Work crawled to a screeching halt this morning, thanks to the web game “TypeRacer.”

Click the link to see out what I mean, but the concept’s simple. Remember the typing teacher program “Mavis Beacon”? Many of the exercises involved copying lines of text.

That’s all you do here, except you’re re-typing bits from Pulp Fiction or lyrics from Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” And here’s the kicker: you’re always competing against people, too. The risk of making a typo becomes a serious problem.

During the dozen or so races I typed through, I capped out at 121 words per minute. I don’t think I can beat that, and cheaters have ruined the leaderboards.

I was always disappointed Sega never followed up “Typing of the Dead” (and no one copied it), but “TypeRacer’”s a fun spin on the idea. You can even add the application to your MySpace profile. No support for Facebook yet, though.

Can you imagine how addicting this would be on a cell phone, and competing against folks via nearby Wi-Fi spots? I think I just blew my own mind.