Hangaroo is a virtual hanging game that uses kangaroos instead of stick figures. The player's goal is to guess phrases based on clues using letters of the standard English alphabet in 10 levels. If they win a level, a green dot will appear on a mini version of the game's main board in the upper right corner of the screen. If they fail, a kangaroo figure with a rope around its neck will fall through a hole in the floor and a ghostly version of it with wings and an angry face will fly into the sky.
The game presents the alphabet above an orange board that displays green spaces to represent each letter in a phrase. The phrases are answers to a variety of topics, such as geography, politics, popular culture, television, and entertainment. That means players must have knowledge of these areas from 2001 or earlier because of the game's original release date.