Hangman

Updated by Darryl Waterhouse on 3 November 2026 6 min read

Put Hangman on your website. You type a list of words or short phrases; visitors guess them letter by letter before the drawing is finished, and the best go top of the leaderboard. Hangman is a Pro Tool, and can be gifted to a site.

What it does

You type the words. One word or short phrase a line, up to 2,000. Each line is checked as you type, so you see straight away if one cannot be used.
Phrases are fine. Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes ("Jack-in-the-box", "Don't panic") are shown to players from the start and never guessed. Accents are dropped (Café is CAFE) and Ø, Æ and ß are spelled out. Other characters (numbers, &, !) and letters outside A to Z, such as Greek, are refused, so a word never comes out different from the one you typed.
Two ways to play:
- Random - every go draws its own round of words from your list, so people can play again and again.
- Daily - everyone gets the same words each day, one go per name per day. Day 1 plays the first words of your list, day 2 the next, and so on.
A round is 1 to 20 words (5 unless you change it). Each word ends solved (every letter found) or lost (out of wrong guesses), then the next one comes up.
Wrong guesses allowed a word: 4 to 10 (6 is the classic game).
Two drawings, chosen for the whole site in the settings (the cog at the top of Hangman):
- Classic - a friendly stick figure on a simple frame, a piece for each wrong guess.
- Balloons - the figure holds a balloon for each wrong guess allowed, and each wrong guess pops one. Gentler, for family and children's sites.
An optional category shown above the word as a clue ("Animals", "Films").
Leaderboards: most words solved first, then the fewest wrong guesses, then the fastest. Today, this week, this month and all time, best go per name.
The words stay on the server. A player's browser only ever gets blanks for letters not yet found, and the letters tried so far. A word is shown in full only once it is over.
Hints if you want them: each shows one letter of the word in play and adds seconds to the time (never a wrong guess).
Optional time limit for the round, opening and closing times, and a limit on goes per name.
On-screen A to Z keyboard for phones and tablets, and the real keyboard on a computer.
Personal best on the finished screen, and a Share button that never gives a word away.
Animations - letters pop in, the drawing draws itself, balloons pop. Visitors who asked for less motion never see them.

Getting started

Switch Hangman on in Tools.
Open Tools > Games > Hangman and choose New game.
Give it a title and type your words, one a line. Pasting a list works too (one per line, or separated by commas).
Pick Random or Daily under How it is played. A daily game needs a First day.
Press Test and play it yourself (see below).
Set the status to Open and save.
Put it on any page:

[hangman id="animals" /]

Every setting

The game

Title - shown to players.
Short name - used in the shortcode. Made from the title when left empty.
Status - Draft (not shown anywhere), Open (playable), Closed (the leaderboard still shows, no new goes).
Category shown to players - optional clue above the word.
Introduction - shown before a player starts.

Words and phrases - one a line. 3 letters at least, 40 characters at most. A line twice, or a word that is not allowed in a game (the same list that keeps rude names off the leaderboards), is refused.

How it is played

Mode - Random or Daily (see above).
First day (daily) - the day the first words come out. The editor shows when your words run out. Once a day has been played its words cannot change (reset the plays first if you really must); later days can.
Words a go - 1 to 20. Random games with fewer words than this play all of them.
Wrong guesses allowed a word - 4 to 10.

Rules and leaderboard

Time limit (minutes) - for the whole round. Out of time means off the leaderboard. 0 is no limit.
Goes each (random games) - 0 is as many as they like. Daily games are always one go per name per day.
Leaderboard size and Leaderboard opens on - how many names, and which period shows first.
Opens and Closes - optional dates and times.
Show a leaderboard and Animations - on unless you switch them off.

Hints - switch them on, then choose how many a go (1 to 10) and how many seconds each one adds. A hint never shows the last letter left - that one is the player's to find.

Settings (the cog at the top of Hangman) - the drawing for every game: Classic or Balloons.

Testing a game

Test (in the editor, on each game in the list, and on its Plays screen) opens the game right there in the admin, exactly as your players will see it.

It plays the version you last saved. With unsaved changes the button says Save and test, and saves first.
It works whatever the status, so you can try a draft before anyone can see it. A daily game tests today's words, or day 1's before it starts.
A test go is never saved to the leaderboard, is not in the Plays list, does not count towards anyone's goes and raises no notification. When you finish, it tells you where you would have come.

Shortcodes

The game, with its leaderboard below it:

[hangman id="animals" /]

The game without its leaderboard, or the leaderboard alone where the game would be:

[hangman id="animals" board="hide" /]
[hangman id="animals" board="only" /]

The leaderboard anywhere else, for a period of your choice (today, week, month or all), with an optional limit and title:

[hangman-leaderboard id="animals" period="week" limit="5" title="This week's champions" /]

Plays and leaderboards

Plays (on each game) lists every go: the name, words solved of the round, wrong guesses (and hints) beside the name, and the time. Hide takes a play off the leaderboard without deleting it (a rude name, a known cheat); Show puts it back. Reset the leaderboard… deletes every play of that game.

Moving games between sites

Export a game from its menu in the list (right-click it, or ⋮), or from the download button at the top of its editor. Export all puts every game in one file. The file holds the words and settings, never who played them.

Import… at the top of the list adds the games in such a file to this site. Each arrives as a draft with no first day (pick one for a daily game), every word is checked again, and a game whose short name is taken gets one of its own (animals-2). Up to 50 games at a time.

Notifications

Hangman new top score - someone has gone top of a random game's all-time leaderboard.
Hangman daily game running out of words - an open daily game has words for 7 days or fewer. Add more to the end of the list.

The sidebar shows how many games were finished today, and warns when an open daily game has run out of words.

Gifting

Hangman can be gifted to a site by Domma, for good or for a number of days, like the other Games.