Competitive Typing: A new sport is born
We wanted to start this blog by answering two of the most important questions – why is typing a sport, and what makes TypeRacer so much fun? It turns out both questions are related – TypeRacer is so much fun precisely because typing is really a sport! Just like any athletic pursuit, typing is a skill that honors speed and accuracy, and just like physical fitness, it gets better with practice! And any human ability that fits this description absolutely demands competition! With TypeRacer you do just that – improve your typing while competing with others.
March 7 is no longer just the day Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone or Rob Roy‘s birthday – it shall go down in history as the day typing became a sport! On March 7, 2008, TypeRacer opened its doors to a group of users on Orkut. Within days, many of those early users had already finished hundreds of races each, in a contest to dominate their friends on their profile TypeRacer scoreboards. In the following weeks TypeRacer also launched an application on MySpace and Hi5, while in recent weeks people from all over the world have been discovering TypeRacer from articles throughout the blogosphere and social filtering sites like StumbleUpon. We began receiving lots of email from our users, and it became clear that we had to start this blog to keep everyone up-to-date with the latest features, which we’ve been releasing on almost a daily basis.
So while we get back to building those new features, we’d like to leave you with some links to those blog articles about TypeRacer. And, of course, we welcome your input! Do you agree that typing is similar to an athletic skill and should it be considered a sport? Do you think the creation of the world’s first multiplayer typing arena will revive interest in the classic genre of typing games, topped off by Typing of the Dead?
Articles about TypeRacer:
In other languages:
Discussions:
TypeRacer Blog 
woo hoo first comment 🙂
This was a great idea…now bored employees all over the world have something to do during company downtime!
I salute you.
-nick
Nick
April 30, 2008
LMAO!!! 12 YEARS LATER. IM THE BORED 20 YRS OLD DOING SOMETHING
Anonymous
January 8, 2020
You should add a way to compete against someone specific by nickname…
dave
May 1, 2008
TypeRacer is so much fun! Here’s a thought — make it so that you can “search” a race. That way, a user can set it up so that he/she can race his/her friends. For example, my two friends and I want to race, so we go to the website and we each input race “10001” and we will all be able to enter that race. Otherwise, thanks for setting up this site! It’s addictive. 🙂
odderie
May 1, 2008
Don’t people get paid for typing fast – and here we are, wasting our time playing it! =)
Darren
May 1, 2008
This is an awesome site! Although, I would love it more if I could race my co-workers.
And, how is it possible to get 218wpm!??
UNbelievable!!
I hope I don’t get fired…
Jenny
May 1, 2008
ya i think that this web site could be increased by having a no-lag game because when i play at school i lag macks it hard
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trent
May 1, 2008
Do you have an E-Mail address I can contact?
I gave some exiting ideas about some features that could be included in this amazing game.
Jack Vernon
May 1, 2008
Awesome game. I am the best.
Coggynese
May 1, 2008
I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this. As an occupant of a spot on the leaderboards over at typera.tk, I want to recommend a more streamlined interface for the game itself. There’s a lot of lag, especially when you’re typing >100 wpm. If you can fix that problem, then the game will be much improved.
kab
May 2, 2008
Typing of the Dead is soo much fun! 🙂 and Typeracer is great, i just wish more “levels”, now everyone is master…
miki
May 2, 2008
This is like the most badass game ever made 😀
~ Tuplad
PS: I do think odderie has a good point 🙂
Tuplad
May 2, 2008
Great application!!! Thanks 🙂
Few suggestion: –
1. I will be happy if I could get report, how much time I was first.
2. If the sentence do not repeat more frequently. Please use somemore sentences in ur database.
3. I am now “Pro” but I think “Megaracer” is having more skill level than mine.. if this skill level will be transparent it will help..
Praful
May 2, 2008
So far I adore this game. I do however, have a few suggestions.
1) The ability to “sign in” so that scores are tracked across multiple computers. I type from home, from work and from a separate laptop at times, the ability to sign in at one location for all of them would be great.
2) The ability to challenge other players. Either signing in on a specific game, or make a direct challenge where the players accept and go into a type-off.
3) More selections. It’s exciting to get a new passage, since I have to read/think it over, but when I know some of my speed is coming from familiarity of a passage, I don’t appreciate my score as much.
Otherwise, wonderful game and I still keep playing. 🙂
Michiru
May 2, 2008
Bravo!!
Awasome Site!!
But, Quotes in other languages like Spanish.
informer005
May 2, 2008
Es muy divertido y muy buena la idea, pero tendrían que poner textos en otros idiomas, ya que para alguien que habla español le es mucho más difícil escribir rápido un texto en inglés.
Igualmente muchas felicitaciones por el proyecto, un saludo desde Argentina.
Martin
May 2, 2008
A hip shaking game (application), a breathtaking experience.
Its even rocking than a rave party stationed at
an isolated farm house. Typeracer simply pumps up
your adrenaline and gives birth to a competitive
feeling in your heart. Kudos to Typeracer!! This
application is a must for every tech freak around
the globe… rock hard TR
Varun Celly
May 3, 2008
Hey there!
This is an awesome application that you’ve created, and it surely has improved my skills a lot.
All I want from you is to keep updating the sentences we’re supposed to type. At times it gets too irritating and repetitive. I don’t think there is any need to proved the user gory descriptions of the sentence if they type something wrong for a long time. The user can look into the mistake from the warning red in the textbox.
Well, you’ve made something really popular! Congratulations for that! 🙂
Alok
May 3, 2008
Like Martin, I would like to be able to type quotes in more languages. Overall, the game is neat – it’s a horribly wonderful timesuck.
Rebeca
May 3, 2008
I really enjoyed this game, but it needs a feature that you can register and play against your friends, that would be awesome!
Dewes
May 3, 2008
218 wpm is impossible. These results are generated by cheaters using speaking programs. Any way of blocking this? Also, is there any way of banning anyone who has used a derogatory nickname?
Fun online game, with those two exceptions. Hopefully, there is a way of making it fair so that this is fun for all.
Michelle
May 4, 2008
Thanks to everyone for your praise and suggestions! We are constantly working on adding new features and more texts. I think a new blog post is in order, to outline the upcoming additions to TypeRacer 🙂
typeracer
May 4, 2008
This is excellent. Some of those high scores bum me out though, can you filter out the cheaters?
A fun way to up my typing mojo.
I downloaded the 2000 demo version of TYPING OF THE DEAD (for PC) and love it also — an excellent way to get faster typing, and so much fun. Adrenalin concentrates the mind! See the wikiped article. Can’t remember how I got to the download page for the PC demo version. It was difficult to find; you can try googling it. Apparently a new version for PC (made in Japan) is going to come out later this year.
There’s also Keybr http://www.keybr.com/
I’d be interested in learning about any other typing “game”. Gotta mix it up — I’m determined to quit wasting my life typing slowly.
Btw, TpyeRacer folks, I’ve tried 3x tin the past hour to add your feed to my GReader, but it comes up with an error.
Thanks again, looks promising!
Via
May 4, 2008
I would really like to use this site with my students. Could people please keep their usernames clean.
Thank you!
Mrs. Pick
May 5, 2008
Thank you so much for making this site!! It really is amazing and fun! My only plea is if you could censor content and usernames so that children can play also. (If you don’t already do that. ) 🙂 Thanks!
Jared Dobson
May 5, 2008
amazing site 🙂
Anonymous
May 6, 2008
Mrs. Pick and Jared – we’re currently working on two things – preventing cheaters and letting users filter profane language (similar to the concept of “flagging” on Craigslist). These features will will be ready soon. We are also thinking of a separate version for schools, but that’s farther out on the horizon.
Thanks for your comments!
typeracer
May 6, 2008
Via – I didn’t have any trouble subscribing to this blog with Google Reader. I used the Google Reader button in the “Subscribe Via RSS” column here. Looking forward to the new Typing of the Dead. Thanks for the intel!
typeracer
May 6, 2008
Hey! this is absolutely amazing! helps one with their touch-typing skills as well as freeing them from boredom! lol
nice job i really like this one!
Amar
May 6, 2008
Ahh! thank yooouu! I have so been needing to dominate people in awesome fast typing. It kills me to see these people writing soooo slowlyyy. I keep on trying to tell my friends, “I’m soooo much faster than you.” “So?”
Hazel
May 6, 2008
TypeRacer is wonderful idea.
Look forward to the new anti-cheat release
Trung
May 7, 2008
i think its a great game..but i cant play…my space bar seems dead during the game. Not even once the sapce bar worked…what should i do?
joao
May 7, 2008
I don’t really expect an answer but;
Can anybody tell me how someone can tell if someone else is cheating? Like, how do you know? Because I’ve seen a few complaints, and I don’t seem to understand how that’s clear.
Also, I thought the idea of being able to race non-random people was nice, too.
In addition, this is actually a really great idea. Keep up the good work – And I can’t wait to see some new features!
Flora
May 7, 2008
Hi. you create very very nice give to learn fast type text.
How i am add this game to facebook?
AS
May 7, 2008
hahahaha…this is just great…now I think I need a good keyboard.
crisn
May 7, 2008
the speed is quoted by wpm. Does this mean words per minute?
Anonymous
May 7, 2008
from Hudi
Hudi
May 7, 2008
Amar, Hazel, and the rest of you – thanks so much for your praise! It motivates me to keep working on new functionality for TypeRacer faster than I ever thought possible!
Joao – it might seem that your spacebar is not working because you need to fix a typo first. If you’re sure this is not the case, please email support @ typeracer and we’ll get to the bottom of it!
Flora – you’re right, some people have been cheating, but we are getting a cheat-prevention system ready, so their fun is short-lived 🙂
Crisn – you actually hit on a feature I’ve been planning to add – the ability to say which keyboard people are using to see which ones let you type the fastest!
Anonymous – yes, WPM stands for “words per minute”.
typeracer
May 7, 2008
Luvin this game!!
me n mates r always on it when wer in class like now 😀 lol
Georgia
May 9, 2008
Hey to all
Emily
May 10, 2008
I believe there is also a comment about you on GeekSugar.
Anonymous
May 27, 2008
*An Article.
Anonymous
May 27, 2008
Hi! all
Really this is a great and addict place to improve our type.
Thanks
Carolina
Lina
June 15, 2008
Awesome sport typeracer has turned out to be! I just have one comment: Whenever we make a mistake, that red box turns up, which is frankly sort of irritating. A good typist seldom makes mistakes. There no point if one types at 120 wpm and makes hell a lot a mistakes. I think that the red box thing should be removed, and the user should be allowed to type the whole paragraph as he types. There should be no indicator for the mistakes he commits. Once the race is over, points should be given to each racer depending on the number of mistakes committed, and ofcourse, his/her wpm. I think that this would be more exciting.
Trail of Mist
June 19, 2008
you improve your typing skills so fast .. unbelievable
i increased it form 35 to 55 in two or three days ,
and i got carried away by it that i decided to type the whole day to increase typing speed quickly..only to get it lowered and harm my eyes..
but after taking a break of 2 days and trying again , i am again improving
if you want to increase your typing speed.
first learn typing using typing master or some other software and get a speed of around 35-40 , then work with this site for 20-30 min per day ,not more than that,
in less than 6 days you will hit a high score of 70wpm..
statuary warning
don’t get addicted to it like me
Rachit
September 10, 2008
I think this game is okay but it also needs some new features
ricky
October 23, 2008
Ok. Typing is not a sport. All you’re doing is sitting in front of this computer and being nerdy. Get a girlfriend or something. Seriously. Unless you plan to marry your computer. Then, keep on playing this game. Sports require injury. The only injury you would ever get on this game is a finger cramp. DANG.
NICOLI
November 20, 2008
Ok. yeah typing is not a sport and you are alllll complete nerds.
grow a life. seriously. go read or something. maybe youll educate yourself more. People who do this thing for fun are humiliating. WOW. The only reason I go on this is because my computer teacher makes us. other than that, this is stupid.
Typer Racer is NOT a social network so basicallly the NERDS reading this are just wasting their time, not making friends or anything. you people are insane. go eat some more or something.
Pricilla.
November 20, 2008
wow. this “sport” can actually improve your typing skills in a few days and races. and if you play this game you are NOT nerds. you just want to race against other players and see how fast you type.
Dear username pricilla-
This isnt a game for nerds. Everyone can play. Its just something to do. You cant say that we are nerds because you dont know us. We come from all around the world. We want to know how fast we type. Your saying that we are all nerds well look whos talking! why dont you learn how to be nice to people? That would be the day.
bri
December 15, 2008
1849
Friday, January 23, 2009
Dear TypeRacer people, how about to include the flag of the country each user is from?
This would add an extra visual flavor to the game statistics of each competitor.
Your educating/fruitful leisure/boredom killer/joy enhancing/trans-boundaries game is the best thing I have encountered in the Internet related to typewriting skill improvement.
It is exciting to compete against people from all over the world; it is an honor to compete against typeracers from different skill degrees –a truly democratic game.
Thank you.
Typewriting from Mexico City your friend Jesús Federico Alvarez Rivera a.k.a. CHUCHoESPANTo+_+
Jesús Federico
January 23, 2009
this is such a good way to waste class time in info pro. it looks like you are always doing something but it’s fun at the same time!
chyave
April 1, 2009
First to comment in the new year what makes typeracer so much fun is you can improve imensely using it everyday and when you get the hang of it typing fast just seems fun.
andy
March 18, 2010
Great competition. now i think that everyone can type very fast.
biletul zilei pariuri
July 4, 2011
Why do you have to be a premium customer just to send a message to somebody.. That is not even great. Ya’ll just trying to get some money
Anonymous
August 10, 2012
That’s not entirely true – you can send messages to your friends without paying. You can invite your friends by email from your Friends page, but you do need a premium subscription to message people you’re not friends with. This is to prevent unwanted harrassment from spammers and trolls.
And yes, we also need to make money :), that’s why I’d like to encourage everyone to subscribe to a premium account! It costs only a dollar per month.
typeracer
August 10, 2012
[…] 3. Old-style 2: this is the original interface we used when TypeRacer launched […]
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