Type Tide A free typing game: wash the waves away before they reach your sandcastle
Type the words riding the waves before they reach your sandcastle. 30 levels, an endless mode and key-row lessons.
About Type Tide
Type Tide is a free typing game you can play in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer. You build a sandcastle at the edge of the sea, and the tide is coming in. Words ride the waves towards your castle, and you wash each one away by typing it before it lands. Every word you clear sends up a splash and a burst of points; every wave that reaches the shore knocks a piece off your castle.
The controls stay out of your way. On a computer you simply type on your keyboard. On a phone or tablet a big on-screen keyboard fills the bottom of the screen, and there is nothing to aim: the first letter you press locks onto the nearest wave that starts with it, so you never have to tap a word first. Keep typing and the word is washed away. Pressed the wrong key? It counts as a miss and breaks your combo, but the word stays locked so you can carry on. Backspace lets go of a word if you want to switch to another.
There are 30 levels that start gently, with short three and four letter words drifting in slowly, and grow into long, awkward words that arrive faster and faster. Each level gives you up to three stars for clearing it, for keeping your castle standing, and for typing accurately. The word list is clean and family friendly, and every word is graded by its length and by how awkward its letters are to reach, so a word like quiz is harder than a word like tent.
Look out for the gold words. Type one and its power fires: a snowflake word freezes the tide for a few seconds so every wave stops where it is, and a wave word sweeps the whole lane clean in one go. They are the best way to get out of trouble, so save your best typing for them.
When you want to practise rather than race, open Lessons. They teach you the keyboard row by row, starting with the home row where your fingers rest, then the top row, then the bottom row, and finally all the rows together. Lessons are calm and slow, and they show your words per minute and accuracy at the end, so you can watch yourself improve. Endless mode never stops: the waves keep coming faster until the tide wins, and your best score is saved and can be sent to the leaderboard.
Your stars, best speed and progress are saved on this device, and to your account if you are signed in. Type Tide works with a physical keyboard on any QWERTY layout, with touch on phones and tablets, and with a mouse for the menus. Press Escape to pause and F2 to mute while you play, or use the buttons in the corner.
How to play
Words ride the waves towards your sandcastle. Type a word before it reaches the shore. On a computer use your keyboard; on a phone or tablet use the on-screen keyboard. Your first letter locks onto the nearest wave that starts with it, then finish the word to wash it away. A wrong key counts as a miss and breaks your combo, and Backspace lets go of the locked word. Each wave that lands knocks a piece off your castle, and you lose when it is gone. Gold words have a power: a snowflake freezes the tide for a few seconds and a wave sweeps the whole lane clear. Clear the words in a level to win up to three stars. Use Lessons to practise key row by row, or Endless to see how long you can last. Press Escape to pause and F2 to mute.
Controls and devices
- Controls: Touch, Mouse, Keyboard
- Works on: phones, tablets and computers
- Screen: portrait orientation
- Price: free, no download or sign-up
FAQ
- Is Type Tide free, and does it work on my phone?
- Yes. It is free and runs in the browser on Android phones, iPhones, tablets and computers, with nothing to download. On a touch screen it shows a big on-screen keyboard.
- How does the game know which word I am typing?
- Your first letter locks onto the nearest wave whose word starts with that letter. Then you finish that word. The game avoids showing two waves with the same first letter whenever it can, and Backspace lets go of a locked word.
- How is my speed measured?
- Words per minute uses the standard rule of five letters to a word, counted over the time you spend typing, not the time spent waiting for the next wave. Accuracy is the share of your key presses that were right.
- What do the gold words do?
- A gold word with a snowflake freezes the tide for four seconds, so no wave moves and no new one arrives. A gold word with a wave sweeps every wave in its lane away at once and counts them towards the level.
- Can I use it to learn touch typing?
- Yes. The Lessons mode goes row by row on a QWERTY keyboard (US or UK): the home row, then the top row, then the bottom row, then every row. They run at a gentle fixed speed and show your speed and accuracy at the end.
- Why are Escape and F2 used for pause and mute?
- Because every letter key is game input, so the usual P and M keys cannot be shortcuts. The pause and mute buttons in the corner always work too.
- Does my progress save?
- Yes. Stars, your best speed and your endless record are saved on this device, and to your account when you are signed in.
Credits
- Game design, code, art and sound: Playora Games
- Word list: SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) by Kevin Atkinson, via wordlist-english (SCOWL permissive license (see LICENSE-SCOWL.txt))