~ Tips for Typing Maniac on Facebook ~

While Bejeweled was down due to a server room fire, I was stuck working and making jewelry for my shop without game breaks. Just when I thought I was going insane, I saw someone playing Typing Maniac on facebook through the newsfeed. The graphics look cute, so I thought I will check it out. Now it has taken over my newsfeed by storm. A lot of my friends are playing and I love competition!

I love typing games! This is fun. Basically, words on sheets of paper falls down at various rates and you need to type the words to get rid of the paper. If you don't, they'll pile up on the floor and you die of suffocation and paper cuts. That's a pretty basic typing game. I mean, Popcap's Typer Shark is similar concept, except your death is more gruesome.

What I like about this game is that you also need to think about how to apply the special papers: fire, wind, ice and slow. You need to have strategies instead of just typing fast! So, as the champion amongst my friends, I thought I would share my strategies. And yes, I am bragging :)

1. Don't make mistakes

Duh! But, your points are based on your accuracy. If you get 100%, your points basically double. So, in the early levels, you can take your time to get 100% accurate so you can stock up points.

2. Type the words you know first

It's much faster to type if you know what you are typing and don't have to read the word and then think about it and then type it.

3. Type the easy words first

I don't mean short or easy as in defintion. I mean words that you can type without moving your fingers a lot or words that you can type with one hand. For example, it's harder for me to move my fingers down, so words with z, x, c, v, n, m are harder for me and I make more mistakes with them. On the other hand, words like wear, where and was are much easier because my fingers don't have to move much.

4. Start off slow

In later levels, if you have a slow, start the level by typing slow. You will probably get one later anyway. May as well use it now, before you can see the first word, so you can use that time to type slow. And this will make you feel calmer too. Before the slow wears off, you are likely to get another one, or maybe another ice. You can keep chaining them to make the fast level seem easy. You can use multiple slows that will really slow things down for you too.

5. Burn the useless stuff

In later levels, whenever you see a lot of paper falling, but no special ones in the mix, and you have a few specials stored, use fire. Helps you clear the screen and calm down a little bit. You will likely get another special back soon.

6. Try to get the specials even if you store limit has been reached.

You are only allow to store 6 specials. If you see another one falling and you have that special stored, use the one you have stored and then get the new one. This works specially well for slow and ice. For fire, you can get the new one first, and then type in "fire". Whenever you get a special, it takes time for it to become a paper airplane and fly to your store. So, while all that animation is going on, you can use up a special and free up a slot for the new one.

7. Wind is your new best friend.

Wind basically blows away that pile that's about to kill you to give you a second chance. Be sure to try to keep some around for the later levels. They are pretty useless early on though.

Ok, I think that's all I have for you. Good luck! I hope you become a robot soon, or maybe an uber alien like these world champions. How they heck do they live through 40+ levels?