diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cfee947..29cf209 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 *.h~
 *.o
 /hangman
+*.md~
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1eda3ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Hangman
+## Compile on Linux
+Get the ncurses library (on some distributions e.g. Debian the headers are included in the ncurses-dev package.)
+
+Compile by typing `make`
+
+## Compile on Windows
+Download the mingw compiler [here](https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Installer/)
+
+Additionally select the pdcurses library.
+
+Otherwise download [pdc34dllw.zip](https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdcurses/files/pdcurses/3.4/)
+and put the files into the following mingw directories:
+
+`pdcurses.lib` --> /lib
+
+`curses.h` and `panel.h` --> /include
+
+`pdcures.dll` --> /bin    
+
+Now you can compile the project with `mingw32-make -f makefile_mingw`
\ No newline at end of file