What Is Typing Battle?

Typing Battle is a one-on-one, real-time typing game where you type the prompt on your screen to chip away at your opponent's HP. Both players start with 1000 HP. Every time you finish a prompt, your opponent takes damage, and every time you hit a wrong key, you take damage yourself. The first player to bring the other's HP to 0 wins.

Speed alone won't win a match. Accuracy matters just as much. The game runs entirely in your browser, so there is nothing to install, and you can jump into a match as a guest without signing in with a Google account. You can play in Japanese mode, where you type hiragana prompts in romaji, or in English mode, where you type English words exactly as shown.

On this page: Match modes · How a match works · How damage works · Romaji input rules · Ranking system · Match history · English mode · Tips · FAQ (for a more detailed walkthrough, see the full guide, which is in Japanese)

The Three Match Modes

To play with a friend, one of you presses "Create a Room Code". The code is six characters made up of capital letters and digits (the easily confused 0, O, 1 and I are never used). Send the code to your friend, who enters it in the box on the same screen and presses "Join" to start the match. The code is not case-sensitive and works for one match only.

Ranked Matches require a Google sign-in. If you try to start one without signing in, you will see "Ranked matches require you to be logged in". The longer you wait, the wider the tier gap allowed between you and your opponent becomes. Guests can set a nickname in the lobby (up to 20 characters); if you leave it blank, a random name is used. If you sign in with Google, your nickname starts out as the name on your Google account (or a generic default name if none is available), and you can change it at any time with the "Change" button in the lobby. Guest matches are not saved to the match history page.

How a Match Works

1. Match found: Once an opponent is set, you move to the "Opponent found" screen. If your opponent is signed in, a tier badge appears next to their name.
2. Ready up: Press the "Ready" button. You have 10 seconds, and the timer and bar turn red once 3 seconds or less remain.
3. Forfeits: A player who doesn't ready up within 10 seconds loses by default. If only one player is ready, that player wins by default; if neither is ready, the match is a draw. In Ranked Matches, a forfeit moves a fixed 50 rank points (a draw changes nothing).
4. Countdown: Once both players are ready, a 3-second countdown runs and then the battle begins.
5. Battle: Finishing a prompt shows "HIT!" and a wrong key shows "MISS!". Each match uses a set of 50 prompts, and when both players are using the same language they get them in the same order.
6. Result: The match ends when either HP reaches 0, and it is a draw if both do. The result screen shows Victory, Defeat or Draw, and in Ranked Matches it also shows the points gained or lost and your current tier.

How Damage Works

When you finish a prompt, your opponent takes 50 + 25 × units damage, capped at 250. "Units" is how the game measures a prompt's length: one hiragana character is one unit, a combination with a small character such as きゃ, しゅ or ふぁ counts as one unit even though it is two characters, and っ, ん and ー each count as one unit as well. For English words, each letter is one unit. When you make a mistake, on the other hand, you take a flat 25 damage per wrong key, no matter how long the prompt is.

For example, finishing たいよう (4 units) takes your opponent from 1000 HP to 850. If you made one mistake along the way, you drop from 1000 to 975. Using only 3-unit prompts, it takes 8 hits to empty a 1000 HP bar (1000 ÷ 125), and with the 250 cap it takes as few as 4. Five mistakes (125 damage) cost as much as one 3-unit prompt is worth, so in a close match the number of misses can decide the winner.

Romaji Input Rules (Japanese Mode)

In Japanese mode, the romaji shown under each prompt is only a suggestion. Every spelling that produces the same reading is accepted, so if the guide shows "shi" you can type "si" instead. Letters you have already typed turn green, the next letter is yellow and underlined, and letters still to come are gray.

• Combinations that include a small ゃ, ゅ, ょ, ぁ, ぃ, ぅ, ぇ or ぉ can also be typed by entering the small character on its own after x or l (きゃ → kixya/kilya, うぇ → uxe/ule). A small っ cannot be typed with xtu, though; double the next consonant instead.
• Typing ん in the middle of a word: press n once and move straight on to the next character (かんじ → kanji). If the next character starts with n (な, に, ぬ, ね, の and so on), press n twice to lock in ん and then continue (んな → nnna).
• A ん at the very end of a prompt completes the prompt with a single n. If you type nn out of habit, the second n counts as input for the next prompt, which in most cases makes it a miss.
• Only the a to z and - keys are used. Capital letters are treated as lowercase, and any other key, such as digits or symbols, is ignored without counting as a miss.

Ranking System

In Ranked Matches you collect rank points to climb the tiers. You start at 0 points and move up one tier for every 1000 points, through 16 tiers from Aluminum I to Grandmaster. The tier names inside the game are always shown in Japanese (for example アルミⅠ), even in English mode.

The points that change hands in a match depend on the winner's remaining HP. The formula is 10 + 190 × (winner's remaining HP ÷ 1000), rounded to the nearest whole number. That amount is added to the winner and subtracted from the loser. Neither player's tier is part of the calculation, so a win of the same margin is worth the same whether you beat a higher tier or a lower one.

A draw leaves points unchanged, and points never drop below 0. A forfeit caused by not readying up moves a fixed 50 points regardless of remaining HP. Also note that a Japanese-mode player and an English-mode player can end up in the same match, and in that case the rank points may be adjusted to account for the difference in how many keystrokes each mode requires.

Match History

When you are signed in, the "Match History" button in the lobby opens your match history page (the page itself is displayed in Japanese). Every match you play while signed in (Casual, Friends and Ranked alike) is recorded, and the page shows the following.

• Summary: total matches played, wins, draws and losses, win rate, total play time, total keys typed and total typing mistakes, among others.
• Speed and accuracy trends: your average typing speed (ms per character) and average miss rate, compared across your first 10 matches, all matches, and your latest 10.
• Rank point history: a line chart of your points after each Ranked Match.
• Per-key stats (latest 30 matches): the keys you miss most often, plus the fastest and slowest keys to reach.
• Match log: up to your 50 most recent matches, newest first, with date, mode, result, duration, speed and miss rate.

English Mode

Press the "English" button in the top right corner to move to the English page and play in English mode, where you type English words exactly as spelled (press "日本語" to go back to Japanese mode). The prompts are everyday English words plus English-language internet slang, and you type them in lowercase exactly as shown. There are no alternate spellings like in romaji, and each letter is one unit. Damage uses the same formula as Japanese mode: 125 for a 3-letter word, and the 250 cap for words of 8 letters or more.

The language of your prompts depends on which page you play from. A Japanese-mode player and an English-mode player can end up in the same match, and in that case each of them gets prompts in their own language.

Tips for Improving

• Put accuracy ahead of speed: a mistake costs a flat 25 damage, and four mistakes wipe out the damage from finishing one 2-unit prompt (100). Pushing your speed at the cost of more mistakes rarely pays off.
• Pick the shorter spelling: damage depends on units, not on how many keys you press. si, ti and tu are one key shorter than shi, chi and tsu, and を needs only o, so you can deal the same damage faster.
• Stay calm on long prompts: damage per unit drops as prompts get longer, from 50 for a 2-unit prompt to 37.5 for 4 units and about 20.8 for 12 units. Anything past 8 units stays at the 250 cap, so on long prompts it is better to type steadily than to rush.
• 250 HP or less is finishing range: one prompt of 8 or more units deals 250. If your own HP is 250 or less, avoid mistakes above all; if your opponent's is, a long prompt can finish the match.
• Mistakes also affect rank points: each mistake takes 25 off your remaining HP, which also shaves about 5 points (25 × 0.19) off what you earn when you win.
• Check your weak keys on the history page: once you know which keys you miss most, you can pay extra attention to prompts that use them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can't I do without signing in?

You can't start Ranked Matches, and because your matches aren't saved, the match history page isn't available either. Casual Matches and matches with friends work fine without signing in. Sign-in uses your Google account; see the Privacy Policy (in Japanese) for how the information is handled.

My key presses aren't registering.

The battle screen only accepts the half-width a to z and - keys. If a Japanese input method (IME) is turned on, key presses may not get through, so switch it to half-width alphanumeric input. Keys pressed together with Ctrl, Alt or the Windows (Command) key are ignored. Input also stops working if the connection to the server has dropped, in which case go back to the lobby and start again.

Can I play on a phone?

Yes. On touch devices, tapping "Ready" opens the on-screen keyboard, and you type from it during the battle. If the keyboard closes, tap the battle screen to bring it back. Input is read from a regular alphabetic keyboard, so flick input and text still being composed are not recognized. For serious competition, a physical keyboard that reliably registers every key is the safer choice.

I typed "ん" but it counted as a miss.

A ん at the end of a prompt completes the prompt as soon as you press n once, so typing nn sends the second n to the next prompt, where it is a miss in most cases. Conversely, when the next character starts with n, you need to press n twice first. See "Romaji Input Rules" above for details.

What happens if the connection drops during a match?

If your own connection drops, you see "Lost connection to the server. Returning to the lobby." If your opponent disconnects, you see "Your opponent disconnected. Returning to the lobby." Either way you return to the lobby, where you can search for a new match.

Can my rank points go negative?

No. Your points stop at 0, so you never fall below Aluminum I.

How do I report a bug or cheating?

Use the feedback page to send bug reports, cheating reports or requests to the team. Guests can submit too, and when you are signed in and choose a cheating report, you can attach one of your recent matches as related evidence.

The site says "Under Maintenance" and I can't play.

While maintenance is in progress, a notice screen is shown and new matches can't be started. Please try again a little later.