This game, like many of the others in the book, wil! improve if the database is extended to a larger size, for it chooses the words which you must guess from this data. This is the standard version of Hangman in which you are given a limited number of guesses at the letters in a word, and for each incorrect guess a part of a gallows containing a sentenced man will appear. Should the whole man be displayed on the screen then you have been hanged, and naturally you have lost! Instructions Hangman is really a game for one person against the computer, but it can be extended to a group activity by several people taking turns to guess a letter or each person having his own word and comparing the number of guesses needed to obtain the solution. When the program is executed, the user is asked to load the words in the database into the computer's memory. As explained previously, the length of time this takes is dependent on the number of words, and while it is happening it may appear that the computer is not functioning. When the process is over the screen shows the empty picture on the right and the title 'Hangman' on the left. The message 'selecting word' will flash while the computer examines its memory for a word at random. When it has chosen, a number of asterisks are shown, each one corresponding to a letter in the word. To play the game, just press the key corresponding to the letter which you think is in the word. If it is then it will appear in its correct position or positions, otherwise a portion of the picture will be drawn and the letter will appear in the used letters section of the screen. If you press a key which you have already used then a message is flashed on the screen and you can input another choice. The game finishes either when you have completed the word, in which case you win, or when the computer has drawn the gallows and man, in which case you have lost and the word is displayed on the screen. You have the option of another go or ending the program, and the computer takes action depending on your response to its prompt.
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