Hangman is a classic guessing game where one player thinks of a word and another player tries to figure it out, one letter at a time. The player who knows the word draws a series of blank spaces, one for each letter. The guesser suggests letters: if they guess correctly, those letters get filled in. If they guess wrong, the other player draws one part of a simple stick figure. The game continues until either the word is complete or the stick figure is finished.

The name comes from the drawing itself, which traditionally shows a wooden frame and a stick figure. Each wrong guess adds another body part: first the head, then the body, then arms and legs. The guesser wins by completing the word before the drawing is complete.

Hangman works well with vocabulary words or topics you're studying. It helps players think about letter patterns and common combinations. Words with unusual letters like Q or Z make the game harder, while words with common letters like E, T, and A tend to be easier to guess. Some people play that you can only guess consonants at first, or that you get extra guesses for longer words.

The game teaches strategic thinking: experienced players guess common vowels early and look for letter patterns they recognize in other words.