Two-Player Hangman

How it works

Your word is scrambled into the end of the link, after the # sign. That part of a link stays in the browser: it isn't sent to our server, it doesn't show up in our analytics, and the answer isn't readable at a glance if someone sees the link. When your friend opens it, the game starts straight away with your clue and your choice of guesses.

Words can be up to 40 characters and can include spaces, apostrophes and hyphens, so phrases like "piece of cake" or "jack o'lantern" work. Spaces and punctuation are shown from the start.

Ways to play

• Across the room: one person sets, the other solves on the same phone or laptop. Use "Play it here".
• Across the world: send the link in a message. Grandparents and grandchildren take turns setting words.
• In class: students set words for a partner from this week's spelling list. Spelling the word correctly to set it is half the exercise.

Setting more than one word, or a game for a whole class? Use the hangman maker. Short of ideas? The good hangman words and hardest hangman words lists show how many misses each word costs.

Choosing a good word to send

The best two-player words are ones the other person definitely knows but won't guess quickly. Our solver's scores are a useful guide: words it solves with no misses, such as long everyday words, are friendly openers, while short words with one vowel and an uncommon consonant are where games are won and lost. If you want to be kind, add a clue. If you want to be fair, keep it to a word the other player could spell.

Check your spelling before you make the link: the game can only accept the letters you typed, so a misspelled word becomes impossible to solve. The "Show what I'm typing" box helps when you're setting a word on a phone.