diff --git a/src/file.c b/src/file.c
index d1d1982..1655f6f 100644
--- a/src/file.c
+++ b/src/file.c
@@ -125,6 +125,8 @@ int			 hcompar(const void *, const void *);
 int			 loadscores(char *);
 static int		 parseline(char *, char **, char **);
 void			 readconfig(void);
+void			 mkconfig(char *filename);
+void			 mkscore(char *filename);
 static void		 readfile(char *, int);
 static void		 setoptions(char *, char *, int);
 
@@ -1125,7 +1127,7 @@ void
 readconfig(void)
 {
 	char *envhome;
-	char userhigh[MAXPATHLEN], userconf[MAXPATHLEN];
+	char userhigh[MAXPATHLEN], userconf[MAXPATHLEN], confdir[MAXPATHLEN];
 	struct stat sb;
 
 	if (xsnprintf(ruledir, sizeof(ruledir), "%s", RULEDIR)) {
@@ -1140,18 +1142,33 @@ readconfig(void)
 	readfile(CONFIGFILE, 1);
 
 	if ((envhome = getenv("HOME")) == NULL)
-		return;
+		xerr(1, "readconfig: environment variable HOME not set");
 
 	if (xsnprintf(userconf, sizeof(userconf), "%s/.typespeed/config",
-	    envhome))
-		return;
+				envhome))
+		xerr(1, "readconfig: string error");
+	if (xsnprintf(userhigh, sizeof(userhigh), "%s/.typespeed/score",
+				envhome))
+		xerr(1, "readconfig: string error");
 
 	if (stat(userconf, &sb) || (sb.st_mode & S_IFMT) != S_IFREG)
-		return;
-
-	if (xsnprintf(userhigh, sizeof(userhigh), "%s/.typespeed/score",
-	    envhome))
-		return;
+	{
+		if (xsnprintf(confdir, sizeof(confdir), "%s/.typespeed",
+					envhome))
+			xerr(1, "readconfig: string error");
+		if(stat(confdir, &sb) == -1)
+			if(mkdir(confdir, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO))
+				xerr(1, "readconfig: could not create config directory %s",
+					confdir);
+		/* create the user configuration with default values */
+		mkconfig(userconf);
+	}
+  /* check for the high score file */
+	if (stat(userhigh, &sb) || (sb.st_mode & S_IFMT) != S_IFREG)
+	{
+		/* create a blank high score file */
+		mkscore(userhigh);
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Open a user writable high score.
@@ -1159,14 +1176,48 @@ readconfig(void)
 	 * file. Protect system-wide high score file with group
 	 * write permissions: privileged gid already dropped.
 	 */
-	if (close(hfd) == -1)
-		xerr(1, "readconfig: close");
-	if ((hfd = open(userhigh, O_RDWR, 0)) == -1)
+	if ((hfd = open(userhigh, O_RDWR)) == -1)
 		xerr(1, "readconfig: open: %s", userhigh);
 
 	readfile(userconf, 1);
 }
 
+#define DEFAULT_CONFIG	"cheat = no\n" \
+			"highorder = score cps tcps\n" \
+			"ruledir = " RULEDIR "\n" \
+			"worddir = " WORDDIR "\n"
+
+/*
+ * Create the user configuration, with default values, at the given path.
+ */
+void
+mkconfig(char *filename)
+{
+	int cfd;
+
+	if((cfd = open(filename, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO)) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkconfig: open: %s", filename);
+	if(write(cfd, DEFAULT_CONFIG, sizeof(DEFAULT_CONFIG)/sizeof(DEFAULT_CONFIG[0]) - 1) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkconfig: write: %s", filename);
+	if(close(cfd) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkconfig: close: %s", filename);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Create the user high score file, which is just a blank file.
+ */
+void
+mkscore(char *filename)
+{
+	int sfd;
+	if((sfd = open(filename, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO)) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkscore: open: %s", filename);
+	if(write(sfd, "", 0) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkconfig: write: %s", filename);
+	if(close(sfd) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "mkconfig: close: %s", filename);
+}
+
 /*
  * Function used to open configuration and game rule files and to
  * set options with function setoptions.
diff --git a/src/typespeed.c b/src/typespeed.c
index 7ac5ee2..77e9acb 100644
--- a/src/typespeed.c
+++ b/src/typespeed.c
@@ -319,8 +319,13 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		progname++;
 
 	/* just open high score file while being setgid games */
-	if ((hfd = open(HIGHFILE, O_RDWR, 0)) == -1)
-		xerr(1, "main: open: %s", HIGHFILE);
+  /*
+   * For NixOS, a global high score file doesn't make sense, so we just comment
+   * this out. A high score file in the user's home directory will be opened
+   * later in readconfig().
+   */
+/*	if ((hfd = open(HIGHFILE, O_RDWR, 0)) == -1)
+		xerr(1, "main: open: %s", HIGHFILE);  */
 
 #ifndef WIN32
 	/* drop privileges */
@@ -348,9 +353,9 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 #endif /* WIN32 */
 
 	/* check file descriptors for consistency */
-	if (hfd == STDIN_FILENO || hfd == STDOUT_FILENO ||
+/*	if (hfd == STDIN_FILENO || hfd == STDOUT_FILENO ||
 	    hfd == STDERR_FILENO)
-		exit(1);
+		exit(1);  */
 	if (!isatty(STDIN_FILENO) || !isatty(STDOUT_FILENO) ||
 	    !isatty(STDERR_FILENO))
 		xerrx(1, "not fully connected to a terminal");