Drawing lots (decision making)

The group leader takes a number of straws (or similarly long cylindrical objects) and ensures that one of them is physically shorter than the others. The leader then grabs all of the straws in their fist, such that all of them appear to be of the same length. The group leader offers the clenched fist to the group. Each member of the group draws a straw from the fist of the group leader. At the end of the offering, the group member who has drawn the shortest straw is the one who must perform the task. Straws can also be cut diagonally so no two are the same length when multiple lots are to be chosen with a single draw to determine something like playing order, which participants will be teamed up, etc. No two straws the same length prevents ties and redraws among remaining participants where the short straw must be reused and a long straw that is in fact only one of several identical straws discarded. A short straw that is reused can end up marked either accidentally or intentionally and be readily identified and intentionally avoided or selected by a clever participant in subsequent draws. Drawing straws as an alternative to a coin toss and "odd man out" is only fair when it creates a level playing field and multiple random chance processes for fair results are reduced to a single random event. == Politics ==