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How to play Hangman

Although the origins of the game of Hangman are uncertain, the rules of Hangman are fairly simple. It is a traditional two or more player game where one player thinks of a word and the other(s) tries to guess it by trying to find each of the missing letters. If the puzzle has not been solved after 7 guesses, the player trying to guess the word has lost the game.

At the start of a game, you are presented with an upside-down stand, called the Gallows. Each time an incorrect letter is guessed another part of the noose or person's body is drawn until you end up with a man hanging from a noose on the Gallows. Hence the name Hangman. The aim of the game is to find the hidden word before the noose and man is fully drawn.

Knowing how to play Hangman against the computer is no more complex than this. The computer will choose a random word for you. On the screen you will be shown 26 tiles, one for each letter from A to Z. You will make guesses by clicking on the tiles that contain your letter. To make it easier to remember what letters you have already guessed, each time you make a guess, the tiles will be greyed out.

If you think you know the answer to a puzzle, you can guess the word at any time during a game by typing it out directly into the box provided.

Hangman Strategy

While playing Hangman you may wish to adopt one of two recommended strategies for winning successfully.

Strategy 1 - Guess the vowels first, since in English we only have five vowels. Sometimes the letter Y is used as a vowel but this is quite unusual, for example, in the words Rhythm and Thyme.

Strategy 2 - Guess at the most commonly occurring letters first. Some common letters to guess at, other than the obvious vowels are: R, S, T, D, H and N.

Now you have read the Hangman rules, why not play or free Hangman game against the computer.