Letter Storm

What is Letter Storm?

Letter Storm is a typing game with a story you can see. You keep a lighthouse on a stormy coast. Clouds drift in from the top of the screen, each one carrying a word, and they creep toward the lamp. Type a word correctly and a bolt of lightning blasts that cloud away. Let a cloud reach the lighthouse and you lose one of your 3 lamps. Lose them all and the light goes out.

It works well as typing practice because it rewards the two things that matter: accuracy and steady rhythm. Words start at 3 and 4 letters and grow as the waves go on. It's free and plays in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone, with nothing to download.

How to play

1. Press Play (or Daily Storm for today's shared run).
2. Start typing any word you see. Your first letter picks a target: the cloud closest to the lighthouse that starts with that letter.
3. Keep typing. Each correct key sends a little zap, and finishing the word destroys the cloud.
4. Clear every cloud in the wave to get a wave bonus. Then the next wave rolls in, a bit faster and with longer words.

Within a wave, every cloud on screen starts with a different letter, so you never have to guess which one you're aiming at. If you lock onto the wrong cloud, press Backspace (or the release key on the phone keyboard) to let it go. That cloud's progress resets, so only do it when you need to.

Controls

Computer

Just type on your keyboard. Backspace or Delete releases your current target. Esc pauses. Enter starts a new run from the menu or the results screen.

Phone and tablet

An on-screen keyboard sits at the bottom of the screen. Tap the letters of a word to zap it. The wide key on the bottom row releases your target.

Scoring

Every correct key is worth 10 points times your streak multiplier. Finishing a word adds a bigger chunk based on its length, so long words matter a lot.

Streaks

Every 8 correct keys in a row bumps your multiplier up by one, to a max of x4. One wrong key drops it back to x1, and so does a cloud reaching the lighthouse. That's the whole lesson of typing practice in one rule: slow and clean beats fast and sloppy.

Power-up clouds

From wave 2 on, some clouds come tinted. Type their word and you get a bonus:

• Freeze: every cloud stops moving for 4 seconds, and no new clouds appear while it lasts.
• Chain lightning: a bolt jumps to the 3 clouds closest to the lighthouse and destroys them.
• Lamp: gives back one lamp you lost. These only show up when you're missing a lamp.

Thunderhead boss storms

Every 5th wave is a boss. A huge Thunderhead rolls in slowly with a 6 letter word on it. Type it and the storm weakens and shows a 7 letter word, then an 8 letter word. Break all three and you win a big bonus.

While it's alive, the Thunderhead keeps spitting out small clouds with 3 and 4 letter words. Those still count, and they're the ones that usually get through. If the Thunderhead itself reaches the lighthouse it knocks out 2 lamps at once and backs off to try again, so don't ignore it for too long.

The Workshop: sparks and upgrades

After each run you earn sparks: 1 for every word zapped, 5 for every wave cleared and 25 for every Thunderhead broken. Spend them in the Workshop.

The Workshop also holds lighthouse paints. You unlock them by breaking Thunderheads over all your runs: Seafoam after 1, Sunrise after 3, Midnight after 6, Candy after 10 and Aurora after 15.

Daily Storm and leaderboards

The Daily Storm uses the same words and power-ups for everyone that day, and it resets at midnight UTC. Upgrades are switched off in the daily so every player is on equal footing. Play it on back to back days to build a streak.

There's a leaderboard for regular runs and one for the daily. Sign in to post your scores. The results screen also shows your accuracy, which is a nice number to track if you're using this for typing practice.

Tips for a higher score

• Look at the next word while you type the current one. This is the biggest habit good typists have, and it's what keeps your streak alive in later waves.
• Go for the closest cloud first. Your first letter already targets the nearest match, so start with whatever is lowest on the screen.
• Protect your streak. At x4 a single 6 letter word is worth four times as much. A wrong key costs more than a slow one.
• Save Freeze for crowded moments by leaving that cloud until several others are getting close, then zap it.
• In a boss wave, clean up the small clouds first, then work on the Thunderhead. It moves slowly and only the minions are quick.
• Buy Calm Winds and Spare Lamp early. They make every run longer, which earns more sparks for the rest.

Want a word game with falling letters instead of falling words? Try Alpha Rain. On a computer you can type your words there too.

Questions