Answer 1

It’s looping without an end because you are not asking for input again - the function is being recursively called based on the first input only. Would something like this work?

def start():
print("started!")

while input().lower() != 'start':
print('Type "start" to begin.')

start()

Answer 2

maybe something like that

start = input()
while(start.lower().strip() != 'start'):
start=input('\nplease type start ')

start_game()

Answer 3

I think you have to added more details in your game strategie.user have to guess each char in the word if the guessed char is in the secret word then user will continue his guess.until he reached all the tries that will be presetted to 10 tries for easy level.or user will guess all the chars in the secret word and each guessed char will be displayed but not guessed will be replaced by * for example.While user did not guess the word display right message for loser otherwise play again message.