Hangman Pro (also known as Hangman for the Macintosh, and the successor to Hang3000) is a modern take on the classic hangman game, the same one we all played when we were kids, on paper or on the blackboard at school. Hangman Pro is the classic word-guessing game. Hangman Pro is easy to play, and fun for all ages. Letters can be chosen using the mouse or the keyboard. Words can be selected from dozens of built-in categories, or you can enter your own words, or even enter whole vocabulary lists from school. In fact, why not create your own Custom Menu with your own categories of words. And, try the new "Photo Words" feature with your family. Hangman Pro is a colorful, educational game with digitized sound effects, speech, non-violent graphics, a little cultural literacy, and whole lot more. Non-violent, family software at its best.

The screenshot just above shows a game already in progress. As you can see, the category is Shakespearean Phrases. Note that in the previous game, if you look carefully, you can see that the Shakespearean Phrase guessed happened to be from Romeo and Juliet, so that information is still displayed. (Can you guess the missing letter on the new phrase that hasn't yet been totally guessed?)

Hangman Pro also supports the speech synthesis that's built-in to most Macs. The speech synthesizer can spell and/or say the word that was just guessed. It can even speak words of encouragement when you win or lose the game. Registered users can customize these phrases. Hangman Pro includes many speech-related enhancements, making the game more fun and more usable for visually-challenged users.

Hangman Pro includes a Knowledge Area. Game words (that is, the words or phrases that you guess in the game) can include information about, or a definition of, that particular word or phrase. For instance, if the word category is Countries, when that particular game is concluded, the capital of the country will be shown. If the word category is Composers (or Authors, etc.), a few facts, or selected works, about the composer or author in question will be displayed. Hangman Pro includes many categories of words with this extra information. This feature painlessly adds a little bit of cultural literacy. It's learning, without even knowing you're learning.

Imagine how much fun it could be if you use the names of your family members and friends as words to be guessed, and then add a little entertaining information about each person. This information will be displayed at the end of each round, sure to bring a smile to all around.

Hangman Pro now features 70 categories of words (each with an entertaining picture), including Anatomy, Animals, Artists, Astronauts, Astronomy, Authors, Baseball Teams, Basketball Teams, Best Actors, Best Actresses, Best Pictures, Birds, Books, Canada, Cars, Cartoons and Comics, Chess, Christmas, Cities, Clothing, Colors, Composers, Computer Buzzwords, Constellations, Cosmetics Aisle, Cosmology, Countries, Country Music, Desserts, Dinosaurs, Dogs, Elements, First Ladies, Football Teams, Fruits, Hard Words, Hockey Teams, Insects, Islands, Jazz, Jewelry, Jobs, Magazines, Mars, Monsters, Musical Instruments, Mythology, Olympic Events, Operas, Planets, Presidents, Religion, Rock and Roll, Rocks and Minerals, Scientists, Shakespeare, Shakespearean Phrases, Star Trek, States, State Capitals, Street Signs, Television Shows, Tools, Toys and Games, Trees, Universities, Vegetables, Vice Presidents, Weather, and Women in History. Truly something for everyone.

If the built-in categories aren't enough, you can make your own lists in Hangman Pro. Make a list of particularly hard words, and add their definitions which will appear in the Knowledge Area. Make a list of family members, and add a few entertaining words about each of them. Make a special list for each child, including just the words from his or her own vocabulary list. There is no limit to the number of lists you can have.

And, in version 2 of Hangman Pro for the Macintosh, you can make your own Custom Menu. All the items in the Custom Words Menu will be the names of the lists of words that you create. Your categories of words are given the same status, and the ease of selection as all the built-in categories of words. This is YOUR game. Customize it as you see fit. (You can even add a picture of your choice to be displayed when your category is chosen.)

And, Hangman Pro also supports hints! At the same time you enter a word to be guessed, and information about that word, you can also add a hint to help the user guess the word. In the Game Preferences, you can decide whether you want hints to be available always, never, or just as a last resort. Hints are a good way to add a little extra information and possibly a little humor to each game.

In Hangman Pro for Macintosh, there is yet another (still somewhat experimental) way to choose words to guess. You can select a folder full of pictures on your hard disk. Hangman Pro will then use the names of those pictures as the words to be guessed. And, upon completion of the game, the guessed (or missed) picture will be displayed.

Hangman Pro supports an extended character set and allows the entry and display of words in the following languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

Hangman Pro for Macintosh is played, by default, in a relaxed mode...take all the time you need to think about each word. But, optionally (and especially with schools in mind), you can also choose to use the Timer Mode, where a selectable time limit is used when guessing letters. This allows more words to be covered in a single class.

Hangman Pro is a colorful, educational game with digitized sound effects, speech, non-violent graphics, a little cultural literacy, and whole lot more. Hangman Pro is available for a 10-Day Free Trial.