Hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game for two players. One player thinks of a word and the other tries to guess it by suggesting letters. Paper and pencil games are games that can be played solely with pencil and paper. ... A guessing game is a game in which the object is to guess some kind of information, such as a word, a phrase, a title, or the location of an object. ... Look up Letter on Wiktionary, the free dictionary A letter is a written message from one party to another. ...

The word to guess is represented by a row of dashes, giving the number of letters. If the guessing player suggests a letter which occurs in the word, the other player writes it in all its correct positions. If the suggested letter does not occur in the word, the other player draws one element of the hangman diagram. The game is over when:

• the guessing player completes the word, or guesses the whole word correctly
• the other player completes the diagram:

 +----+ |/ | | O | /| | /  -+- 

 -a-g-a- 

This diagram is, in fact, designed to look like a hanging man. Although debates have arisen about the questionable taste of this picture, it is still in use today.

The exact nature of the diagram differs; some players draw the gallows before play and draw parts of the man's body (traditionally the head, then the torso, then the left arm, then the right arm, then the left leg, then the right leg). These gallows in Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park are maintained by Arizona State Parks. ...

Some players begin with no diagram at all, and drawing the individual elements of the gallows as part of the game, effectively giving the guessing players more chances.

Some modifications to game play, such as "'buying' a vowel" result from the television game show Wheel of Fortune, created by Merv Griffin. Wheel of Fortune intro (1983–1989) Wheel of Fortune is a television game show originally devised by Merv Griffin which runs in local editions around the world. ... Merv(yn) Edward Griffin, Jr. ...

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." The rules are simple; a player writes down the first and last letters of a word for an animal, and the other player guesses the letters in between. 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

In other sources the game is called "Gallows" or "The Game of Hanging".

Strategy

In the English language, the 12 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 forced to guess. ETAOIN SHRDLU is the approximate order of frequency of the twelve most commonly used letters in the English language. ... CAN SOMEONE PLEASE ADD INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO GENERATE LETTER FREQUENCY TABLES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES (i. ...

On the other hand, the same lists can be used by the hangman (the non-guessing player) to stump his/her opponent.

Example game

The following example game illustrates a player trying to guess the word hangman using a strategy based solely on letter frequency.

1	Word: ....... Misses: Guess: E
2	Word: ....... Misses: e Guess: T
3	Word: ....... Misses: e,t Guess: A
4	Word: .A...A. Misses: e,t Guess: O
5	Word: .A...A. Misses: e,o,t Guess: I
6	Word: .A...A. Misses: e,i,o,t Guess: N
7	Word: .AN..AN Misses: e,i,o,t Guess: S
8	Word: .AN..AN Misses: e,i,o,s,t Guess: H
9	Word: HAN..AN Misses: e,i,o,s,t Guess: R
10	Word: HAN..AN Misses: e,i,o,r,s,t Guess: N/A
Guesser loses

Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Created by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

See also

• Wikipedia's Hangman

External links

• Hangman at MobyGames
• Multilingual Hangman - Online hangman game in many languages
• Goobix Hangman - interactive, browser-playable, with English words
• Braingle's Hang Glider - Flash version of the game with high scores