In TypeRacer, players complete typing tests of various texts as fast as possible, competing against themselves or with other users online.

TypeRacer was created by programmer Alex Epshteyn, using the OpenSocial application programming interface (API) and the Google Web Toolkit.

[1] Epshteyn is a former intern at Google and graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Master's degree in computer science.

[10] The typing passages are popular culture references and come from songs, films, television shows, video games and books.

[5] For example, text selections include passages from such sources as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A Clockwork Orange, and Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!).

Based on a player's average, players are categorized into one of six skill levels:[citation needed] TypeRacer restricts the use of cheats with measures such as keystroke replays and a captcha anticheat[14] that requires users who achieve over 100 wpm in a race to complete a CAPTCHA.

When completed successfully, if high-scoring players achieve a score that is 25% higher than their recorded CAPTCHA speed, an additional challenge-response test will be reactivated.

It is measured in a way that prevents cheaters from manually sending scores to the website, which means there is often lag that lowers a player's wpm count.