Chord Runner
A running game you control with a real instrument. A chord appears on the block ahead: play it on your MIDI keyboard, piano or guitar and your runner jumps. From your first triad all the way to 13th chords.
No account, no download. It runs in your browser.
Most music games test your thumbs. Chord Runner listens to what you actually play.
Inversions, open voicings, doubled notes, even rootless jazz chords. If the right notes are there, the chord counts.
Plug in a USB MIDI keyboard for instant response, or let the microphone listen to your acoustic piano or guitar.
It speeds up when you are on a streak and eases off when you start missing, so the challenge always fits your level.
It runs in Chrome or Edge on your computer, phone or tablet. Nothing to install.
Plug in a USB MIDI keyboard and it is detected automatically. No keyboard? Switch to the microphone.
Play it in time and your runner jumps over the block. Miss it and you hit the wall.
The demo is the real game with a smaller set of chords. No account needed.
From your first triad to 13th chords. Beginners start gently, advanced players get live opponents.
Start in Learning Mode: no lives, no penalties, and the chord tones are shown on a virtual keyboard. Standard Levels begin with major and minor triads.
Drill exactly the chords you find hard in Customised Mode, or every chord of one key in Harmonised Chords. You set the speed and how often chords appear.
Survival and Boss League bring 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and rootless voicings at speed. Or race other players live in Multiplayer.
Every mode, every chord type, all 12 keys.
Free in demo
12 levels, from major triads to the Ultimate Mix.
Free in demo
40 bosses in a row, each in its own arena.
An endless battle that adds harder chords as you improve.
Speeds up every minute. A new key joins every 5 chords.
Pick the chord types. Only those will appear.
Every chord stays inside the key and scale you choose.
Type a progression and it loops until you own it.
No lives, no penalties, chord tones shown as you play.
One note at a time, in any octave.
Hear it, then play it back: notes, sequences, chords.
Read real notation on a staff and play what you see.
Same chords at the same time, live against other players.
Chord types: major, minor, augmented, diminished, sus2, sus4, 6th and add chords, 7ths, half-diminished, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and rootless voicings, in all 12 keys.
Every Monday a new Weekly Event opens, rotating through three formats.
The best players of the week win coins.
Play the demo, then unlock the full version when you are ready.
Start free. Upgrade when you are hooked.
Try before you buy. No account needed.
Billed monthly. Cancel anytime.
One-time payment. Lifetime access.
My name is Franco Tomasino, I am Italian and currently living in Poland. My passion lies at the intersection of music and technology: in my free time, I develop applications and games designed to engage even those musicians who are not typically drawn to gaming.
I am the sole developer behind Chord Runner. There are no fixed easy, intermediate or hard settings: the game adjusts itself to the player in real time, so learning stays natural and motivation stays high.
My work is built around a simple idea: the musician should not have to adapt to the tool. The experience should adapt to the musician.
For any info or help, write to me at [email protected].
Franco
Chord Runner is an adventure music game that turns chord practice into an actual game. Chords appear on screen and you play them on a real instrument (a MIDI keyboard, or anything picked up by your microphone, including guitar) to keep your character running and jumping over obstacles. Play the right chord, you clear the obstacle; miss it, you hit the wall.
What makes it different is that it listens to a real instrument instead of asking you to tap buttons or hit falling tiles. It recognizes any voicing, inversion, or octave you play, even rootless jazz chords, so it rewards real musical understanding, not memorized hand shapes.
Yes. The demo is free and needs no account: Standard Levels with major and minor triads, plus a 60-second Boss League trial. Play as many runs as you like.
The Demo is the full gameplay on a limited set of content: the complete runner (obstacles, timing, scoring), MIDI, microphone and on-screen keyboard input, and 60-second runs. It is limited to major and minor triads on the natural white keys, plus a short Boss League trial.
The Premium version unlocks everything: all chord types (augmented, diminished, sus2/4, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and rootless jazz voicings), all 12 game modes including online Multiplayer with leaderboards, adaptive difficulty, and full speed and chord customization.
All three. The game grows with you.
Beginners. Start in Learning Mode: no lives, no penalties, no pressure. Turn on note sounds to hear every chord as you play it. Standard Levels begin with simple major and minor triads, and the adaptive difficulty eases you in instead of overwhelming you.
Intermediate. Use Customised Mode to drill exactly the chords you struggle with, or Harmonised Chords to practice everything inside one key and scale. Speed and chord spawn rate are fully adjustable.
Advanced. Survival Mode and Boss League take you straight into the hard stages, with rootless jazz voicings (9th, 11th, 13th), fast spawns, and wide inversions. Or go head-to-head with other players in real-time Multiplayer.
Twelve modes, each with a different goal:
Standard Levels: progress through levels, each adding new chord types.
Boss League: fight 40 bosses in a row, each in its own arena.
Survival Mode: adaptive battle mode that keeps getting harder.
Speed Challenge: an endless run that speeds up every minute.
Customised Mode: pick the exact chords you want to practice.
Harmonised Chords: every chord stays inside one key and scale.
Chord Progression: build your own chord order and loop it forever.
Learning Mode: a relaxed sandbox with no lives or penalties.
Single Notes: play one note at a time instead of full chords.
Ear Training: recognize and play chords and notes by ear.
Sight Reading: read real music notation and play what you see.
Multiplayer: real-time rooms against other players.
Yes. In Multiplayer Mode you create or join a room with a code, and everyone gets the same chords at the same time. A live leaderboard shows who is ahead while you play.
Play it any way you like. The game recognizes inversions, octave positions, wide spreads, left- or right-hand voicings, and doubled notes. As long as the right chord tones are there, it counts.
There's also an Enable Rootless Chords toggle for jazz: play 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th chords without the root. Triads, dim, aug, sus2/4 are all supported too.
Yes. You set how fast obstacles move, how often chords appear, and which chord types you want. Most modes also adapt in real time, getting harder as you improve and easing off when you start missing, so you're always at the right challenge.
Yes. Start in Microphone Mode and the game listens to the chords you play and recognizes them in real time through your microphone or audio input. Works with both acoustic and electric guitars.
It's a browser game that runs directly in your web browser on PC, Mac, phone and tablet, with nothing to download. There is currently no official app on the App Store or Google Play Store.
On phones you can add it to your home screen as an app through Chrome if you prefer, and it can be installed the same way from Chrome on desktop. Even as a browser game it expands to full screen during gameplay.
Some iOS devices may have MIDI compatibility limitations, while microphone input works on all supported devices.
Create an account in the registration section of this website. After completing the payment form and once the payment is confirmed, you get instant access to the full version automatically.