Directions for Parker Brothers' Hangman

Give one tray to each player. Each player should place the tray so that the display window on the front is facing the opponent.

Turn the dial by moving the knob in the center in the direction of the arrow. Stop when the number 11 appears at the top. The display window on the front should now be blank.

Choose a number along with the opponent that is eight digits or less. Both players must agree upon the same number.

Pick a word for your opponent to have to guess. The number of letters in the word must be the agreed upon number. Keep the word a secret from the opponent. Chosen words must be found in a standard dictionary and cannot be proper nouns, contractions, hyphenated words or slang. See Resources for a list of common acceptable words.

Place letter tiles in the front slots of your tray so that they spell out your chosen word. Spell the word again using the slots at the top of the tray. This time, the chosen word should be backwards. Both words should be facing you. Each player must complete this step.

Take turns guessing letters in each others' words by calling them out to your opponent. The player whose name starts with a letter closest to H goes first. Alternate the first player after each game.

Turn the letter tile around so that the opponent can read it if the letter she guessed is in the secret word. Turn around all letter tiles that match the guessed letter. If the opponent does not want to guess the secret word, you get a turn. If the opponent guesses the secret word incorrectly, turn the dial toward the arrow so that part of the hangman is displayed.

Move the dial in the direction of the arrow if the opponent guesses the wrong letter. This will expose part of the hangman in the display window and the number at the top will decrease.

Continue taking turns until one of the players either guesses the correct word or has the complete hangman image displayed due to guessing the wrong letter or word.