Guessing game

A guessing game is a type of traditional game which predominantly revolves around the player guessing or surmising some piece of unknown information. The player is usually expected to make incorrect guesses and reach answers through trial and error, and is generally presented with very little or no information to begin with. Incorrect guesses can often be used to deduce guesses which are closer to the correct answer.

Guessing games are simple and can be performed with just two people, which makes it a genre of gaming which is likely as old as language itself. Throughout history many types of guessing games have been popularized: one style of guessing game is the traditional party game of charades, in which one player is aware of a secret word or phrase that they attempt to indirectly communicate to others. Another common guessing game is the pen-and-paper game of hangman, which has also been adapted into video game form numerous times, with one of the earliest examples being Hangman (1978). Modern types of guessing games often combine pre-existing formats, such as Wordle (2021) which combines the word-guessing of hangman with the board game Mastermind.