Marathon
A long, open-ended run that logs your net WPM and accuracy at every completed minute into a table that stays on screen once you stop, so the shape of that record matters more than any single number in it.
QWERTY layout assumed. Backspace corrects; uncorrected errors count against net WPM.
Marathon works from a nine-hundred-word generated passage — long enough that most attempts end because you choose to stop, not because the text runs out — and it has no fixed duration. There's no countdown, no forced finish line; a Finish button ends the run whenever you decide you're done, and the passage itself only forces an ending if you actually type the whole thing.
What makes this different from simply running a long test is what happens to the numbers while you go: at the end of every completed minute, the run's net WPM and accuracy at that moment are logged as a row in a table, and that table is still there once you finish — sitting below the results screen rather than being replaced by it. What you're left with afterward is a full record you can read back, not just the single closing figure every other game on this hub adds to its own results screen.
There's a detail worth understanding about what each row actually shows: net WPM and accuracy are both calculated from the very start of the run, not from just the minute that just finished. A slow first minute keeps dragging on every later row's average, which is why the table reads as a curve that moves gradually rather than one that jumps around minute to minute — a real change in your pace has to be sustained for a while before it visibly moves a number built on everything that came before it too.
How to Play
Type the passage at whatever pace and for however long feels right. The HUD tracks elapsed time and how many full minutes have been logged so far; nothing about the interface pushes you toward stopping at any particular point.
Because each row is a cumulative figure rather than an isolated one, the most informative thing to look for isn't your highest single number in the table — it's where the trend actually bends. A curve that climbs steadily and then flattens says something different from one that climbs, flattens, and then starts to drop, even if the peak value in both tables looks identical.
When you finish, the table stays exactly where it was, below the same net-WPM-and-accuracy summary every page shows. Ghost Race, One Life, Speed Gate and Combo Ladder each add one extra figure of their own to that summary — a margin, a survived count, a gate level, a longest run. Marathon adds a table instead of a figure, because a single number was never going to be the point of a format built around watching where a trend goes.
Every Row Includes Everything Before It
The net WPM logged at minute six isn't 'your speed during minute six' in isolation — it's your average pace across all six minutes so far. That has a real consequence: a rough opening stays baked into every later row, even once your actual pace has improved, because the earlier, slower minutes are still part of the denominator. A number that looks stuck can mean your recent typing is fine and the average simply hasn't caught up yet.
Where the Curve Bends Matters More Than Where It Peaks
Because each row folds in everything that came before, a genuine change in your pace shows up gradually rather than as a sharp jump — which means a bend that does show clearly, in either direction, reflects a real and sustained shift, not a single unlucky or lucky minute. A table that's still climbing when you stop and one that turned down three minutes before you stopped describe two different attempts, even if their final numbers happen to match.
One Extra Number Versus an Entire Table
Ghost Race's results screen adds Ghost and Margin; One Life's adds Survived; Speed Gate's adds Gate reached and Held for; Combo Ladder's adds Longest run and Breaks. Each of those is exactly one additional figure bolted onto the standard net WPM and accuracy summary. Marathon doesn't get a matching single figure, because there isn't one that would mean much on its own — the value of a run here is the shape of the whole attempt, not a number pulled from any single moment in it, so what carries over is the table itself, all of it, rather than a distilled version of it.
A Long Run Without a Deadline Attached
Speed Gate forces the question of your ceiling by raising a demand you have to keep up with; Marathon asks a related question — how your pace holds over real time — without imposing any external pressure at all, since stopping is entirely your own decision. If you're planning a long, continuous session, Preventing RSI as a Heavy Typist is worth reading beforehand, since nothing about this format pauses itself for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is the passage, and what happens if I actually finish it?
Nine hundred words, long enough that most people stop with the Finish button well before reaching the end. If you do type the whole thing, the run ends there automatically, the same way any other passage-based page finishes.
Does each row in the table show my speed just for that specific minute?
No — each row is your net WPM and accuracy calculated from the very start of the run up to that minute, not an isolated reading for just the sixty seconds before it. A slow opening minute keeps affecting every row that follows.
Why does the table sometimes look flat even though I feel like I've sped up?
Because each row averages in everything from the start of the run, a real improvement in your recent pace takes a while to move a number that's built on several earlier minutes too. A flat stretch in the table doesn't necessarily mean your current typing hasn't changed.
Does the table disappear once I finish typing, the way the other games' live HUD numbers do?
The live tracking stops the same way it does everywhere on this hub — once you finish, the moving HUD is gone. But where Combo Ladder and the others are left with one closing figure apiece on the results screen (a longest run, a margin, a survived count), Marathon is left with the whole table, not a single number pulled out of it.
How is this different from the 20-Minute Endurance Test, which also runs long?
The 20-Minute Endurance Typing Test runs to a fixed, known duration and reports live numbers without building a table you can review afterward. Marathon has no fixed length at all, ends whenever you choose, and its whole point is the table it leaves behind once you stop.