HangARoo

Clear away the extra promotional icons and HangARoo makes a welcome desktop addition. The Flash version of hangman features a sass-talking kangaroo who, thank goodness, does not attempt an Australian accent. He stands on a scaffold with a noose around his neck, critiquing your letter choices until you either guess the word or phrase–or send him to heaven. You can pick four incorrect letters before you lose the game. To choose letters, you can click the letter buttons or use the keyboard. Some puzzles will pop up little bubbles with trivia about the subject. The audio works nicely, and you can adjust the volume on a slider. The interface shows an eFlash ticker at the bottom, and the program adds extra icons to your desktop and links to your Start menu folder. Uninstalling the game doesn’t remove the promotional icons or links, which isn’t polite. Still, hangman fans might find a few icons a small price to pay for a free game as fun as HangARoo.