How to Play Hangman

Hangman is a quick and easy game for at least two people that requires nothing more than paper, a pencil, and the ability to spell. One player, the "host," makes up a secret word, while the other player tries to guessthe word by asking what letters it contains. However, every wrong guess brings them one step closer to losing. Hangman can also be customized tomake the game easier, harder, or educational, and there are apps and websites to play online if you would like. For example, try adding in symbols such as # to make the game harder!

1 Choose one person to be the "host."

This is the person that invents the puzzle for the other person to solve. They will be tasked with choosing a word or phrase that "the players" will have to solve.[1] The host should be able to spell confidently or the game will be impossible to win.

2 If you are the host, choose a secret word.

The other players will need to guess your word letter by letter, so choose a word you think will be difficult to guess. Difficult words usually have uncommon letters, like "z," or "j," and only a few vowels. For longer games, you can also choose phrases.

3 Start guessing letters if you are the player.

Once the word has been chosen and the players know how many letters in the secret word, begin guessing which letters are in the word by asking the host. For example, you might begin by asking, "is there an 'e' in your word?" Generally, start by guessing common letters like vowels, or "s," "t," and "n."

4 Fill the letter in the blanks if the players guess correctly.

Whenever the players guess a letter that is in the secret word, the host fills it into the blank where it occurs. For example, if the word is "zipper" and the players guess "e," then the host will fill in the 5th blank with an "e:" (_ _ _ _ e _). If the players guess a letter that repeats, fill in both letters. If they guess "p," you would have to fill in both "p"s. ( _ _ p p e _ ).

5 The players win when they guess the correct word.

If the players get every letter of the word before the host finishes drawing then they win. At any point a player can try to guess the entire word instead of a single letter, but if they guess the wrong word then the host should treat it as if they guessed a wrong letter.[2] To make the game harder, make a rule saying that the players can only guess the secret word once before they lose.