Live event · Gamification · Excel import · Server-side draw
Manulife 2026 MRA Pioneer
A live lucky draw for Manulife's 2026 MRA Pioneer event, covering candidate import from Excel, server-side draw logic, slot-machine animation and winner tracking across rounds.
Brief
Manulife runs live events where lucky draws are part of the programme. For the 2026 MRA Pioneer event, the draw had to work from an attendance spreadsheet, show names on slot-machine rollers and hold up in front of a live room.
The list had to import from Excel on the day. Names had to sit across a chosen number of rollers. The spin had to slow down like a physical machine. Anyone already drawn had to stay out of the next round.
Background
The room sees names spin and a winner land. Before that, a spreadsheet may arrive shortly before the draw. Columns need checking, names need distributing fairly across rollers, the animation has to run under live pressure, and a winner cannot come up twice.
How we approached it
We organised the draw around the live sequence: get the list in, put names on the rollers, then run the spin.
The host imports candidates from Excel. The system normalises columns, validates rows and shows the count.
The server takes everyone not yet drawn, shuffles them and spreads them across the selected rollers.
On screen, the reels spin together and stop one after another, with longer gaps between stops. Drawn winners stay on the server, so the next round starts with whoever is left.
What we built
Candidate import: Excel upload with district codes, names and multiple boolean formats for drawn status.
Candidate management: view counts, truncate all and reset drawn status, so the team can rehearse and then run the live draw.
Slot-machine animation: vertical reels inside positioned roller windows on a slot-machine background. The reels start, roll, decelerate and stop.
Server-side draw: random shuffle, largest divisible subset, then round-robin distribution. Drawn status is stored so the same person cannot win twice. Four routes cover 1, 2, 5 or 10 rollers.
Result
Manulife ran the lucky draw live at the 2026 MRA Pioneer event. The attendance spreadsheet was imported on site and winners came up through the animated spin. Anyone already drawn stayed out of later rounds.
Takeaway
A live lucky draw only works if the list, the fairness and the animation are the same system. Once the room is watching, there is no time to fix a messy spreadsheet or a name that has already won.