60
seconds
Twenty-six tiles, one clock, timed to the hundredth of a second. The clock starts on your first letter and stops on the last, and afterwards you get a split for every letter so you can see exactly where the time went.
The alphabet sits in front of you as 26 tiles. The next one glows. Press it and the tile flips over with a note that climbs a little higher on every letter, so a fast run sounds like a rising scale. Nothing happens until you press the first letter, which means you can settle your hands and take a breath first. The clock stops the moment you hit the last letter.
There is no countdown and no penalty time. A wrong key makes the tile shake red and the game waits for the right one, which costs you a fraction of a second on its own. It also marks the attempt as not clean. You still see your time, but only clean runs count as a record. Press Esc at any point to throw the attempt away and start over.
Pick a mode before you start with the 1, 2 and 3 keys or the arrow keys. The mode you raced is printed next to your time on the results card.
When you finish, the tiles turn into a chart with one bar per letter, showing how long that letter took after the one before it. Your three slowest letters are highlighted. On a QWERTY keyboard they are usually the awkward ones: c, d and e all sit under the same finger, so do w and x, and p to q jumps from one little finger to the other. Practise those few transitions on their own and your whole time drops.
Not really, and that is part of the fun. Typing the alphabet is a memorised finger pattern rather than reading, so it says more about how well you have drilled one sequence than how fast you type normal text. It makes a good warm-up and a fair bet between friends, and it is a quick way to spot the keys your hands still hesitate on. For real speed, follow it with a normal typing test.
Around five to six seconds is a typical first attempt. Under four seconds is quick, under three is very fast and under two seconds puts you among the best players anywhere.
On your first correct letter, not when the page loads. Take as long as you like to get ready, and the clock stops on the last letter.
The tile shakes and waits for the right key. No time is added, but the run is marked not clean and will not count as a record. On Advanced a wrong key restarts the attempt.
No. Upper and lower case both count, so a stray Caps Lock will not ruin a run.