Learning Python: A simple hangman game

hangman.py

import random


# List of words
some_words = [
    'aloof',
    'radiate',
    'apathetic',
    'inestimable',
    'coil',
    'immense',
    'reading',
    'unequal',
    'tangy',
    'detail',
    'spurious',
    'nosy',
    'furtive',
    'call',
    'miscreant',
    'obeisant',
    'mice',
    'succeed',
    'disagree',
    'snotty',
    'circle',
    'testy',
    'soup',
    'valuable',
    'half'
]


def draw_hangman(tries):
    # This function draws a hangman that looks like this:
    #  ________
    #  |/     |
    #  |     (_)
    #  |     \|/
    #  |      |
    #  |     / \
    #  |
    # _|___
    # Copied from http://ascii.co.uk/art/hangman

    # First line, part of the scaffold:
    print "     ________   "
    # Second line, more scaffold with or w/out rope:
    if tries < 7:
        print "     |/     | "
    else:
        print "     |/       "
    # Third line, head
    if tries < 7:
        print "     |     (_)"
    else:
        print "     |        "
    # Forth line, neck + two arms
    if tries < 4:
        print "     |     \|/"
    elif tries < 5:
        print "     |     \|  "
    elif tries < 6:
        print "     |      |  "
    else:
        print "     |         "
    # Fifth line, body
    if tries < 3:
        print "     |      |  "
    else:
        print "     |         "
    # legs
    if tries < 1:
        print "     |     / \ "
    elif tries < 2:
        print "     |     /   "
    else:
        print "     |         "
    # Last bit of scaffold, always shows:
    print "     |"
    print "    _|___"


def pick_a_word(possible_words):
    return random.choice(possible_words).upper()


def show_banner():
    # Borrowed from http://ascii.co.uk/art/hangman
    # We're getting a bit fancy here
    # The three quotes make this a 'multi-line string'
    # the letter 'r' means it's a 'raw' string
    print r"""
 _
| |
| |__   __ _ _ __   __ _ _ __ ___   __ _ _ __
| '_ \ / _` | '_ \ / _` | '_ ` _ \ / _` | '_ \
| | | | (_| | | | | (_| | | | | | | (_| | | | |
|_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|\__, |_| |_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|
                    __/ |
                   |___/
"""


def check_guess(letter, the_word):
    # We could also just do:
    # `return guess in the_word`
    if letter in the_word:
        return True
    else:
        return False


def show_guesses(user_guessed):
    print "So far, you've tried: {}".format(user_guessed)


def ask_user_for_guess():
    letters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
    # Ask the user for a guess; make whatever she tells us upper-case.
    guess = raw_input("Guess a letter: ").upper()
    # Use a loop here in case our user is stubborn
    while True:
        # Some basic error handling if our user gets tricky.
        if len(guess) > 1 or guess not in letters:
            guess = raw_input("Enter one letter, please: ").upper()
        else:
            # Get out of this error-checking loop
            break
    return guess


def hide_letters(unhidden_word, guesses_so_far):
    # This is a list we'll use to build the word with
    # some letters hidden.
    hidden_word = []
    for letter in unhidden_word:
        if letter in guesses_so_far:  # Show this letter
            hidden_word.append(letter)
        else:  # Still hidden:
            hidden_word.append('_')
    # ' '.join() here takes each element of a list
    # and puts it together, separated by spaces.
    return ' '.join(hidden_word).upper()


# Set up some stuff before the game begins:
tries_remaining = 7
guesses_so_far = []
the_word = pick_a_word(some_words)
hidden_word = hide_letters(the_word, guesses_so_far)
show_banner()
while tries_remaining > 0:
    draw_hangman(tries_remaining)
    print "Your word is: {}".format(hidden_word)
    show_guesses(guesses_so_far)
    guess = ask_user_for_guess()
    # Add this guess to the list of previous guesses
    guesses_so_far.append(guess)
    hidden_word = hide_letters(the_word, guesses_so_far)
    # Are there any hidden letters left? Has the user won?
    if '_' not in hidden_word:
        print hidden_word
        print "You win!"
        # Exit the loop & the whole program, no more guessing
        exit()
    correct = check_guess(guess, the_word)
    if not correct:
        # Take away one of the user's tries:
        tries_remaining = tries_remaining - 1

# Here we're outside of the loop naturally, because our user
# has used up her tries.
print "GAME OVER"
draw_hangman(tries_remaining)