| Hangman | |
| Developer: | Atari, Inc. |
| Publisher: | Atari, Inc. |
| Designer: | Alan Miller |
| Platforms: | Atari 2600 |
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Modes: | Single-player, two-player |
Hangman is a video game based on the pen-and-paper game of the same name released in 1978 by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS (renamed to the Atari 2600 in 1982).[1]
The game was programmed by Alan Miller, who later cofounded Activision, with cover art by Susan Jaekel.[2] The game was coded in assembly code.
As in the traditional game of Hangman, the player must guess the letter of a hidden word, with each wrong guess resulting in a piece being added to a gallows, with the game ending either when the gallows is completed or when the word has been fully guessed. The player can select from a range of four difficulty levels from first grade to high school. The words have a maximum length of six characters. Instead of the traditional man to be hanged being shown in the picture, a monkey is shown hanging from the gallows by its arm. Hangman contains 510 words divided into four difficulty levels.[3] A timed mode where the player has to guess before a time limit expires is also available.
The game may be played in single-player mode, or in a two-player mode where the players play together. In one-player mode the player has 11 attempts at guessing before the gallows is constructed. In two-player mode, guessing may go on until one player wins.
Contemporary reviewers were unimpressed with the game. UK-based TV Gamer described it as "poor value for money" as it differed little from the pen-and-paper version of the game.[4] A review in the 1983 Book of Atari Software described it as a "nice implementation of the classic game" but also criticised the graphics, and gave the game a rating of "B" overall.[5]
In a retrospective review in Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide, Brett Weiss described it as "a passable rendition of a classic game.