How to play
You stand behind a wooden barricade on a foggy graveyard road at night. Zombies walk out of the fog toward you, each with a word above its head. Type the word to shoot the zombie. If you still look down at your hands, start with the typing lessons.
- Pick a target. Type the first letter of a word. The nearest zombie whose word starts with that letter becomes your target, its label gets a yellow outline and your crosshair moves to it. Words on screen never share a first letter.
- Finish the word. Every correct letter fires one shot and pushes the zombie back a little. The last letter is the headshot that takes it down.
- Mistakes. A wrong letter doesn't fire. The label shakes and your combo resets, so type the right letter and carry on.
- Switch targets. Press Esc or Backspace to let go of your target. The word you left starts over.
- Hold the barricade. A zombie that reaches the barricade attacks every couple of seconds and each hit costs one of your five hearts. Lose all five and the run ends.
Zombies, bosses and crates
There is no last wave: each wave brings more zombies, a little faster. Walkers carry everyday words. From wave 2, runners zigzag toward you with short words. From wave 3, tanks carry long words or two words at once, and you have to type the space too.
Every fifth wave starts with a boss that carries a short sentence. Type it one word at a time; spaces are skipped for you. Each word you finish knocks the boss back, and the final word triggers a slow-motion kill cam.
From wave 2, a glowing crate sometimes floats over the road for about eight seconds. Type its word to shoot it: bomb takes out every zombie in sight, freeze slows them for four seconds, and medkit gives back one heart.
Score
Each letter is worth 10 points, plus a bonus for how far away the zombie was. Zombies finished without a mistake count as headshots and build your combo: 10 in a row doubles your points and 25 triples them. Bosses add 1,000 points for every five waves.
Difficulty and horde
| Easy | Normal | Hard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Words | 3–7 letters | 3–10 letters | 4–13 letters, some capitals and punctuation |
| Built for | about 20 WPM | about 35 WPM | about 55 WPM |
| Zombies on screen at once | 4 | 6 | 8 |
Zombie speed is set from each word's length and the difficulty's typing speed, with less room to spare every wave.
Daily Horde sends the same zombies and words to everyone on the same date, so you can compare scores with friends. Endless makes a new random horde every run. Your best score and wave are saved on this device for each difficulty and each daily horde.
Share your run
When a run ends you get a 9:16 highlight video of the last few seconds of play (or of your latest boss kill) and a story card image with your wave, score, WPM, accuracy and headshots. On a phone, Share opens the share sheet so you can post to Instagram Stories or send it to a friend. Save downloads the file. Copy challenge link makes a link to the same daily horde with your score to beat.
The video is recorded in your browser and never uploaded. You can switch recording off in the menu, and it turns off by itself on slow devices. Browsers that can't record video still get the story card.
Tips
- Clear the closest zombie first. A far-away zombie is worth a few more points, but a zombie at the barricade costs you hearts.
- Stay accurate. A clean word keeps your combo alive, and the ×2 and ×3 multipliers matter more than a few extra words.
- Use crates in a pinch.
bombclears every zombie in sight at once.
FAQ
Is the Zombie Typing Game free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download and no sign-up.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Tap the game to open your phone's keyboard. The view shrinks to fit above the keyboard so you can still see the zombies and their words. A physical keyboard is faster.
Is it scary or gory?
It has pixel-art zombies, groans and small pixel splashes when a zombie falls. There is no realistic gore.