Speedrunning turns a familiar game into a new question: how quickly can you reach a particular goal under an agreed set of rules? Sometimes the answer involves spectacular glitches. Sometimes it involves doing ordinary things with extraordinary consistency. Sometimes it involves spending an evening learning that the door you hate is still faster than the corridor you like.
You do not need to chase a world record to participate. Finishing a timed run, improving a personal best, learning a route, and watching someone explain a difficult trick are all ways into the hobby.
Table of contents
- What speedrunning is
- A short history
- Categories and tool-assisted runs
- Timing, splits, and practice
- Useful tools
- Games Done Quick and charity
- Getting started
- Frequently asked questions
What speedrunning is
A speedrun aims to complete a game or a defined objective as quickly as possible. The objective and rules make the time meaningful. A run that collects everything is answering a different question from one that reaches the ending with minimal detours.
That is why a short video of someone skipping most of a game is not automatically evidence of cheating. It may be an allowed route in that category. It is also why finding a glitch does not automatically make it legal everywhere.
The interesting work happens between those boundaries. What has to be done? What can be skipped? Which route is fast enough to be worthwhile and reliable enough to finish? There is strategy before the timer starts and decision-making after it does.
A short history
Racing through games predates the modern leaderboard websites. The Doom and Quake communities were important to the growth of shared recorded runs, and Speed Demos Archive became a durable home for the practice.
SDA’s own guide dates its beginnings to April 1998 and describes its Quake roots. Its account of the site’s development explains the merger of two Quake sites and the later expansion beyond that game. It is an important part of the history, not the single ancestor of every community that has ever timed a game.
Live streaming added another way to share the experience. A spectator can see the attempts, mistakes, and recoveries rather than only the selected finished run. Recorded submissions and asynchronous competition did not disappear when live audiences arrived.
The two formats show different things. A highlight makes an achievement easy to appreciate. A stream can reveal how much patience sits behind the achievement. The apparently effortless jump has probably had a long and complicated relationship with gravity.
Categories and tool-assisted runs
Speedrun.com’s introductory guide separates a run’s goal from its restrictions. Common labels are useful starting points, but the specific board’s rules decide what they mean.
- Any%: reach the required endpoint without a general full-completion requirement. This does not mean every conceivable method is permitted.
- 100%: meet the category’s definition of complete. That definition can differ from collecting literally every object the game contains.
- Glitchless: follow the community’s restrictions on glitches. It can still involve demanding movement, detailed routing, and research.
- Other goals: individual levels, all bosses, specific collectible counts, and challenge restrictions can create separate competitions.
A tool-assisted speedrun, or TAS, uses tools to construct and refine a sequence of inputs. TASVideos explains how recorded inputs can be replayed through an emulator, with tools allowing precise control and revision during creation.
A TAS is made by people; it is not a run performed under ordinary real-time conditions. It should be identified as such and judged under the appropriate rules. An impressive TAS also does not prove that no faster input sequence is possible. It can be improved as techniques and understanding develop.
Timing, splits, and practice
A split records progress at a chosen checkpoint. Your personal best, or PB, is a previous best result to compare against. A best individual segment is often called a gold split. Stringing together every best segment would be lovely; games and humans both have opinions about allowing that.
Suppose you arrive at one checkpoint four seconds ahead of your comparison, then reach the next six seconds behind. You have lost ten seconds relative to that comparison across the interval. Reviewing the segment can show whether the difference came from a mistake, a different route, or something outside your direct control.
Timing methods also differ. A board may use elapsed real time, an in-game timer, or a method that removes specified loading periods. Start and finish points matter. Two displayed times are not necessarily comparable until you know how they were measured.
Some techniques need narrow input windows. Others depend on positioning, resources, or reacting well. Not every successful run is frame-perfect, and a world record can contain mistakes. It only needs to be the fastest valid result for the competition in question.
Randomness adds another variable. A runner might reset after an unfavorable opening, or continue to practice later sections. Neither choice is compulsory. Resetting can protect a record attempt; finishing can teach you something the first minute cannot.
Useful tools
LiveSplit is a free, open-source timer with split comparisons and support for automatic splitting components. An autosplitter’s availability and behavior depend on the game and configuration. Check that the timer matches the rules rather than assuming any moving clock is the right one.
OBS Studio is one option for recording or streaming. It is not a universal requirement: what matters is providing the evidence required by the leaderboard, using an acceptable method.
The submission guidance at Speedrun.com emphasizes the relevant category, timing, platform, and evidence. Requirements vary. Keep a complete recording when the rules call for one, and do a short test recording before investing a long session in a setup.
Practice tools can help isolate a difficult section. Permission to use one for practice is not permission to submit a run made with it. Ask the community when the distinction is unclear.
Games Done Quick and charity
Games Done Quick organizes speedrunning events that raise money for charity, including its winter and summer marathons. The format pairs runs with commentary, donation messages, and incentives that can add something to the show.
For a dated example, the Prevent Cancer Foundation reported more than $2.4 million raised at AGDQ 2026, which concluded in January. That is the event’s fundraising result, not prize money paid to the runners.
A marathon run is a performance as well as a timed attempt. Explaining a route, recovering from trouble, and staying within the event’s schedule can matter more than pursuing the riskiest possible record strategy. Watching a knowledgeable commentary team make a baffling skip understandable is part of the fun.
Getting started
Try a manageable experiment: choose a game you already enjoy, choose an objective, and finish a timed attempt. Write down one part you would like to improve. You now have a useful reason to play again that does not depend on immediately ranking above strangers.
Before planning a leaderboard submission, read its rules and examine an accepted run. Check the version, allowed hardware or emulator, start and end conditions, and recording requirements. A familiar category name cannot answer all of those questions.
Choose a beginner route that fits your available time and patience. A shorter category with a reliable route may suit you better than a long completion run; the reverse can also be true. “Glitchless” and “100%” are not difficulty ratings.
Practice one troublesome section, then try connecting it to the rest. Leave some sessions for finishing rather than resetting every imperfect start. You cannot learn the last level by repeatedly becoming an expert on the loading screen.
Take breaks, ask specific questions, and give volunteer moderators time to review submissions. Improvement has no guaranteed timetable. The hobby should remain something you want to return to.
Frequently asked questions
Is using a glitch cheating?
It depends on the rules. An allowed glitch is a valid technique; a prohibited one can invalidate a run. Concealing assistance or editing to misrepresent a result is different from openly following a category that permits unusual methods.
Do I need original hardware?
Check the specific competition before buying anything. Some categories accept particular emulators or platforms; others restrict them. The acceptable setup is part of the rules, not a general test of whether you are a “real” runner.
Do I need to stream?
Not necessarily. A recorded run may satisfy a board’s requirements. Live streaming is one way to share attempts, not a prerequisite for enjoying the practice.
Why do people keep finding new routes?
Players test ideas, compare attempts, and investigate how a game behaves. A new technique can also change the value of an old one. The puzzle is not only executing a known route faster; sometimes it is discovering that a different route was available.
Speedrunning makes a game familiar enough to become strange again. You start by trying to finish faster and end up caring deeply about the geometry of a staircase. There are worse hobbies. Most of them have less interesting staircases.
