Beginner at Javascript: How can I fix this specific bug in the "Hangman Game"?

Good Morning Friends,

I am brand new to JavaScript and have been studying it using many platforms, including the "JavaScript For Kids". In this book, I am now on "Chapter 7: Creating a Hangman Game"...and on the "Programming Challenges", I was able to complete the first three challenges. The fourth one that I'm totally stuck on is "Fixing a Bug". It states that there is a "bug in the game" and that "if you keep guessing the same correct letter, "remainingLetters" will keep decrementing. Can you fix it?". It says that you can add another condition to check whether a value in answerArray is still an underscore. If it's not an underscore, then that letter must have been guessed already. I'm not sure where to even start with this...

Please see code below. I'm not sure where to go from here. I tried googling it, but still, I'm not getting it.

\<script\>
//Set a maximum number of tries
var maximumTries = 10; 
// Create an array of words
var words = [
"quail",
"chicken",
"kookaburra",
"parrot"
];
// Pick a random word
var word = words[Math.floor(Math.random() * words.length)];
// Set up the answer array 
var answerArray = [];
for (var i = 0; i < word.length; i++) {
answerArray[i] = "_";
}
var remainingLetters = word.length;
// This will hold all the letters tried
var guessAll = "";
// The game loop
while (remainingLetters >= 0 && guessAll.length < maximumTries) {
// Show the player their progress
alert(answerArray.join(" "));
// Get a guess from the player
var guess = prompt("Guess a letter, or click Cancel to stop playing.");
guessAll += guess;
guess = guess.toLowerCase();
if (guess === null) {
// Exit the game loop
break;
} else if (guess.length !== 1) {
alert("Please enter a single letter.");
} else {
for (var j = 0; j < word.length; j++) {
if (word[j] === guess) {
answerArray[j] = guess;
remainingLetters--;
}
}
}
// The end of the game loop
}
//Show the answer and congratulate the player
alert(answerArray.join(" "));
alert("Good job!  The answer was " + word);
\</script\>

Let's go through the hints they gave:

> if you keep guessing the same correct letter, "remainingLetters" will keep decrementing

Yes, that is true. When guess is the same as a previous guess, then still the following if condition will be true and its code block will execute:

        if (word[j] === guess) {
answerArray[j] = guess;
remainingLetters--;
}

We don't want a repeated guess to have any effect on the remainingLetters countdown. It should remain unchanged.

> ...you can add another condition to check whether a value in answerArray is still an underscore.

That is a good hint, because the first time that guess was made, we had replaced an underscore with guess:

            answerArray[j] = guess;

So... if the same guess is made again, the character at answerArray[j] will no longer be an underscore, but the guessed letter. Therefore it would be a good idea to first check what the character is at answerArray[j] before we decide to enter that if block.

Does this help to find out what you should do?

If not, here is the solution as a spoiler

>! <code>if (word[j] == guess && answerArray[j] == "_") {</code>

// Set a maximum number of tries
var maximumTries = 10;
// Create an array of words
var words = [
"quail",
"chicken",
"kookaburra",
"parrot"
];
// Pick a random word
var word = words[Math.floor(Math.random() * words.length)];
// Set up the answer array
var answerArray = [];
for (var i = 0; i < word.length; i++) {
answerArray[i] = "_";
}
var remainingLetters = word.length;
// This will hold all the letters tried
var guessAll = "";
// The game loop
while (remainingLetters > 0 && guessAll.length < maximumTries) {
// Show the player their progress
alert(answerArray.join(" "));
// Get a guess from the player
var guess = prompt("Guess a letter, or click Cancel to stop playing.");
if (guess === null) {
// Exit the game loop
break;
} else if (guess.length !== 1 || !/[a-z]/i.test(guess)) {
alert("Please enter a single alphabetic character.");
} else {
guess = guess.toLowerCase();
if (guessAll.includes(guess)) {
alert("You have already guessed that letter.");
} else {
guessAll += guess;
var found = false;
for (var j = 0; j < word.length; j++) {
if (word[j] === guess) {
answerArray[j] = guess;
remainingLetters--;
found = true;
}
}
if (!found) {
alert("Wrong guess!");
}
}
}
}
// Show the answer and congratulate the player
alert(answerArray.join(" "));
if (remainingLetters === 0) {
alert("Congratulations! You guessed the word: " + word);
} else {
alert("Game over! The word was: " + word);
}