Hangman game in Python While I'm not new to Python, this is my first 'bigger' Python program I created, also my first game in Python.

import random

DEBUG = False; # If set to true, displays chosen word before each game. For debugging and cheating only :)

DICT_FILE = "english.txt";
GUESSES   = 10;


def prompt(s):
    while True:
        ans = raw_input(s + " (Y/n) ").lower();
        if ans in ["y", "n"]:
            return ans == "y";

def loadWords():
    with open(DICT_FILE, "r") as f:
        return f.read().strip().split("\n");
                       # Strip in case of newline at end of file

def play(word):
    word = word.lower();
    if DEBUG:
        print "[DEBUG] word is %r" % (word);
    guesses = GUESSES;
    toGuess = set(l for l in word.upper() if l.isalpha()); # Handles apostrophes, etc.
    letters = set();
    while guesses &gt; 0:
        if len(toGuess) == 0:
            print "You win with %d guess%s left!" % (guesses, "" if guesses == 1 else "es");
            print "The word is %r" % (word);
            return True;
        print "=" * 78;
        print "You have %d guess%s left." % (guesses, "" if guesses == 1 else "es");
        print "Word:    " + " ".join("_" if c in toGuess else c for c in word.upper());
        print "Letters: " + " ".join(sorted(letters));
        while True:
            l = raw_input("Choose a letter: ").upper();
            if l.isalpha():
                if l not in letters:
                    letters.add(l);
                    if l in toGuess:
                        toGuess.remove(l);
                        print "Correct!";
                    else:
                        guesses -= 1;
                        print "Sorry, not in the word.";
                    break;
                else:
                    print "You already chose that letter!";
            else:
                print "That's not a letter!";
    print "=" * 78;
    print "Sorry, you lose.";
    print "The word was: %r" % (word);
    return False;

if __name__ == "__main__":
    words = loadWords();
    random.shuffle(words);
    while True:
        play(words.pop()); # Remove a random word so it's not chosen again
        if not prompt("Would you like to play again?"):
            break;


I'd like to know what you think and what I should change.
By the way, english.txt placed in the same folder as the game script contains phrases/words separated by newlines that should appear in the hangman game.
This is Python and you do not need the Semi-Colons (;)

Your code looks absolutely non-pythonic like that, it looks like it is trying to morph into Java or something.

You should also separate some more code into methods/functions like this one here

print "=" * 78;


I believe that this is to separate the game from the ending notifications. 

What gave this away was 78 I have no clue what that is, and if I have different settings on my console/IDE then this won't look right anyway.  78 is a magic number and should be dealt with so that I know what it means