What you need
A pencil and paper, a whiteboard, or our printable hangman sheet with six ready-made games (gallows, word dashes, an alphabet to cross off and six wrong-guess boxes). Two players are enough; a whole class can guess as one team against the teacher.
Setup
One player is the setter. They think of a word, keep it secret, and draw one dash for each letter. Agree first what counts: most players allow only ordinary dictionary words and exclude names, places, abbreviations and slang. Phrases are fine if you leave a clear gap between words.
The setter also draws the gallows: a base, a post and a beam. The others are the guessers.
How to play
- A guesser calls one letter.
- If the letter is in the word, the setter writes it on every dash where it appears. A word with two Es shows both.
- If the letter is not in the word, the setter adds one part to the stick figure and writes the letter to one side, so nobody calls it again.
- Guessers take turns (or one player guesses throughout in a two-player game). Crossing letters off the printed alphabet helps everyone keep track.
- At any time a guesser may try to say the whole word. If they are right, the round is over. If they are wrong, it usually counts as a wrong guess.
The usual drawing order for wrong guesses is head, body, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg: six mistakes allowed. You can give more chances by adding a face, hands and feet, or by drawing the gallows one stroke per mistake.
Scoring and winning
The guessers win if they reveal the word before the drawing is complete. The setter wins if the drawing is finished first. Then the roles change: the player who guessed the word, or the next player in turn, becomes the setter. To keep score, give a point to each round’s winner, or count how many wrong guesses each word cost.
Common variants
- No gallows: where a hanged figure is not suitable, for example in class, count wrong guesses another way, such as crossing apples off a drawn tree or building a snowman. The rules are identical.
- Category clue: the setter announces a topic (animals, countries) or gives a definition. Useful for vocabulary practice in a foreign language.
- Two-player race: each player sets a word for the other and you alternate guesses; the first to solve the opponent’s word wins.
- Harder rounds: limit the number of vowels a guesser may call, or forbid the most common letters.
Tips for first games
- Start with vowels. Almost every English word has at least one of A, E, I, O, U.
- Then try the most common consonants. The twelve most frequent letters in English, in order, are E T A O I N S H R D L U.
- Look at the pattern: a word ending in _ _ N G is often -ING.
- As a setter, short words with rare letters are hard. Words such as jazz, fizz and rhythm are famously difficult.
- With young children, choose words they can read and allow ten wrong guesses.
Frequently asked questions
How many wrong guesses do you get? Six with the standard drawing (head, body, two arms, two legs). Agree on a different number before you start if you like.
Can you guess the whole word? Yes, at any time. A wrong full-word guess normally costs one part of the drawing.
Are names and places allowed? Usually not. Most rules allow only words from a standard dictionary, but you can agree otherwise.
Is there a version without the hanged man? Yes. Any drawing or tally works: apples crossed off a tree, a snowman, a flower losing petals.
Who sets the next word? The player who guessed the word, or simply the next player in turn.
