Hang2000 Help Index

Click on one of the following terms for more detailed information:

Program Information

File Menu

Edit Menu

Words Menu

MaxGuesses Menu


Program Information

Hang2000 is a shareware game. It is not free. It is distributed on a 14-Day Free Trial basis. If you, your children, or your parents, enjoy using it, please send a donation of US$20 to the author. Upon receipt of the requested donation, you will be sent a serial number by return mail (or immediately by email, if you include your return email address.) This serial number can be used to “unlock” the program, enabling all features, and eliminating “nag” screens.

Secure online registration is also available at:

http://www.winograd.com

When registering this program, please make sure to specify whether you are using the Windows or the Macintosh version.

Schools: An inexpensive Site License is now available. A fee of  $100 (US$) covers the use of the program on all computers in any one building (a single site.) Whether you have 5 computers or 500, this single fee covers all of them, as long as they are all under the same roof. (Questions: email: ken@winograd.com)

Ken Winograd

Space-Time Associates

15 Hutchinson Road

Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054 USA

email: ken@winograd.com


File Menu

New Game - Select this item to immediately begin a new game. Normally, at the conclusion of one game, a new game is automatically begun.  If, however, you wish to interrupt a game-in-progress (such as to select a different category or change the number of guesses), you can select the New Game option.

Reset Current Statistics – Select this item to reset the Current Statistics. This will zero the Games, Wins, Losses and Winning Streak counters. (Note: click the Statistics area at the top of the Hang2000 window to toggle between the current and the cumulative statistics.)

Reset Cumulative Statistics – Select this item to reset the Cumulative Statistics.  This will zero the Total Games, Total Wins, Total Losses and Program Starts counters. (Note: click the Statistics area at the top of the Hang2000 window to toggle between the current and the cumulative statistics.)

Display High Scores – Select this item to display the Hang2000 High Scores dialog. The Hang2000 High Scores Dialog shows the top ten winning streaks. Each line shows the name of the player, the winning streak, and the category of words chosen during the winning streak. There are actually five different sets of High Score lists, one for each level of difficulty. Players are scored against other players who choose to play at the same difficulty level.

Note: If you wish to clear the high scores, press the Shift and the Control key at the same time and then select Display High Scores from the File Menu. This will invoke the “secret” Clear High Scores Dialog. This will only clear the high scores corresponding to the level of difficulty that is currently set (according to the MaxGuesses Menu.)

Register – This program is shareware. It is not free. If after playing the game, you decide you would like to keep the game, you should send the author the requested shareware donation. See the “About…” Dialog in the File Menu for more information. In return, you will be sent (by regular mail, or immediately by email if you include your return email address) a serial number that you can enter into this dialog. Once entered and accepted, you will be a registered user of the game, and all features of the game will be enabled. “Nag” screens will also be eliminated.

Contact Author – Select one of the first three items to copy the author’s email address, web site address, or regular mailing address to the Clipboard. Select “Visit Web Page” or “Online Registration” to automatically start your browser (if it is not already running) and automatically enter the author’s web address into the URL field. You can learn more about this and other programs by the author, and/or register the program online at this web address (http://www.winograd.com).

About Hang2000 – Select this item to display information about the program, the author, etc.

Exit – Select this item to quit the program. If a winning streak is in progress, you will be given a chance to decide whether to quit and end the winning streak, or to return to the game without quitting.


Edit Menu

Sound On/Off - This program utilizes digitized sound. Select this “Sound On/Off” menu item to toggle the sound effects on or off.  If the sound is on, there will be a checkmark next to this menu option.

Scoring On/Off - Select this menu item to enable or disable the scoring. Hang2000 can operate with Scoring turned on or off.  When Scoring is OFF (as it is by default), the program does not keep official count of winning streaks. The program will not warn you if you quit in the middle of a winning streak, and the program will allow you to change the number of guesses in mid-streak, since “it’s just for fun.” There are fewer possible interruptions to the game when you are NOT scoring.

But, if Scoring is ON, the program will keep track of winning streaks. As such, the program will warn you if you try to quit or change the number of guesses in the middle of a winning streak (which could end a winning streak).

Note: the programs continues to keep statistics about games played (displayed at the top of the main window) no matter whether you have Scoring on or off.


Words Menu

Hang2000 includes a variety of different methods of choosing the next word to be guessed. You will probably find all of these methods useful at different times. You can enter a word one word at a time, you can  use words from a list that you supply (a vocabulary list, for instance), or, you can let the program randomly choose a word from among built-in categories of words you select.

Enter Word... - Select this menu item to enter your own word one at a time. This is a fun way to play the game if  two (or more) people are playing together. If you would like to enter your own word, or short phrase, (while your friend turns his or her back), you should choose this option. The word, or short phrase, should be 26 characters in length or less. Optionally, you can also enter some related information about the word or phrase entered. This extra information will be displayed at the conclusion of the current game.

Edit Custom Words... - Select this item to bring up the “Edit Custom Words” Dialog. This dialog allows you to enter and modify a list of words, perhaps from a weekly vocabulary list. Later, words from this list can be randomly chosen for use in the game. This is the “word management dialog”. It is here that you can customize the words used in the game for different students, for different grades, for different children, etc.

A typical use of this dialog is as follows: type the first word to be guessed in the “enter the word” edit text field, the press the TAB key on the keyboard to move to the “information” edit text field. Type in any associated information about the word or phrase entered above. Then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Note that the “Add Word/Info” button is the default button, so pressing RETURN is the same as clicking that button.   Then continue this process to enter as many words (and any associated information) as you like. Enter the word, TAB to enter the info, press RETURN and start again.  If you’d like you can SAVE the list, or just click the DONE button.  The program remembers whatever is in the list when you exit this dialog as being “the custom words”. Anytime you select “Use Custom Words” from the Words Menu, these custom words will be used.

Add Word/Info - Click this button after entering a word (and, optionally, some information about the word). If accepted, that word will be added to the current list of words on the left, known as the Custom Word List. This button is not available unless there is actually text in the edit text field.

Copy top text to bottom – Click this button to copy the text in the “word” edit text field to the “info” edit text field. This is a handy button to use if you want the information about a certain word, or phrase, to include that word or phrase. It’s a typing saver. This button is unavailable unless there is actually text to be copied.

Delete Word- Click this button to delete the selected word (and any associated info) in the Word List.

Delete All Words - Click this button to delete all the words (and any associated info) in the Word List. (You will be asked to verify this is indeed what you really want to do.)

Open List - Click this button to open a Word List file previously created with this dialog.  If there are already words in the Custom Word List, you will be asked to verify that you wish to over-write the existing list.

Save List - Click this button to save the Custom Word List as a Hang2000 Word List file. This Hang2000 Word List file can then be used later by the program. (Each student in a class, for example,  might have his or her own vocabulary list.)

Append List - Click this button to append a list of words to the current words in the Custom Word List.

Sort List - Click this button to alphabetically sort the list of words in the Custom Word List.

Done - Click this button when you are finished working on the current Custom Word List. The words in the Custom Word List will become the current list of Custom Words, and will be saved automatically by the program so the next time you use the program, the words will be remembered.  (Note: When you wish to actually use the custom words you have generated, you should choose the next option “Use Custom Words”.)

Cancel – Click this button to exit the dialog, and keep the Custom Word List exactly as it was when you first entered the dialog. In other words, changes you might have made to the Custom Word List will NOT be saved. (Note: Word Lists you might have saved using the “Save List…” option are still saved…only changes to the Custom Word List will be reverted to its state on entry to the dialog.)

Use Custom Words - Select this menu item to have the program randomly choose a word from among the list of words you created using the “Edit Custom Words” Dialog. When chosen, this menu item will have a checkmark next to it.  This item will be grayed out if there are no words in the current Custom Word List.

Edit Random Categories... - Select this item to bring up the “Edit Random Categories” Dialog. This dialog allows you to select from which of the many built-in categories of words, a random word will be chosen. By default, all the categories are selected, so that the random word may be any word from any category.  Use this dialog if you wish to restrict from which categories a random word will be chosen.

Use Random Words - Select this menu item to have the program randomly choose a word from among the list of words in the categories you’ve chosen in the “Edit Random Categories” Dialog. When chosen, this menu item will have a checkmark next to it.  This item cannot be selected unless at least one category is selected from the “Edit Random Categories” Dialog.

Built-in Categories - This program includes many built-in categories of words. If you choose any single category, then a random word from that category of words will always be chosen for the next “game word”.


MaxGuesses Menu

4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 Guesses - Select an item from this menu to choose the maximum number of incorrect guesses allowed before the game is lost.

To make the game more fun and more challenging, choose a small number of guesses in the MaxGuesses Menu. Just because there are easier options available (designed for very young ages), doesn’t mean you have to choose them!