How the order is shuffled
The whole list is shuffled once with the Fisher–Yates method, so every possible order is equally likely — each person has the same chance of going first, last or anywhere in between.
Use it for presentation slots, turns in a board game, karaoke queues or who picks the restaurant this week. Send the link so nobody can say you reshuffled.
How does Who Goes First? shuffle the order?
Press Shuffle the order and your browser draws a random 8-character code, which goes at the end of the link after the names. The tool name, that code and the names, in the order you typed them, are hashed (FNV-1a) into one number that seeds a mulberry32 generator. One Fisher–Yates pass over the list then produces the line-up: the first name in the result goes first and the last name goes last.
The same names in the same typed order plus the same code always give the same line-up, so everyone who opens the link sees it identically and nothing has to be saved on a server. Typing the names in a different order counts as a different input and gives an unrelated shuffle. The list takes 2 to 30 names, up to 20 characters each.
Fine print: the code has 32 bits, about 4.3 billion possibilities. That is more than the number of ways to order 12 names, but 13 or more names have more possible orders than codes, so not every line-up can actually appear. Each person's chance of each spot still stays effectively equal. It's meant for turns and queues, not regulated draws, and anyone with the link can read the names.