Play Hangman Online - Free Brain Game

Play Hangman Online
<< Back to Free Brain Games page

Ready to play Hangman online? Hangman is a fun brain game that builds concentration and vocabulary.

The object of Hangman is to guess the hidden word before your stick man is "hung". This is the same game that you may have played on paper as a child.

HOW TO PLAY. Click the "New Game button" to display the blank underlines for the first word to solve.

To guess a letter, type any letter of the alphabet into the box to the left of the New Game button. Then press the ENTER key on your keyboard.

If the letter you guessed forms part of the hidden word, the letter appears in one or more of the blanks in the word.

If the letter is not in the word, the message "Incorrect" appears and a stick is added to the hangman. If you make too many wrong guesses, you will be hung, of course!

HINT. This version of hangman is hard, but not impossible. I got 10 in a row the first time I tried it.

How did I do it? I let you in on a little secret that every cryptographer and fan of Edgar Alan Poe probably knows:

Certain letters appear more commonly in English words than other letters. So if you know the order of the most common letters, you get a head start in games like Hangman.

Poe created one of the first of these "letter frequency" sequences. He used it to solve a mystery in his awesome short story, The Gold Bug (one of my favorites).

The sequence he came up with was "ETAOINSHRDLU". If you memorize this sequence, you should do great whenever you play Hangman online or any similar game such as Wheel of Fortune.

I remember the ETAOINSHRDLU sequence by using the memory technique called "chunking". Chunking just means to break it down into smaller bits.

My chunks are "E" + "TAO" + "IN" + "SHR" + "D" + "LU". It has a certain rhythm to it that makes it easy to remember after you repeat it a few times.

Following this pattern, whenever you play Hangman online (or on paper) you should always guess "E" first. Then guess "T". Then "A". And so on.

Make sure to pay attention to the word as you go along! As soon as there are enough letters for you to figure out what the word is, then let your thinking brain take over. Just use ETAOINSHRDLU to get you started.

Game distributed by Google Inc. as a free Google Gadget. Used with Permission.

FOR BEST RESULTS: It's fun to play Hangman online, but the game is limited. To really improve your brain, join the Lumosity brain training service. I use Lumosity every day, and it works.

What it is. Lumosity has scientifically designed games that increase brain power. Each game trains a different skill such as memory, concentration, or mental speed. You play the games online in your browser.

A Lumosity session takes about 15 minutes per day. It is an effective, enjoyable way to keep your brain sharp.

Included free are customized brain training "courses" that boost core brain function (memory, attention, etc.) and peak performance (fluid intelligence, advanced memory). Other free, included courses are designed specifically for students and even medical conditions (ADHD, TBI, cancer recovery).

Try It Free for Two Weeks. Subscriptions to Lumosity cost about $7 per month. The first two weeks of the subscription is free but does require a credit card to limit free trials to one person.

Give Lumosity a try for a week. Many people say it has changed their lives. Lumosity just might be right for you! If for some reason it's not, cancel during the free trial and it won't cost you anything.

How to Sign Up. First, go to the Lumosity website and see for yourself what it's all about. When you are ready to sign up for the free trial, click the Create Account link at the top of the page to get started.

<< Back from Play Hangman Online to Free Brain Games