--- title: "Movie Night Picker: Spin or Vote | Reel Picnic" description: "Pick tonight's film: list everyone's ideas, filter by runtime, finish time and mood, then spin the reel or hold a ranked-choice vote. Free, no sign-up." url: https://reelpicnic.me/ --- # Movie night picker List everyone's suggestions, set tonight's rules, then spin the reel or hold a ranked vote. No sign-up; your list stays on this device. ## The lineup 7 films - Pancake Heist 1 h 38 min Sam's pick comedy · family Fits · ends 21:18 - The Owl Who Forgot Tuesday 1 h 24 min Mia's pick family · animated Fits · ends 21:04 - Haunted Laundromat 1 h 52 min Alex's pick comedy · scary Fits · ends 21:32 - Snowed In at the Llama Farm 1 h 41 min Jo's pick comedy · romance Fits · ends 21:21 - The Lighthouse Diner 2 h 7 min Priya's pick drama Out: ends too late (2 min over) - Robots of Rainy Street 2 h 21 min Dev's pick action · sci-fi Out: ends too late (16 min over) - Grandma's Last Waltz 1 h 35 min Kit's pick drama · musical Fits · ends 21:15 Saved on this device as you go. A share link carries the whole list after its #, so nothing is uploaded anywhere. ## How the picker works Add the films people suggest, with a runtime, who suggested them and a few tags. The example list is made up: type any titles you like, or paste a whole list at once. The picker never looks films up anywhere. **Tonight's rules** narrow the lineup to a shortlist. "Must finish by" works backwards from your start time: start at 19:30, finish by 21:45 with 10 minutes of trailers and snacks, and the longest film that fits is 2 h 5 min. A finish time earlier than the start counts as after midnight. Films without a runtime drop out once a time limit is set, because the picker can't check them. ### Spin the reel Every film on the shortlist has the same chance. The pick uses your browser's built-in secure random number generator, and the reel skips its animation if your device asks for reduced motion. ### Ranked vote: instant runoff Each person ranks the shortlist in order. In every round, each ballot counts for its highest-ranked film still in the running. A film with more than half of those ballots wins. If none has, films nobody put first go out together, or else the film with the fewest votes goes out, and its ballots move to their next choice. A ballot with no films left is *exhausted* and sits out the rest of the count, so the majority is of the ballots still in play. Ties for last place go to whichever film had fewer votes in an earlier round; if they were level all along, lots are drawn from a shuffle seeded by the ballots, so a recount always gives the same answer. ## Sources - The count follows preferential voting as the Australian Electoral Commission describes it for the House of Representatives (exclude the lowest-polling candidate and pass on their ballots until one candidate has more than half): [How the House of Representatives result is determined](https://www.aec.gov.au/voting/counting/hor_count.htm). Unlike federal ballots there, ours may rank only some films, and ballots that run out of films leave the count. ## More for movie night Calculators for the screen, the seats and the sky, plus things to print. - [Projector screen calculator](https://reelpicnic.me/projector-screen-calculator/): Throw distance to picture size and back, for 16:9, scope and 4:3, plus a brightness check. - [Viewing distance calculator](https://reelpicnic.me/viewing-distance-calculator/): Where to put the sofa, by the SMPTE and THX viewing angles and your screen's resolution. - [Aspect ratio calculator](https://reelpicnic.me/aspect-ratio-calculator/): How big the black bars will be when a film's shape doesn't match the screen. - [Outdoor movie night planner](https://reelpicnic.me/outdoor-movie-night-planner/): Sunset and dusk for your date and place, when to start, when it ends, and a checklist. - [Movie night printables](https://reelpicnic.me/movie-night-printables/): Admit-one tickets, a snack bar menu and movie bingo cards to print at home. ## Recommended Two free services that help with the online side of planning a screening. Disposable email · no sign-up ### CleanTempMail Quote forms for hiring a big screen and pop-up cinema mailing lists usually want an email address, and the newsletters follow. CleanTempMail gives you a free temporary inbox straight away: no sign-up, a random or custom address on hundreds of domains, and messages deleted automatically after 3 days. Collect the quotes there; use your real address for bookings and tickets, which you will still need after three days. [Get a temporary inbox](https://cleantempmail.com/) Disposable cloud browser · free domain lookups ### WebTraceCheck Spotted a cheap projector or an outdoor cinema kit on a shop you've never heard of? WebTraceCheck's free DNS and domain lookup shows the details behind a website's domain, and its disposable cloud browser opens unfamiliar links on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session. Nothing to install, with free time every day. [Try WebTraceCheck](https://webtracecheck.com/) ## Questions **Is the spin really random?** Yes. Each film on the shortlist has an equal chance, picked with the secure random number generator built into your browser. The spinning reel is just for show: the film is chosen the moment you press the button. **Why didn't the film with the most first choices win the vote?** Instant runoff looks for a film that more than half of the room can live with. In the example, Pancake Heist has the most first choices, but the ballots of the films knocked out move to The Owl Who Forgot Tuesday, which ends with 4 of the 7 ballots still in play. **Does everyone have to rank every film?** No. Rank only the films you would happily watch. If all of them are knocked out, your ballot is exhausted and stops counting, and the winner needs more than half of the ballots that are still in play. **How do I share the list with friends?** Press "Copy share link" and send the link. The films and tonight's rules are written into the link itself, after the # sign, which browsers never send to a server. Opening the link loads that list; your own list is kept and can be restored. **Where is my list kept?** In your browser's local storage on this device, so it is still there next time. Nothing is sent to Reel Picnic. Clearing your browser's site data, or pressing "Clear lineup", removes it.