Hangul Code Game

A game and converter that transforms two Korean syllables into one.

Even those who do not know Hangul can enjoy this game. Even those who do not understand Korean can play it. This game challenges players to guess a new Hangul syllable that is formed by combining the initial consonant of the first given syllable with the vowel and final consonant of the second given syllable. In other words, the only skill required to understand the game is the ability to distinguish shapes that are the same or different.

This game can also be used for light brain exercises.

The third tab of this game provides a conversion feature. The conversion principle follows the same logic as the game's main mechanics. It supports both forward and reverse conversion. By using this feature, you can encrypt Korean text in a simple way. Exchanging these simple encrypted messages with friends can add a bit of fun to your daily life.

This game is based on the Fanqie (反切) method, which was historically used in East Asia to indicate the pronunciation of Hanja (Chinese) characters before phonetic scripts were available. If this method were written using Hangul, it would look like this:

동, 덕홍절.

The meaning is as follows: The pronunciation of "동" is determined by taking the initial consonant of "덕" and combining it with the vowel and final consonant of "홍" in order. Since Hanja characters also have tone marks, the second character provides not only the vowel and final consonant but also the tone. In other words, the tone of "홍" is applied directly to "동."

For this game, we have simplified the system by excluding tones and focusing only on the combination of initial consonants, vowels, and final consonants.

Hangul is built by combining consonants and vowels to form syllables. However, in the digital world, Hangul is mostly used in its pre-combined syllabic form. In Unicode UTF-8, there are 11,172 Hangul syllables registered. While individual consonants and vowels are also included in Unicode, only about 2,460 syllables are commonly used in dictionary headwords, meaning that over 8,700 syllables are rarely used.

This game utilizes not only standard Hangul syllables but all possible Hangul characters, expanding the potential use of Hangul as a cultural asset of humanity.