HangMan Online Game

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HangMan is the classical hangman game. The player should guess a word letter by letter. At each miss, the picture of a hangman appears. After 10 tries, if the word is not guessed, the game is over and the answer is displayed.

Strategy

In the English language, the twelve most commonly occurring letters are, in descending order: e-t-a-o-i-n-s-h-r-d-l-u. This and other letter-frequency lists are used by the guessing player to increase the odds when it is their turn to guess. On the other hand, the same lists can be used by the puzzle setter to stump their opponent by choosing a word which deliberately avoids common letters (e.g. rhythm or zephyr) or one that contains rare letters (e.g. jazz). Another common strategy is to guess vowels first, as English only has five vowels (a, e, i, o and u), and almost every word has at least one.

History

"The origins of Hangman are obscure, but it seems to have arisen in Victorian times," says Tony Augarde, author of "The Oxford Guide to Word Games" (Oxford University Press). The game is mentioned in Alice Bertha Gomme's "Traditional Games" in 1894 under the name "Birds, Beasts and Fishes." (source: Wikipedia)

Play it in Your Browser

To start the game online, click the Launch Online button.

Browser requirements: Chrome, Firefox, Safari.