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Nitro Type
Pros: The abilities to upgrade vehicles and play against other users add a fun dimension to typing practice.
Cons: Ads can be intrusive in school settings, and there's not much to do other than practice.
Bottom Line: Nitro Type is pretty darn engaging, but teachers need to prep students' typing skills first.
Teachers probably won't want to use Nitro Type to teach typing, as it contains no lessons. However, once students have mastered the "home row" basics, it could provide incentive for them to continue to practice and build their words-per-minute (WPM). Teachers should be careful to monitor students and ensure they're using proper techniques as well as exhibiting good sporting behavior. Within those restraints, kids could have a lot of fun holding a classroom Grand Prix and even tracking winners and increased skills over time.
Nitro Type is a multiplayer car racing game where typing speed and accuracy are the keys to victory. Players start the game with a basic vehicle matched up with other players on a race track. As the race begins, racers type words they see on the screen to make their cars accelerate. The fastest -- and, more important, the most accurate -- typist wins the race. Accurate typing earns you boosts that allow you to accelerate faster, encouraging an emphasis on proper typing. Players earn nitros and cash for winning races, which they can use to buy new cars. Any user can create teams; teachers might use this feature to allow students to race against one another and team up in partnerships. Chat functions let users send each other canned responses during races, and users can comment on "News" stories on the site, where posts are monitored to protect privacy.
Any user can access the site for free, and a premium upgrade to a Gold account costs $9.99. You can use all of the features without the upgrade, but be prepared to navigate dozens of annoying ads in the free version.
Nitro Type will definitely engage kids in typing practice more than the more traditional, single-player typing trainers. Kids will particularly enjoy practicing typing with their friends in the multiplayer mode. It's a great way to brush up on skills and add some flavor to a lesson, but teachers should keep in mind that it doesn't teach typing in any way, nor does it offer suggestions on how to improve. It will definitely motivate kids with existing basic skills, but it won't offer the pacing and instruction beginners may need.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Let's be fair. This is a game meant for practice, not lessons.
I love NitroType. I keep seeing criticisms in other reviews that it doesn't "teach" typing. Understand that this is a product put out by Typing.com. The lessons are at Typing.com, and they are free. This is meant to supplement rather than replace lessons. Or get your lessons wherever you want and use NitroType for reinforcement and something fun. They even provide graphics to set up a leaderboard on your bulletin board, which is a fun idea. The only thing I struggle with is that my students like to race each other, and since they aren't all at the same level they start to focus on speed more than accuracy and go back to their old ways. It's not a problem when they just compete against computer-assigned players, because they are all at roughly the same level of ability. Love, love, love this program.
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