Hangman · Complete guide
Hangman: how to play, where it came from, and how to win
Six wrong guesses and the drawing is finished. A Victorian parlour game that turned out to be a lesson in information theory — and the direct ancestor of Wordle.
One player picks a word and draws a dash for each letter. The other guesses letters. Every hit is written into all of its places at once; every miss costs a life and adds one more line to the drawing. Six misses and it is over.
What makes hangman worth taking seriously is that a wrong guess tells you almost nothing. A hit gives you a letter and its positions; a miss gives you one letter of the alphabet back. The information is wildly lopsided, which is why the game punishes curiosity and rewards knowing which letters appear in the most words.
The usual advice — the frequency order ETAOIN SHRDLU — is drawn from running text, and hangman is not running text. It deals one word at a time, so the and to stop inflating T, while plurals and verb endings push S up the list. Open with E, take two or three vowels, then go to S, R, N and T.
Past that, stop guessing the alphabet and start guessing the word: endings like ING, ED, TION and LY narrow the field faster than any single letter, and the strongest players pick guesses that split the remaining candidates evenly rather than guesses most likely to hit. And when it is your turn to choose, remember that length is not difficulty — JAZZ beats ASTONISHED every time.
How to play
One letter at a time, six wrong guesses, and a drawing that finishes without you. The full rules, the conventions people argue about, and the variants that change the game.
Where it comes from
First recorded in 1894 as a game with no gallows in it, spread by playgrounds rather than publishers, boxed by Milton Bradley in 1976 — and reinvented as Wordle in 2021.
- The earliest record is Alice Gomme's 1894 collection, where the game has no drawing at all.
- In that version the chooser reveals the first and last letters of an animal's name.
- The gallows caught on because a stick figure is a clear, tense way to count six lives.
- Milton Bradley boxed it in 1976 with Vincent Price; Atari released a cartridge in 1978.
How to win
The opening order that actually beats ETAOIN SHRDLU, how to read a pattern instead of the alphabet, how to guess for information rather than for hits, and which words to choose when it is your turn to be cruel.
- Open with E, then A, I and O — but stop at two or three vowels, not five.
- S is worth more in hangman than its text frequency suggests; T is worth less.
- Word endings — ING, ED, TION, LY — narrow the field faster than any single letter.
- The best guess splits the remaining candidates evenly, rather than being most likely to hit.
Common questions
How many guesses do you get in Hangman?
Six in the classic game, one for each part of the figure. Ten- and thirteen-part versions are common in schools, so agree the number before you start.
What is the best letter to start with?
E, which appears in more English words than any other letter. Then A, I and O — but stop at two or three vowels and switch to S, R, N and T.
What is the hardest word in Hangman?
Short words with few distinct letters and rare ones: JAZZ, FUZZY, BUZZ, QUIZ, JINX. Long words made of common letters, like ASTONISHED, are much easier than they look.
Does guessing the whole word cost a life?
In the standard convention, yes. Without that rule there is no reason not to guess constantly, which removes the only real decision in the game.
Where does Hangman come from?
The earliest record is Alice Gomme's 1894 collection of traditional games, where it appears as Birds, Beasts and Fishes — with no gallows in it at all.
Guides
Play Hangman free, right now
No sign-up, no download — it runs in your browser against the computer, a friend on the same device, or a friend online.