Typing Terror Tips for Tired Typers

Then Typing Terror is a game for you.

Let's start from how the game started. And so it'll look better, let's start with a nice, bold title stating that we're now going to see how it all started.

How it Started

Phew. Anyway, one day, our favorite green chicken - Slothy - found a yellow Grundo called Twerpy (hey, it's my guide, so I invent the names!) not working. This Grundo was wearing a purple suit with two purple buttons on his bu- err, back. Anyhow, he sent this Grundo - Twerpy - to go and work in the control room.

In the control room, Twerpy sat on a big, comfy, black spinning chair, with- oh wait. -peers at Typing Terror game start- Actually, he was standing. Anyhow, suddenly the walls exploded! Ohemgee! In came robots... with words on them! Gosh! Well, it seemed like the only way to get rid of these filthy, oily robots was to type the words that were on their bellies! Wait! Robots don't have bellies!

Anyway, the best part?

Twerpy doesn't have to do anything! Haha! After all, the words are in English, and his keyboard is in... err... Wingdings. No no no, Webdings! Oh, never mind... some weird language. As I was saying... Twerpy doesn't have to do anything, he just sits - I mean stands - and every time you type in something, he automatically moves his fingers and presses random stuff on his keyboard! Joy! Meaning that you are the one who is going to get rid of those mean, lean, fightin' machines!

The Basics

First of all, there are two modes - Training and Normal. Now, ignore the Training mode; there's no point in playing this game if you can't even score.

Now, when the robots come out of nowhere - well, out of space - they have a word on them. It's either a regular word (stuff like mat, jar, one...), a Neopian word (pet species, etc...) or an English uncommon word - well, it may be common for you (mainly if you're a Literature teacher), so I won't give examples.

You have to type out the words they write. You see a yellow robot with 'one' written on it, you write - with your keyboard - one (no apostrophes, just the word). There's no box where you're supposed to type it in, but the game window has to be selected and all.

There are three types of robots.

Yellow - The regular type of robots, and they're - gasp - yellow colored. You get only 5 points from them, but there are many of them, so don't ignore them.

Red - These annoying robots have their words written upside down, yet they're only worth 20 points.

Purple Red/Broken - These cool robots are worth a whole 100 points and not only that, they're written normally! They're not hard to spot, because they're red with purple "bellies" (heh) and their arms are broken.

Other than the robots, there are also the levels that you should notice. There are a total of 6 levels in the game, and each one gets harder and harder.

Level 1 - Each word is 3 letters (for example - quo, mat, cop), and you need to destroy altogether 12 robots.

Level 2 - Each word is 4 letters (for example - font, beef, nose) and you need to destroy altogether 14 robots.

Level 3 - Each word is 5 letters (for example - votes, swell, deeds) and you need to destroy altogether 16 robots.

Level 4 - Each word is 6 letters (for example - writer, xantan, puddle) and you need to destroy altogether 18 robots.

Level 5 - Each word is 7 letters (for example - quizzed, grownup, cooties) and you need to destroy altogether 20 robots.

Level 6 - In this level, there is one huge robot, blocking your screen (or actually, window). Now, you don't want his ugly self to block your view, right? To destroy him, you have to write 25 words that appear on him, each one 8 letters. You have one minute.

Accuracy: If you type every single letter correct (meaning that you don't type a 'z' when you only have a word that starts with an 'l' out, because that counts), your accuracy is 100%, and you get 200 points bonus. If you get one letter wrong, your accuracy goes down to 99%, and you have 198 bonus points. And so on, and so on. You can see your accuracy that the end of each level.

Okay, these are the basics. You knew that, right? Okay, now for the real tips...

Tips and Pointers

Accuracy - First of all, accuracy is very important. If you lose 20 points each level on accuracy, that's a whole 100 points lost! Right? So, I'm not expecting you to stare up from your keyboard to the screen and carefully type each letter (though when I'm bored I allow myself to do that in the first level, which is painfully easy), because speed is important (and I will explain more below), but if you can write "blindly", meaning you can write quickly without looking at the keyboard but only at the screen (and it's not too hard, just a bit of practice :D), then you can easily look at the robots and type at the same time, like I'm looking at the submission box here and writing at the same time.

Speed - Speed is very important too. You can't dawdle and type slowly or just wait, because robots will come closer... and closer... and closer... and you know what happens then? The worst of all happens...

THE WINDOW CRACKS!

No, not cracks up, you nimwit. It sort of breaks, and then you both lose a life (which is like losing 100 points - bad bad bad!) and it's harder to see some of the robots. Anyway, while being slow is bad, being too fast is bad too, because you sometimes have mistakes, making you lose accuracy, making you lose bonus points! So, for short, just type at an average speed, and if you see that the robots are often coming close to your screen (which sometimes makes it hard to concentrate on one of them), try to speed up.

Now, for the real tips.

1. When you see the red robots (the ones with words written upside down), first try to recognize it as a word you know, because then it's easier for you to write the word without looking letter by letter. The more you play, the more words in the game you recognize (plus the words you already know), and soon enough you can recognize words just by their first letter, or just by the first flash (of the picture) you see when you see them upside down.

2. Try to get the purple and red robots more than the yellow. Every time you have a few robots, let them walk a bit close to you, and wait to see if a purple or red robot, because they give you more points and it's better to end the level after getting them. HOWEVER! Do not lose a life because of this; make sure to get the yellow robots before you lose a life! Losing a life because of a 5 point yellow robot is not worth it! If you actually count the robots (though I don't recommend it, because it makes you concentrate on that and not the words), then on the last one, wait and see if you can get a special one, so you can get it without getting the yellow ones.

3. On the last level, the one with the big robot, concentrate ONLY on the word, not on the time, or how many words you got, or anything else. One minute is definitely enough to write 25 words, so try to get the words accurately but fast. Accuracy is very important in general, but here even more, because you get more bonus points according to your accuracy!

4. When starting the game, try not to be disturbed - tell your family not to bother you, close other windows... believe me, it's VERY annoying to be in the middle of the game and then get a message which makes me lose my concentration, or my mom declaring that we're going somewhere (a picnic AGAIN? Oh, big whoop).

5. Take a break between every level. It's sometimes pressuring to do the whole game in one sitting, so sometimes it's nice to grab something to eat or watch some TV before starting the next level. Sometimes I watch a TV show and go back to the computer only to discover I'm in the middle of a Typing Terror game!

Now, after the tips, it's time for some other tips - but from a different direction. Sometimes, when I get to the fourth or third or even second level, I quit the game and start from the beginning, because I notice that I'm already doing bad. So, you really should know when it's better to quit and start again so you won't be wasting your time!

* If you don't have 2500 points by the end of the 5th level, quit.

* If you lost even one level in ANY level, quit.

* If you didn't get at least 450 points on the first level, quit.

* If your accuracy is less than 95% on any level, quit.

It may sound hard, especially the first one, but there's no point playing a game that starts bad! -cough- At the time of typing (and it will probably be like this for months, or even more...) I don't even have that avatar!

And, beyond all these tips, don't forget... practice makes perfect! Or in our case, 100% accuracy in all 6 levels and dozens of Purple Robots, and for me that's basically perfect. Yep.