Rush Hour

How to play

Words slide down the station wall toward the edge of the platform. Type one to clear it. There is nothing to click and no need to press Enter: as soon as you type a letter, the game locks onto the matching word, closest to the edge first, and the letters you have typed light up yellow.

Every word that reaches the yellow strip costs you points and knocks a chunk off the service meter. Each word you clear repairs it a little. Let it run out (five misses in a row will do it) and service is suspended. That is the end of the ride.

Clear enough words and the train pulls into the next station on the 7. Every stop, the words fall faster, show up more often and get longer.

Controls

a–z Type a word to clear it
Backspace Undo a letter, or switch to another word
Space Drop what you have typed and start over
Esc Pause and resume

On a phone or tablet, tap the platform to bring up the keyboard. The playing field shrinks to stay above it. A real keyboard is still the fastest way to ride.

Scoring

What	Points
Each letter of a cleared word	10, plus 2 for every station after the first
Combo	×1.5 after 5 clean words in a row, up to ×4 at 30
Express word	Double points, plus 100
Word cleared by an All Clear	Its letters, no multiplier
Word that reaches the platform	−50 × the station number

A wrong key or a missed word resets your combo to ×1. Words are scored on the letters in them, so long words pay more.

Special words

Express ×2 Marked with the diamond 7. Double points and a 100-point bonus.
Signal delay Holds every train to a crawl for a few seconds and stops new words from arriving. Use it to catch your breath.
All clear An express train rushes through the station and takes every word on screen with it.

Word packs

Everyday: Familiar words, from cat and lamp up to encyclopedia. The fairest test of plain typing speed.
NYC: Neighborhoods, streets, food and landmarks: bodega, bleecker, pastrami, verrazzano. Spelling counts.
Science: Biology and genomics, from gene to oligodendrocyte. A nod to the day job.
Code: Programming terms: lambda, mutex, refactor, asynchronous.

The line

Each stage is a stop on the 7, from 34 St–Hudson Yards under Manhattan, through the tunnel to Long Island City, then up on the elevated tracks over Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue to Flushing–Main St. Reach the end of the line and the train turns around for Manhattan.

34 St–Hudson Yards
Times Sq–42 St
5 Av
Grand Central–42 St
Vernon Blvd–Jackson Av
Hunters Point Av
Court Sq
Queensboro Plaza
33 St–Rawson St
40 St–Lowery St
46 St–Bliss St
52 St
61 St–Woodside
69 St
74 St–Broadway
82 St–Jackson Hts
90 St–Elmhurst Av
Junction Blvd
103 St–Corona Plaza
111 St
Mets–Willets Point
Flushing–Main St

Tips

Watch the bottom. The game always works on the word nearest the edge when two words start alike, so read from the platform up.
Accuracy beats speed. One wrong key resets the combo, and the combo is where big scores come from.
Time your All Clear. You don't have to type it the moment it appears. Let a few more words arrive first, just not too many.
Save a delay for a crowd. A signal delay is most useful when the platform is filling up.
Turn off swipe typing on phones. Tapping one letter at a time is faster here than it sounds.

FAQ

How is WPM worked out?

The usual way: every five letters count as one word, divided by the minutes you spent playing. Pauses don't count, and neither do letters in words that got away.

When does the weekly board reset?

Every Monday at midnight, New York time. Each nickname keeps its best score of the week.

How do you stop people faking scores?

The game keeps a short record of when each word was cleared, how long it was and your combo at the time. The board replays that record and recalculates the score itself. It also turns away rides the game couldn't have produced: words longer than that station deals out, more words than the trains could have brought, or typing speeds no human could keep up.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Tap the platform to open the keyboard, and the game keeps the words above it. If the keyboard closes, the game pauses until you tap Resume.

Can I turn the sound off?

Use the speaker button next to the score. The game remembers your choice. Every sound is synthesized right in the browser, so there is nothing extra to download.

Why the 7?

It runs from the west side of Manhattan to Flushing, past Times Square, Grand Central and some of the best food in the city. During rush hour it also runs express, which is what the purple diamond means.