word
Speedrun
To complete something as quickly as possible โ usually with optimized, often unintended, tactics.
Origin
Speedrunning as a community practice emerged in the late 1990s around games like Quake and Doom, then exploded in the YouTube and Twitch eras. Speedrunners exploit glitches, skip cutscenes, and route levels with surgical precision. Events like Awesome Games Done Quick turned the practice into a charity-fundraising spectacle.
Modern usage
Used metaphorically all the time. 'Speedrunning grief', 'speedrunning a divorce', 'speedrun your morning routine'. Implies efficiency, optimization, and sometimes recklessness.
In the wild
He's speedrunning the entire startup playbook in nine months.โ tech press
Tags
speed
optimization
gaming