Touch Typing Games

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So... touch typing. A-S-D-F and J-K-L-; with thumbs on spacebar. One of those things people (well, people with full use of their hands) really should learn if they want to use a desktop or laptop computer and the whole reason a number of keyboards have notches on the F and J keys. But standard block typing lessons and tests are BORING.

There's actually a good number of touch typing games out there. There's obviously Mario Teaches Typing, and both versions of Typing of the Dead....

But I'm actually trying to remember an older program with minigames from when I was in grade school. I know when it came to the minigames, you had a word and a text block to type it in. You typed each letter and if you made a mistake, it'd give a brief low buzz (this was the era of PC Speaker) and color that letter differently, and you'd have to start the word over. The only minigame I specifically remember involved a squirrel gathering acorns... each word got them a little closer and after a certain number of words, they'd grab. There were most certainly more, but that's the most I got.


Anyone else have good experiences with touch typing games?

(And are there even touch typing programs/games for DVORAK keyboards or are they all QWERTY?)

 

[Stratelier]

I couldn't name the software we used in school (junior high and highschool) if I tried, but I do remember (from some location, probably an OMSI exhibition) one touch-typing game themed after the Wizard of Id comic strip. You played the wizard and had to calm his resident ghost spirit by correctly typing words that it spat at you. Fundamentally, it was kind of like The Typing of the Dead when you think about it....