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Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Letter Game Introduction

Not able to get a win (even if i guess all the right letters)

Hello,

I am unable to get to a win, even when I guess all the right letters. My program will look like this: Guess a letter: y
blueberry
Strikes: 0/7

Below is my code:

import random
#make a list of words
words = [
    'apple', 
    'bannana',
    'coconut',
    'strawberry',
    'lime',
    'grapefruit',
    'lemon',
    'kumquat',
    'blueberry',
    'melon'
]
while True:
  start = input("Press enter/return to start or enter Q to quit: ")
  if start.lower() == 'q':
    break

#pick a random word
  secret_word = random.choice(words)
  bad_guesses  = []
  good_guesses = []
  while len(bad_guesses) < 7 and  len(good_guesses) != len(list(secret_word)):
      #draw guessed letters, spaces and strikes
      for letter in secret_word:
          if letter in good_guesses:
              print(letter, end='')
          else:
              print('_', end='')

      print('')
      print('Strikes: {}/7'.format(len(bad_guesses)))
      print ('')

#take guess
      guess = input("Guess a letter: ").lower()
      if len(guess) != 1:
          print("You can only guess a single letter!")
          continue
      elif guess in bad_guesses or guess in good_guesses:
          print("You've already guess that letter !")
      elif not guess.isalpha():
          print("You can only guess letters!")
          continue

      if guess in secret_word:
          good_guesses.append(guess)
          if len(good_guesses) == len(list(secret_word)):
              print("You win! the word was {}".format(secret_word))
              break
      else:
          bad_guesses.append(guess)
  else: 
      print("You didn't guess it! My Secret wird was {}".format(secret_word))      
#print out win/lose

[MOD: added ```python formatting -cf]

3 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 Points

Many have hit this bug. The issue occurs when the secret word has a repeated letter making its length always greater than the guesses length.

Kenneth mentions a solution in one of the later videos and in one of the Teacher's notes.

The key is to collapse the secret work in a unique list of letters. The set function work well here. Changing you `while condition:

# from:
while len(bad_guesses) < 7 and  len(good_guesses) != len(list(secret_word)):

# to: 
while len(bad_guesses) < 7 and  len(good_guesses) != len(set(secret_word)):

Should work.

Changing "set" in those TWO places worked, but why? What does "set" do? Ok so it does this: "collapse the secret word in a unique list of letters". But what does that mean? like alien letters? Collapse? How? Is that literal or just jargon.

@john larson set() is an unordered collection with no duplicate elements.

so if your secret_word = 'avocado', and you run: set(secret_word) it would return {'c', 'a', 'v', 'o', 'd'}

Thanks Chris, that answers my question.

Patrick Kearns
Patrick Kearns
4,669 Points

This still doesn't fix it. Now when I correctly guess a word with a repeated letter, it tells me I lost regardless of the number of strikes.

Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 Points

Hey Patrick, it might be something else in your code. I encourage you to start a new post and include your code. Tag me if you wish.

Nikolaj Bewer
Nikolaj Bewer
1,150 Points

Hey Pratrick, the same occurred when I fixed it. What helped me is changing:

from

if len(good_guesses) == len(list(secret_word)):

to

if len(good_guesses) == len(set(secret_word)):

(it's around line 59).