Create Basic Hangman Game in Java

History Of Hangman Game?

The history of Hangman dates back to the 18th century, believed to have originated in Europe. It’s a traditional paper-and-pencil guessing game where one player thinks of a word and draws a blank line for each letter of that word. The other player guesses letters to fill in the blanks, attempting to solve the word within a limited number of incorrect guesses. If the guesser fails to solve the word before completing a drawing of a hanging man, they lose.

Though its origins are unclear, Hangman has been widely popularized as a word game in different cultures and has appeared in various formats and adaptations across the world. It’s commonly used for educational purposes, entertainment, and language learning, continuing to be a fun and challenging pastime for players of all ages.

How to create Basic Hangman Game in Java?

• Accept secret word input from the console using Scanner class.
  • We will enter secret word from console
• Initialize the game with maximum attempts.
  • Also, Initialize an empty array for guessed letters.
  • Display underscores for each letter in the secret word.
• Allow the player to input a letter.
  • Handle guesses.
• Check if the guessed letter matches any in the secret word
  • If matched, then update the displayed word accordingly.
• Otherwise, Reduce attempts for incorrect guesses.
• Repeat until the word is guessed or attempts run out.
• Display success or failure messages based on the game’s outcome.

Program: Create Basic Hangman Game in Java

import java.util.Scanner;

public class HangmanGame {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

        System.out.print("Enter the secret word: ");
        String secretWord = scanner.nextLine().toLowerCase(); // Take the secret word as input

        int attempts = 6; // Set maximum attempts
        StringBuilder guessedLetters = new StringBuilder();

        char[] wordToGuess = new char[secretWord.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < secretWord.length(); i++) { wordToGuess[i] = '_'; // Initialize wordToGuess with underscores } boolean gameWon = false; while (attempts > 0 && !gameWon) {
            System.out.println("Word to guess: " + String.valueOf(wordToGuess));
            System.out.println("Attempts left: " + attempts);
            System.out.print("Enter a letter: ");
            char guess = scanner.next().toLowerCase().charAt(0); // Take a letter as input

            if (guessedLetters.toString().indexOf(guess) != -1) {
                System.out.println("You already guessed that letter!");
                continue;
            }

            guessedLetters.append(guess);
            boolean letterFound = false;

            for (int i = 0; i < secretWord.length(); i++) {
                if (secretWord.charAt(i) == guess) {
                    wordToGuess[i] = guess;
                    letterFound = true;
                }
            }

            if (!letterFound) {
                attempts--;
            }

            if (String.valueOf(wordToGuess).equals(secretWord)) {
                gameWon = true;
            }
        }

        if (gameWon) {
            System.out.println("Congratulations! You guessed the word: " + secretWord);
        } else {
            System.out.println("Sorry, you've run out of attempts. The word was: " + secretWord);
        }

        scanner.close();
    }
}

Output: Play Basic Hangman game in Java

Word to guess: ________
Attempts left: 6
Enter a letter: l
Word to guess: l_______
Attempts left: 6
Enter a letter: e
Word to guess: l__r___g
Attempts left: 6
Enter a letter: a
Word to guess: l__r__ng
Attempts left: 6
Enter a letter: r
Word to guess: l__rning
Attempts left: 6
Enter a letter: n
Congratulations! You guessed the word: Learning