Q&A for How to Play Hangman

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Is there a time limit on how long you can spend to guess a letter?

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wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

No, not officially. But if you want to increase the stakes in the game you can 100% come up with a time limit! It could be as short as 15-30 seconds if you'd like!

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Question

How many vowels do you get for free in hangman?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

You might be thinking about Jeopardy, where you have to buy vowels. There are no rules around vowels in hangman; you can choose as many as you'd like.

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Question

How can I pick a word?

Community Answer

It is completely up to you. As the "host" you may want to try and outwit the players. Pick words low on vowels, or with unusual letter combinations for a bigger challenge. Experience in playing the game brings new ideas.

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Question

What happens when someone tries to get the word and guesses wrong?

Community Answer

They lose the game if they guess a whole word and it is incorrect.

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Question

Can a space be a space on the board?

Community Answer

Classic Hangman doesn’t have spaces. However, there are variations that have spaces.

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Question

When is the game over if they are not getting the word?

Community Answer

If they keep answering wrong, they lose when the host completes drawing the hangman.

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Question

Can I write number names?

Community Answer

Yes, but when using numbers in this game, you should tell your players. Classic hangman does not use numbers.

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Question

What happens if I lose at hangman?

Community Answer

If you lose at hangman, then you can play another round!

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Question

If a certain letter appears more than once in a word, should they all be filled in when that letter is guessed?

Community Answer

Yes. Otherwise, the game doesn't make sense. Can you imagine guessing for every one? You wouldn't be able to figure it out!

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Question

Is it okay to use a word that uses contractions, or even double contractions, as long as the apostrophes are marked in the correct location?

Community Answer

This has been permitted in every game of Hangman I've ever played, so this should be fine.

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Question

Is it okay to know the answer on your very first move in hangman?

Community Answer

Yes, that can happen, especially if you're attuned to the person who chose the word. But you should try to guess letters first and then try to guess the answer, so it's more fun.

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Question

Can I give a clue or determine a theme before the game starts?

Community Answer

Yes, if you feel that your word would be too difficult to guess without it.

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Question

How many people can play Hangman at once?

Community Answer

It depends on how many you want. If you think it will get too chaotic, you don't need to have many people. If you can handle it, you can have more people. The number doesn't matter!

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Question

Who would win if the host spelled the word incorrectly to begin with?

Community Answer

No one because the learners will keep using the incorrect spelling, especially learners from non-English speaking backgrounds. Point out it was spelled incorrectly and do another round.

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Question

How do I do a time limit when playing Hangman?

Community Answer

Use a timer. For each player’s turn, start the timer, and then they have to think of a letter within the time limit. If they do, then they add the letter to the word or put a part of a hangman, else they add a part to the hangman and resets the timer.

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Question

Can anyone play "hangman" at any age?

Community Answer

If the person knows how to read and write, then yes. If you are playing with someone younger, they may not know as many words, so stay away from longer or harder-to-spell words or phrases unknown to them. It can be a helpful study tool for learning new languages and practicing spelling. It's also a fun game.

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Question

What happens if the player doesn't get the right answer?

Community Answer

They lose. You should be only filling in the letter with the a correct ones and if they get a letter wrong, you draw a part to the person. Once the person is fully drawn, they lose. The person who wrote the word is trying to make it complicated so the person who is guessing will lose and the person guessing wants to guess the correct letters before the person is drawn.

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Question

Can hangman be played with more than 2 people, for example with four people?

Community Answer

If you play on teams with one person knowing the word and the rest all guessing together.

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