At first I had no idea what was happening, until I gave up and pressed 'Help'. Perhaps the player should be forced to see that page before they start playing or it be written out in full in the text description below the game. Ideally, it would be nice to introduce the elements during gameplay in such a way that the player builds an understanding without having to read a text explanation at all.
The hacking might benefit if it was less keyboard mashing and more like hangman- punishing the player if the type a letter wrong, or rewarding them for getting it in few tries.