top of page
craigarthurbooks

Reimagining classic games 2: Hangman and 20 questions

On a fundamental level, Hangman and 20 questions work the same: guess your opponent’s secret selection within a set number of turns. The former is for words, the latter is for objects/things.


I always thought it strange that despite being two player games, only one player got to guess.

So I tried playing them in duel format: where both players make a secret selection and then take turns inquiring about the other’s.


Suddenly, each question felt more urgent because you didn't know how many turns until your opponent figures you out.

(This also fixed the problematic nature of children playing a game that involves drawing someone being hanged!)


Then, I had a brainwave. What happens if you combine them?


The resulting game is:


Pass-word (1v1)


AIM OF THE GAME: To guess the other players word before they guess yours.

Both players select a secret word.

Then you take turns asking your opponent yes or no questions to gather information about their word. You must answer questions 100% truthfully with a yes or no answer.

Instead of asking a question on your turn, you can try and guess the other players word.

The first player to correctly guess their opponents word, wins!


That’s it! It’s as simple as that...


Just make sure to ask for clarification if you are confused by a questions, as a misunderstanding can ruin the game.

Pass-word: Hangman and 20 questions combined.
Hang up, I can ask other questions now?

Any questions?


On first play this might just feel a bit like a drawn out version (see what I did there) of hangman, as at the start you don't even know how many letters the other player's word has, or where correct letters go.


However, then you realise the question format allows you to create binary choices.


Instead of asking:

“Is your word 8 letters long?”

You can ask:

“Is your word less than 8 letters long?”

Now instead of only ruling out one option, you’ve ruled out many!


It also adds more variety to the base version of hangman.

In 20 questions you might ask: “is it an animal?”

Now, in pass-word, you can ask: “Is this word a noun?”


You don’t have to ask one letter at a time either, you can ask combinations of letters, for example:

“Does your word end with -ing?”


You can focus more on the features of words:

“Does your word have more than 2 syllables?”


I played with a linguistics’ major who asked me about hard and soft sounds. (I asked for clarification, though their reply didn’t help me much!)


Here are a couple of questions I’ve found very effective for narrowing things down:

“Does your word have any adjacent vowels?”

“Does your word have any repeating consonants?”



Why this works


The beauty of this game is that the rules are super easy to explain, so it isn’t hard to teach, but it takes a few tries to master.


With the right questions the game won't take much longer than a regular game of hangman, and allows for much more player freedom.


The fact you are competing against an opponent, but you don't know how close they are to your word gives the game a boost of adrenaline.


Also being able to guess a word outright means no matter how far behind you are, you still have a chance to win! (especially if you know your opponent well)


As always, the best way to learn is to play, so give it a go and tell me what you think!




Comments


bottom of page