Gaming for Hangman 🎮

Clues for every answer

A one-line clue for every answer, easy to hard. They're the same clues the game's 💡 Hint shows, so you can read them out when you run your own game.

Level

Stage or zone of a video game; these generally get harder as you progress through the game.

Boss

Very powerful enemy, often met at the end of a stage, generally far stronger than ordinary foes.

Score

Your points total in a game; in competitive games the goal is often to beat your opponents' total.

Quest

Task in a game that a character can complete to earn a reward; most common in role-playing games.

Coin

Piece of money, usually a metal disc; arcade video games take these or other payment to play.

Save

Stored record of a player's progress, so you can carry on later from an earlier point.

Lives

Your chances to retry after failing; losing all of them usually means you have lost the game.

Loot

Items such as currency, spells and weapons a player picks up, often from exploring or defeated foes.

Arcade

Venue where people play games such as video game cabinets, pinball machines and claw machines.

Pixel

Smallest element of a digital image; on early home computers they were large enough to see.

Avatar

On-screen picture or character that represents a user, such as a 3D figure in online games.

Combo

Chain of moves done in sequence, usually with strict timing; now a key feature of almost all fighting games.

Pause

To halt a game for a while so that it can be carried on from exactly the same point.

Win

To triumph in a game, or to gain a prize by succeeding in a competition or contest.

Bonus

Extra points added to a player's total for doing well, for example for time left over.

Play

To take part in a game, or to do things just for fun and entertainment.

Retro

Describes games and styles from earlier decades, which people often enjoy for nostalgia.

Dice

Small throwable objects, traditionally cubes with one to six dots, rolled for random numbers in board games.

Mode

Distinct setup of a game that changes how it plays, such as single-player or endless.

Glitch

Brief, often temporary technical fault, less serious than a bug; a common term among gamers.

Respawn

When a character or object reappears after being destroyed; sometimes it costs a life or points.

Console

Electronic device for video games; home ones usually connect to a TV and use a separate controller.

Joystick

Input device with a stick that pivots on a base; often used for video games and the main control in many aircraft.

Cutscene

Part of a video game that you can't control, interrupting play, for example to show characters talking.

Sandbox

Kind of video game giving players great freedom to create, usually without any set goal.

Checkpoint

Spot in a level you restart from after failing, so you don't have to begin the whole level again.

Inventory

Menu where the items your character has collected are kept, ready to be chosen and used.

Platformer

Action game genre with uneven ground and suspended ledges that you cross by jumping and climbing.

Campaign

Series of game levels that tells a story, also known as story mode.

Unlockable

Content, like a character or tool, that you get in a game by fulfilling certain conditions.

Highscore

Top points total ever logged in a video game; trying to beat it adds an extra challenge.

Controller

Input device used with video games, such as a gamepad, with features like buttons and directional pads.

Multiplayer

Kind of video game where more than one person takes part in the same game at the same time.

Power Up

Object that gives a game character temporary benefits or extra abilities, often collected by touch.

Tutorial

Lesson that helps you learn how to use a program or video game, for example by following on-screen instructions.

Side Quest

Optional mission that strays from the main plot and is not needed to finish the game.

Skill Tree

Set of perks, typically in role-playing games, that your character earns as it levels up.

Loading Screen

What a game shows while it moves data from disk into memory, sometimes with a progress bar.

Cheat Code

Input built in by a game's developers to give an advantage; the first ones were made for testing.

Handheld

Small, portable games console with its own screen, controls and speakers built into one unit.

Speedrun

Playing a game with the goal of finishing it as fast as possible, often along planned routes.

Achievement

Digital reward, sometimes called a trophy, showing you've mastered a particular challenge in a game.

Leaderboard

List or table showing the highest scores achieved in a particular game.

Roguelike

Role-playing game style traditionally built on turn-based dungeon crawls and permanent character death.

Framerate

How often consecutive images are shown or captured, usually counted per second and written FPS.

Matchmaking

Connecting players for online games, sorting those with similar styles or skill into teams or groups.

Procedural

Word before 'generation' for making game content with algorithms instead of by hand.

Emulator

Software or hardware letting one computer act like another; many fans use it to play classic arcade games.

Walkthrough

Thorough guide to the steps of winning a game, written for players unsure how to finish it.

Permadeath

Game rule where a character who loses all their health is gone for good, which may mean a full restart.

Hitbox

Invisible shape, often a rectangle in 2D games, that follows a game object to detect collisions such as a punch.

Cooperative

Kind of video game where players work together as teammates, usually against computer opponents.

Microtransaction

Business model where players buy virtual in-game goods with small payments, often in free-to-play games.

Esports

Competition using video games, often organised contests between professional gamers or teams.

Open World

Game setting you can roam freely, tackling goals as you like rather than in a linear order.

Downloadable Content

Extra material for an already released video game, such as new levels, delivered over the Internet.

Battle Royale

Online genre where dozens to hundreds of players compete to be the last left, in a shrinking safe area.

Metroidvania

Action-adventure subgenre of nonlinear exploring, where key items are needed to enter certain areas.

Tower Defence

Strategy subgenre where you protect your territory, usually by placing structures along the enemies' path.

Role Playing

Game genre generally known for a detailed story and character advancement, often by gaining levels.