Family guide

For parents

Turn finding the keys into an adventure you can enjoy together. Children type to move through challenges; you can help them notice a small success and choose a comfortable next step.

Try First Steps free · Physical keyboard required

Keyboard Runner can be played as a guest without giving us a child’s name, email address, birth date, school, address, or precise location. Guest progress stays on the device.

Start with a small, comfortable session

1. Choose one goal. For an absolute beginner, open Training → First Steps. Find the bumps on F and J; the hero waits while you find each key, with no timer or damage. Follow the finger guide and aim to find each key accurately. You don’t need a speed target.
2. Play together for a few minutes. Let your child press the keys. Ask “Which key are you looking for?” and leave time to find it. First Steps waits without damage. Action modes such as Key Kid and Worlds include fantasy enemies and missed-target penalties; pause or return to First Steps if those feel frustrating.
3. Finish while it still feels good. Press Esc to pause, then choose “Finish & see practice.” The first Esc during the home-row introduction skips that introduction. You can stop before completing a level; an unfinished quest does not earn a completion star.
4. Notice something specific. The summary shows correct attempts, keys used, and one suggested focus. Ask “Which key felt easier?” Choose another short session together when your child wants to return.

A path from keys to connected text

• First Steps: eight short, self-paced introductory lessons plus an optional different-word activity from F and J to simple words, with a finger guide and gentle retries without Backspace.
• Key Kid: finger pairs, home row, then reaches to the rest of the keyboard.
• Key Crafter: two- and three-letter words for joining familiar keystrokes.
• Key Wizard and Key Legend: longer words for practicing a steady rhythm.
• Story Trails: short phrases lead to passages with spaces, capitals, punctuation, and paragraph breaks. Passages unlock through play.
• Worlds and Curious: apply typing in themed quests, explore keyboard questions, and play learning games across 13 subjects in the Wonder Sky.

Choose by comfort with the keys, rather than age or a race to the hardest level. Reading the words and finding the keys are different challenges. Word tiers group by length, not by age or reading grade: a short word can still require an unfamiliar reach. Read an unfamiliar word together before typing, or return to individual-key practice. Story typing practices entering text; it does not by itself measure reading comprehension.

Practice at your own pace

Daily challenges are optional ideas. Each day’s challenge can be met in any one of three ways: the day’s run goal, learning something new (a new star in the Wonder Sky, the Key Dojo or a Critter Cove game, or new coins in a Subject Labs lesson), or finishing a story passage. The first way met earns the same 150 coins, once a day; replaying a star your child already has, or a First Steps lesson, doesn’t meet it. Each completed challenge day adds to your total, even after a long break. Guided practice milestones also count across breaks. There is no streak to lose or restore.

Existing coins and badges remain yours. Older saves keep their recorded progress; days that were never saved cannot be reconstructed. Updated milestone badges count recorded challenge days rather than consecutive days.

The Achievement Hall in Activities recognizes careful typing and milestones in every area, each once. An accurate run is any run, quest or story that reaches its results with at least 50 keys typed at 95% accuracy or better on a physical keyboard; stopping early still counts, and touch-screen runs do not. Accurate runs, shining Key Dojo keys and finished story packs add coins once, like other typing milestones. Belts, Wonder Sky constellations, a Critter Cove friendship and the Atlas earn badges without coins, because their stars and belts already add coins once. A Cove friendship counts only when your child plays with that friend. Online Racing earns no achievement or prize.

The Collection Gallery in Activities keeps one collection for each area: story packs, Key Dojo belts, Wonder Sky cards, Subject Labs stamps, Keyboard Museum stamps, Atlas chapters, Critter Cove moments, Coin Garden plants and boss keepsakes. Each collection has an end and counts what your child has already done. A finished one earns a gold frame, never coins, and there are no timers. Critter Cove and Subject Labs collections are saved on this browser, so they can differ between devices.

Try the same skill with different words

After completing a story or the first-word lesson, reopen its preview and choose “Same skill, different words” when available. First Steps offers ask, all, and fall using familiar home keys. The free story sample also has a free companion paragraph. Read unfamiliar words together if needed. These are optional guided activities, not equivalent tests; faster replay or a different score on another passage does not establish a learning gain.

What the practice summary means

Accuracy compares correct and incorrect typing attempts in that run. “Steady this run” describes keys with at least five correct attempts and at least 90% accuracy. A suggested focus appears after repeated mistakes, rather than a single slip. These are game feedback rules, not a school grade or proof of mastery.

Keyboard Runner shows three different speed measures, and they are not interchangeable:

• Game WPM (runs and quests) is game tempo during active typing. Its average leaves out gaps longer than 1.25 seconds between correct keys, and the rolling and peak rates cap those gaps, so pauses barely count. Peak game WPM is a short burst.
• Passage WPM (guided stories) uses the time from the first key to the end of the passage, with the reader, key cues and correction help on screen.
• Belt Check WPM (Key Dojo) uses brand-new text with no hints: correct characters ÷ 5 per minute of the whole elapsed time, including every pause. Belt Checks of the same kind are the only results meant to be compared with each other.

None of these is a standardized typing-test score, and older records keep their original meaning. Use accuracy and comfort first. The game cannot see which fingers a child uses; the hand guide is an aid, not a posture assessment.

Try the learning before considering the upgrade

• Guest access: First Steps, Key Kid, the complete Lost Green Key and Morning Path story samples (Training → Try a story), the 60-second Sprint, Curious’s keyboard mysteries, the first Wonder Sky game in each of the 13 subjects (all three levels), and Fetch the puppy with the first Story Time story in Critter Cove.
• Free parent account: Key Crafter, World 1, separate player profiles, cloud saves, Activities, the basic Shop, the second Wonder Sky game in each subject with its Constellation Challenge, the first guided lesson in each Curious subject, and Clover the bunny and Miso the kitten to adopt with earned coins in Critter Cove.
• Family Pass content: Key Wizard, Key Legend, the remaining quest worlds, Story Trails and the story Library, Endless Run, PvP Racing, the remaining Wonder Sky games and guided lessons, four more Story Time stories in Critter Cove with Maple the red panda and Pip the owlet to adopt with earned coins, and premium Shop access for profiles under the same parent account. Passages unlock through practice. Story punctuation moves are included and need no equipment purchase; earned-coin upgrades still apply to combat and Shop items.

Family Pass is not on sale yet and pricing has not been announced. Guest and free-account content can be played now; premium entries may show a lock.

Consider an upgrade when your child enjoys the free practice and wants the longer-word challenges and stories. There is no need to buy to keep practicing the free activities. We have not yet established a measured learning gain for Keyboard Runner, so we do not promise a particular typing speed or school outcome.

Key Dojo: practice games, Belt Checks and real typing jobs

Open Key Dojo from the courtyard or the Training Gardens. Every key on the Glow Board lights up from your child’s own recent physical-keyboard typing. A key is sparking while it is still often missed and glowing once it is mostly right. It is shining when it is also found quickly and typed correctly inside different words. A star means it was used well again at least two days after it first shone. Only the latest 24 tries count, so an early mistake can’t hold a key back. Keys with fewer than six tries stay unlit rather than being called weak. Lights never fade because of a break.

Firefly Catch and Word Rain are practice games. Belt Checks are the only comparable results: brand-new text, no hints, and the whole elapsed time including pauses. Switching away cancels the check without recording it. Touch-screen results are labelled and never award belts. Belts are Keyboard Runner milestones, not school grades or age targets. Fix-It Courier practises moving the cursor and editing a real message. Story Spark asks for two sentences of your child’s own; that writing is never saved. In the Key Dojo, a new level star, a Fix-It star, a Story Spark’s first light and each new belt add coins once (see Coins for new stars). The Grown-ups tab in the Dojo explains the evidence behind each suggestion and lets you export or clear Dojo data. Coins can buy Dojo décor, never Dojo games (see Décor in Wonder Sky and the Key Dojo).

Wonder Sky: learning games for every Curious subject

Open Curious → Wonder Sky. Thirteen subjects — math, patterns, 3D shapes, music, coding, science, life science, data, art, money, maps and history, reading and language, and digital literacy — each have four or five short games. A round is eight freshly generated questions, so replaying practices the idea rather than memorizing answers. The first round of each game starts with a worked example, hints are always available, and every answer is followed by an explanation.

Each game has three levels. Twinkle is concrete and supported, Shine practices the same idea with fewer supports, and Supernova asks for a two-step problem or a new situation. Levels describe the task, not your child; there are no grade labels. One star needs 5 of 8 right, two stars 7 of 8, and three stars all 8 without hints. Stars measure accuracy, never speed, and there are no timers.

After a game earns its first star, it “twinkles” the next day and then after longer and longer breaks (3, 7, 14 and 30 days) as your child remembers it in a mixed Remember round. Remembering after a break is one of the best-supported ways to make learning last. Nothing fades or is taken away if you skip a day, and there are no streaks, leaderboards or random prizes. Each new star in Wonder Sky adds coins once, counting only answers given without a hint (see Coins for new stars); discovery cards and ranks never unlock purchases. The Grown-ups tab inside Wonder Sky shows what each game practises and your child’s stars, and lets you clear Wonder Sky progress without the same stars ever paying twice. Coins can buy Wonder Sky décor, never games or hints (see Décor in Wonder Sky and the Key Dojo).

Critter Cove: a pet garden where typing teaches tricks

Open Critter Cove from the courtyard’s side paths. Your child teaches a garden friend real animal behaviours by typing each trick’s word, and every trick reveals a short, true animal fact. Treat Toss, Garden Grow and Copycat practise where keys live, spelling plant names and remembering key places. Story Time practises whole sentences: your child types a short story line by line while their friend acts it out, from short lines to commas, questions, apostrophes and a hyphen. Stars come from getting keys right the first time, never from speed.

Fetch the puppy and the first story are free. The other friends are adopted in the Shop with coins your child earns by typing in runs, quests and daily challenges, and from new stars in learning games, including the Cove’s own: Clover the bunny and Miso the kitten with a free parent account, and Maple the red panda and Pip the owlet with the Family Pass, which also adds four more stories. Each friend costs up to about two 15-minute practice sessions’ worth of coins. The Shop also has a few Cove extras (hats, corner toys and garden themes), each costing less than one session. Coins are earned only by playing and can’t be bought, and tricks, animal facts, games and stories are never sold for coins.

Friendship and stars only grow: there are no streaks, timers, hunger or random prizes, and nothing is lost after a break. Hearts, tricks and stars are saved on this browser; adopted friends and extras are saved with the game progress, like other Shop items, so they follow a signed-in profile’s cloud save. So is the note of which Critter Cove stars have already added coins, so clearing this browser’s data never pays for them twice. A friend waiting to be adopted keeps any hearts and tricks from earlier play. The Cove never changes runs or equipment. If the Family Pass lapses, everything your child earned or adopted stays saved, and those friends and stories are playable again when it returns.

Coins for new stars

Learning earns coins as well as typing, so time spent on subjects counts toward the same Shop goals. Coins come only for something new, once: new stars in Wonder Sky games and Constellation Challenges add coins; in the Key Dojo, new level stars, Fix-It stars, a Story Spark’s first light and each new belt add coins; Critter Cove games and Story Time add coins for new stars; and in Curious Subject Labs, each experiment whose first prediction matched adds coins when its set is finished.

• Once per star. Each star pays once per player. Replays, Remember rounds and focus rounds pay nothing, and clearing an activity’s progress or this browser’s data never pays for the same star again: the note of what has paid is kept with the coins in the game save and follows a signed-in profile’s cloud save.
• Earned, not guessed. Wonder Sky counts only answers given without a hint, Subject Labs counts only first predictions made before opening “A little help”, and harder stars pay more (a Wonder Sky level pays 25, 50 and 75 for its three stars), so guessing earns little. The stars themselves still count as learning.
• A little less than typing. While new stars keep coming, learning adds about 30 coins a minute, a little less than typing practice earns. Belts add 50 (White) to 300 (Black).
• Stars from before. Wonder Sky and Key Dojo stars already earned when this change arrived count as paid. Critter Cove and Subject Labs progress is kept on the browser, so each of those stars pays once per player the next time it is earned.

Nothing about this adds pressure: there are no streaks, daily obligations, timers on learning games, leaderboards or random prizes, and nothing is taken away after a break. Coins never unlock lessons or games, and learning content is never sold for coins.

Décor in Wonder Sky and the Key Dojo

The Shop has a small shelf of décor for Wonder Sky and the Key Dojo, so coins earned in a place can also make it your child’s own: three things for Orbit the owl or Kip the lantern to wear, and three backdrops for the sky or the Dojo. Each costs 150 to 350 coins, less than one practice session. Your child picks what to use on each place’s Style tab.

• Décor only. Games, levels, hints, explanations, stars, missions, belts, key lights, facts, stories, books, instruments and sounds are never sold, and décor never changes how progress is shown.
• Never during a question. Décor appears on each place’s home, lists and results. Rounds, games and Belt Checks always keep their plain look. Moving backdrops hold still with Less motion or the device’s reduced-motion setting.
• Like other Shop items. Buying needs a free parent account and spends only the coin pouch, never Coin Garden savings. What your child owns and picks is saved with the game progress and follows a signed-in profile’s cloud save. Coins are earned only by playing and can’t be bought.

Coin Garden interest

With a free parent account, your child can move game coins from their pouch into the Coin Garden to save toward something in the Shop, and take them back out at any time. Saved coins earn interest, so saving is rewarded the way it is at a bank.

• Real rules at game speed. Saved coins earn 5 more for every 100 each week, on up to 5,000 saved coins, so at most 250 coins a week. A real savings account pays about 4% in a whole year; the garden is faster so a child can watch interest work, and it shows the real-bank comparison beside the rate.
• Only for the time coins stay saved. Coins earn for exactly as long as they stay in the garden, whole coins are paid every seven days and interest on interest is included. Moving coins in or out never creates coins.
• Nothing to claim. Interest is added by itself, including while your child is away, and a break never loses coins. There are no daily visits, streaks, fees, lock-ins or paid speed-ups.
• Game time, checked online. Interest uses the game server’s clock, not the device’s, so changing the device clock earns nothing. Without a connection, interest waits and nothing is lost.
• Not counted as earned. Interest never counts toward badges, the Daily Challenge or “coins earned” on the grown-ups page. It is saved with the game progress and follows a signed-in profile’s cloud save.

The garden’s games and its Time Machine still use pretend seeds that never change game coins. Game coins can’t be bought or exchanged for money.

Your recent practice

Training → Practice history keeps the latest 30 sessions that included typing attempts. It records the activity, text edition, completion status, correct and incorrect totals, and estimates of typing and other running time. It does not save the text you typed or key-by-key records in this history. Export a JSON copy or clear history from the same panel; clearing it leaves coins and gameplay progress intact.

History is part of the current gameplay save: local for guests and included when an active parent profile uses cloud saves. Existing account sync and conflict handling apply. Same-activity groups keep editions separate, but hints, equipment and stage coverage may differ. Every entry is labeled guided practice or gameplay, never an unassisted test. Do not interpret differences as measured learning gains.

The typing estimate counts gaps of up to five seconds between correct or incorrect attempts. Other running time includes waiting and game animations; explicit pauses are excluded. It is not a measure of attention. No session-history data is added to product analytics.

This week, for grown-ups

Open Family account (the person button at the top of the game) and choose See this week. The page shows what your child did this week, Monday to Sunday on your device’s clock, with one idea for celebrating each thing together: practice sessions and the typing-time estimate from Practice history, stories and lessons finished, new Key Dojo belts and keys that shone, new stars in the Worlds, Wonder Sky, the Key Dojo, the Coin Garden and Critter Cove, tricks taught in Critter Cove, new badges, and coins earned, planted in the Coin Garden and spent in the Shop. Last week is one button away. It shows only the current player, with no other players, rankings, grades or week-to-week comparisons. It is not a school grade or a measure of attention.

To know which week things happened in, the game notes new stars, tricks taught and coins in the player’s save as they happen, one entry per day for the last two weeks. The note holds no typed text or answers, travels with the save like other progress, and starts counting when this page arrives. Critter Cove and Subject Labs keep their own records on this browser for everyone who plays there, so Cove stars and tricks count only when this player earns them, and Subject Labs isn’t counted. Nothing on the page is sent anywhere: no email, analytics or sharing links.

The page also prints certificates for big milestones: each Key Dojo belt, each world cleared in the Worlds and an ending of The Unfinished Atlas, with lines for a grown-up’s signature and the date. A signed-in player’s nickname can be printed on it, or the name line left blank to write by hand; that choice isn’t saved.

Family accounts are optional

A parent or guardian can sign in to create separate player profiles and optionally use cloud saves. Profiles use a nickname so family members can tell saves apart. Please choose a made-up or non-identifying nickname rather than a child’s full name.

What analytics do—and do not—include

Optional product analytics help us answer basic questions such as whether the app loaded, which broad mode was opened, whether a run finished, and whether a coarse error category occurred. They do not include typed text, nicknames, names, email addresses, account IDs, profile IDs, advertising IDs, or full URLs.

You can turn analytics off from Family account → Privacy. We also honor Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track browser signals. Turning analytics off does not change gameplay, account access, or cloud saves.

Online Racing, without chat

Arena Racing pairs up to four racers on the same Kingdom Dash course: mine blocks, break gates, use Space to attack guards, and grapple across gaps. Solo players receive clearly labeled bots with fixed typing paces and the same equipment and movement rules. Quick matching may pair players who do not know one another; friend rooms use a shared code. Opponents see temporary Runner callsigns rather than profile nicknames. Game inputs and their timing stay on our server for up to ten minutes to validate play and restore interrupted connections. There is no chat, messaging, leaderboard or prize. Read the Racing privacy details. Sprint remains the free Arena sample; other Arena modes require the Family Pass.

No ads or messaging

The fast-launch version has no advertising, behavioral advertising, tracking pixels, cross-site tracking, direct messaging, public chat, or public free-text submissions. The Bounty Board is hidden and its public API is disabled for launch.

Parent controls

• Play in guest mode and keep progress local to the device.
• Use only non-identifying profile nicknames.
• Choose whether to share anonymous product usage.
• Delete player profiles and their cloud saves from the Family account screen.
• Clear local gameplay data through the browser’s site-data controls.

Payments

Free guest and free-account practice are available during the public beta. Family Pass is not on sale, and pricing has not been announced. Any future Family Pass will be a one-time parent-account purchase—not a subscription—with no paid virtual currency or randomized rewards. Every profile under the purchasing parent account would receive the same premium access only after a signed payment-provider confirmation.

The purchase screen requires an adult confirmation and links to the pre-launch Terms and Refund Policy. Those documents and the support process must be reviewed before live checkout is activated.

Questions or deletion requests

Email privacy@keyboardrunner.com. Please write from the parent email used for sign-in if the request concerns a family account.