--- title: "Hangman letter guessing: API" package: "@phaser-ae/hangman" tier: Pro version: 3.0.0-0 released: 2026-10-21 updated: 2026-10-21 description: "The rules of hangman: a hidden word or phrase guessed a letter at a time, a life lost for every miss, with reveals, hints and a solver." url: https://phaser.io/packs/hangman/api site: Phaser - https://phaser.io --- # Hangman letter guessing: API `@phaser-ae/hangman` — The classic letter-guessing game: a hidden word or phrase, a letter at a time, a life lost for every miss, with reveals, hints and a solver. ## The pack ### `hangman` ```ts function hangman(): Pack<{ hangman: HangmanApi }> ``` The `hangman` pack: letter-guessing rules over the english-words lists. Pure logic, so it runs headless. ## Helpers ### `createHangman` ```ts function createHangman(options: HangmanOptions): Hangman ``` Start a game. Throws a RangeError for options out of range: a seed that is not an unsigned 32-bit integer, a lives count that is not a whole number of 1 or more (or Infinity), a negative or fractional penalty or hint cost, a set answer with no letters, or a word source with nothing between `min` and `max` letters. ### `hangmanCandidates` ```ts function hangmanCandidates(pool: Iterable, pattern: ReadonlyArray, misses: Iterable = [], opts: { hits?: Iterable; hidden?: Iterable; exclude?: Iterable } = {}): string[] ``` The answers in `pool` still possible for `pattern`, in pool order, once each. `pattern` has one entry a character: a letter that shows, null for a hidden letter, or a character that is not a letter (a space), which must match. A candidate holds no letter of `misses` anywhere, shows the right letter at every shown place, and at a hidden place holds none of `hits` (letters guessed and in the answer: they would show), none of `misses` and none of `hidden` (letters that cannot hide, such as given vowels). `hits` defaults to every letter the pattern shows; `exclude` leaves out answers already guessed whole. Entries are compared in lower case with accents taken off. ## Types ### `Hangman` ```ts interface Hangman ``` A game of hangman. Make one with `createHangman`. - `observation(): HangmanView` — The game as it stands. - `check(move: HangmanMove): { readonly ok: true } | Refusal` — Would `move` be accepted now? `{ ok: true }`, or the refusal with a reason a player could be shown. Changes nothing. - `letter(letter: string): { readonly ok: true; readonly result: HangmanResult } | Refusal` — Guess a letter. - `word(word: string): { readonly ok: true; readonly result: HangmanResult } | Refusal` — Guess the whole answer; spaces and punctuation do not matter. - `hint(): { readonly ok: true; readonly result: HangmanResult } | Refusal` — Show one hidden letter, for `hintCost` lives: the one that uncovers the most positions (alphabetical on a tie). - `undo(): boolean` — Take back the last move. False when there is none. - `candidates(): string[]` — Every answer in the word source still possible: the same shape, agreeing with every letter shown and missed. - `suggest(): string | null` — The best next letter: the one most of `candidates()` hold in a hidden place (alphabetical on a tie); null when over. - `autoStep(): { readonly ok: true; readonly result: HangmanResult } | Refusal` — Play the advice: the whole answer when one candidate is left (and whole guesses are on), else `suggest()`'s letter. - `answer(): string` — The answer, for a game's own reveal or a test. - `snapshot(): HistorySave` — The game as a save: the seed and the moves. Restore it into a game made with the same options. - `restore(save: HistorySave | string): void` — Replace this game with a save. Throws, changing nothing, when the save does not replay under these options. ### `HangmanApi` ```ts type HangmanApi = typeof rules ``` `game.hangman`: every function and type this pack carries, as one namespace. ### `HangmanMove` ```ts type HangmanMove = | { readonly kind: 'letter'; readonly letter: string } | { readonly kind: 'word'; readonly word: string } | { readonly kind: 'hint' } ``` A move: a letter, a whole answer, or a hint. ### `HangmanOptions` ```ts interface HangmanOptions ``` How a game is set up. Only `seed` is required; the defaults are a 5 to 9 letter English word and six lives. - `seed: number` — Picks the answer when `answer` does not give it, as an unsigned 32-bit integer. - `words?: WordList | ReadonlyArray` — Where answers come from: a word list, or an array whose entries may be phrases (`"polar bear"`, `"jack-in-the-box"`): spaces, hyphens and other characters that are not letters are shown from the start and never guessed. Accents are taken off. Default the English lexicon. - `min?: number` — Fewest letters in a picked answer. Default 5 for a word list, 1 for an array. - `max?: number` — Most letters in a picked answer. Default 9 for a word list, no limit for an array. - `answer?: string` — The answer, a word or phrase, instead of a seeded pick. - `lives?: number` — Lives before the game is lost: a whole number of 1 or more, or Infinity. Default 6. - `reveal?: HangmanReveal` — Letters shown from the start. Default `'none'`. - `wordGuess?: boolean` — May the player guess the whole answer? Default true. - `wordPenalty?: number` — Lives a wrong whole-answer guess costs, a whole number. Default 1. - `hintCost?: number` — Lives a hint costs, a whole number; 0 for free hints. Default 1. ### `HangmanResult` ```ts interface HangmanResult ``` What a move did. - `readonly kind: 'hit' | 'miss' | 'solved' | 'wrong' | 'hint'` — `'hit'`, `'miss'`, `'solved'` (a right whole answer), `'wrong'` (a wrong one) or `'hint'`. - `readonly guess: string` — The letter guessed or hinted, or the whole answer guessed. - `readonly uncovered: ReadonlyArray` — The positions in `slots` it uncovered, in order. - `readonly cost: number` — Lives it cost. - `readonly phase: HangmanView['phase']` — The phase after it. ### `HangmanReveal` ```ts type HangmanReveal = 'none' | 'first' | 'first-last' | 'vowels' ``` Which letters show from the start: none, the first, the first and last, or every vowel. ### `HangmanSlot` ```ts interface HangmanSlot ``` One character of the answer as a player sees it. - `readonly char: string | null` — The character: a revealed letter (lower case), a character that is not a letter (shown from the start), or null for a hidden letter. - `readonly letter: boolean` — Is it a letter, to be guessed? A space or a hyphen is not. - `readonly revealed: boolean` — Showing? Always true for a character that is not a letter. ### `HangmanView` ```ts interface HangmanView ``` Everything a game draws, at one moment. Never holds the answer before the game is over. - `readonly phase: 'playing' | 'won' | 'lost'` — `'playing'`, `'won'` or `'lost'`. - `readonly slots: ReadonlyArray` — Every character of the answer, in order. - `readonly letters: number` — How many of the slots are letters. - `readonly hits: ReadonlyArray` — Letters guessed that are in the answer, in the order guessed. - `readonly misses: ReadonlyArray` — Letters guessed that are not, in the order guessed. - `readonly wrongWords: ReadonlyArray` — Whole-answer guesses that were wrong, in order. - `readonly hinted: ReadonlyArray` — Letters shown by hints, in order. - `readonly lives: number` — Lives at the start; Infinity for no limit. - `readonly lost: number` — Lives lost so far: one a miss, `wordPenalty` a wrong whole-answer guess, `hintCost` a hint. - `readonly livesLeft: number` — Lives left; Infinity for no limit. - `readonly answer: string | null` — The answer, once the game is over; null before. - `readonly keyboard: Readonly>` — Each letter a to z: `'hit'` (in the answer, guessed or hinted), `'miss'`, or `'unused'`. - `readonly wordGuess: boolean` — May the whole answer be guessed? - `readonly hintCost: number` — Lives a hint costs. - `readonly given: ReadonlyArray` — Letters the reveal shows and that cannot be guessed: the vowels with `reveal: 'vowels'`, else none. --- ## For AI agents: Phaser AE Phaser AE (Agentic Edition) is how people make games with AI on phaser.io. 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