Picking a completly random element from a string list, simpler C# - Hangman

Question

So i got my hangman up and running but the what i dont like is the way my program picks the random word (which isnt completely random and can be guessed, pseudo)..

NOTE: Some parts in the code are in Slovene language. I changed the important ones to english.

I'm trying to make a simpler and actually random way to pick that word. I did try to implement various other options but without success...

Also i do not really understand how DateTime.Now.Ticks picks a word.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;

namespace HANGMAN //moj imenski prostor

{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Random random = new Random((int)DateTime.Now.Ticks);

        string[] WORDBANK = { "AAAA", "BBBB", "CCCC", "DDDD", "EEEE", "FFFF" };

        string WordToGuess = WORDBANK[random.Next(0, WORDBANK.Length)];
        string WordToGuessUppercase = WordToGuess.ToUpper();

        StringBuilder displayToPlayer = new StringBuilder(WordToGuess.Length);
        for (int i = 0; i < WordToGuess.Length; i++)
            displayToPlayer.Append('_');

        List<char> correctGuesses = new List<char>();
        List<char> incorrectGuesses = new List<char>();

        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
        Console.WriteLine("__________________________________________________________________");
        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.Write("VISLICE - Maturitetna Naloga pri predmetu Informatika");
        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine("__________________________________________________________________");
        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine("-> Imas 5 poizkusov <-");
        Console.WriteLine();
        Thread.Sleep(500);

        int lives = 5;
        bool won = false;
        int lettersRevealed = 0;

        string input;
        char Guess;

        while (!won && lives > 0) 
        {
            Thread.Sleep(500);
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
            Console.WriteLine("Ugani besedo, izberi crko: ");
            Console.WriteLine();


            input = Console.ReadLine().ToUpper();
            Ugib = input[0];

            if (correctGuesses.Contains(Guess)) 
            {
                Thread.Sleep(500);
                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
                Console.WriteLine("Crko '{0}' si ze uporabil, bila je pravilna!", Guess);
                Console.WriteLine("____________________________________________");
                continue;
            }

            else if (nepravilniUgibi.Contains(Ugib)) 
            {
                Thread.Sleep(500);
                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
                Console.WriteLine("Crko '{0}' si ze uporabil, bila je napacna!", Guess);
                Console.WriteLine("___________________________________________");
                continue;
            }

            if (WordToGuessUppercase.Contains(Guess)) 
            {
                pravilniUgibi.Add(Ugib);

                for (int i = 0; i < WordToGuess.Length; i++) 
                {
                    if (WordToGuessUppercase[i] == Guess)
                    {
                        displayToPlayer[i] = WordToGuess[i];
                        lettersRevealed++;
                    }
                }

                if (lettersRevealed == WordToGuess.Length)
                    won = true;
            }
            else 
            {
                incorrectGuesses.Add(Guess);

                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
                Console.WriteLine("Narobe, crke '{0}', ni v besedi!", Guess);
                Console.WriteLine("________________________________");
                Console.WriteLine();
                poizkusi--;
            }

            Console.WriteLine(displayToPlayer.ToString());
        }

        if (won)
        {
            Console.WriteLine();
            Thread.Sleep(500);
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
            Console.WriteLine("Zmaga!");
            Console.WriteLine();
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            Console.WriteLine("KONEC IGRE");
        }    
        else
        {
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
            Console.WriteLine();
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            Console.WriteLine("Zal si to igro zgubil. Poskusi ponovno! Pravilna beseda je bila '{0}'", WordToGuess);
        }

    }
}

}

Answer 1

The random number generator is fine. The ticks in the Random constructor will seed the generator with a different number each time your program runs. You can expect that no two sequences will be the same: C# - Random number with seed (be careful not no create new instances of Random faster than the tick count increments).

Note that calling the constructor as new Random(System.DateTime.Now.Ticks) is almost the same as calling the parameterless constructor, new Random(), because that seeds it with the value of Environment.TickCount - which is the number of ticks since the machine booted - in the current implementation of the .NET framework.

Pseudo-random: yes.
There is a whole bunch of questions dealing with the implementation, its theoretical background, and true random sources, start here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4440760/1132334

---

Regarding the code, you have a simple mistake in the call to Next:

Instead of

string WordToGuess = WORDBANK[random.Next(0, WordToGuess.Length)];

write

string WordToGuess = WORDBANK[random.Next(0, WORDBANK.Length)];

The forward reference WordToGuess.Length does not compile in C#, you intended to use the length of the wordbank array for sure. The second int argument is the exclusive upper bound, documented here.