Speedrun

Speedrunning is the practice of completing a game as quickly as possible. Runners time their attempts, record them and compare results on community leaderboards. Each game is divided into categories with different rules, such as any% (finish by any means) or 100% (complete everything). A runner’s best time is their PB, or personal best; the fastest time anyone has achieved is the WR, or world record.

A short history

Players have tried to finish games quickly for as long as games have existed, but an organised speedrunning community is widely considered to have begun with the 1993 computer game Doom, whose recorded demos could be shared. In November 1994, Simon Widlake created COMPET-N, a website hosting leaderboards for Doom speedruns. Quake Done Quick, released in 1997, introduced speedrunning to a wider audience. Today the hobby covers thousands of games, old and new.

What runners actually do

Speedrunning is more than playing fast. Runners study games in detail to find the quickest route, learn precise movement tricks and use glitches where the category allows. They practise difficult sections hundreds of times. Luck can matter too, so runners plan for different outcomes of the game’s RNG. Many runners stream their attempts live, and communities verify submitted runs to keep leaderboards honest.

Charity marathons

Speedrunning also has a charitable side. Games Done Quick, a marathon held twice a year in the United States, features runners playing back to back to raise money for charity. Its organisers had raised over $37 million for charities since it began in 2010, as of January 2022, according to figures cited on Wikipedia.

A hobby worth understanding

For parents, a child repeating the same few seconds of a game over and over may be practising for a speedrun. It is a hobby that rewards patience, research and careful analysis. Watching speedruns is also a popular, low-cost way to enjoy games – and an entertaining introduction to how they work behind the scenes.