covered in the how to use guide.