Keyflip	Dev: Jean-Pierre Audebert Pub: Distri-K
Reviewed: 1998-06-03

Review

The keyflip is a pretty impressing thing, the keyboard is not at all "plastic" like some lowcost budget products are (keyflip is not a lowcost product, it was just an example). It is though unavoidable that the keyboard is of plastic but it is still "rather" steady and comfortable to write with, it is slightly curved around the edges and along the sides, all to make the use of the keyboards special keys more comfortable. The size is about the same as any regular "Keytronic" keyboard, the keys somehow feel slightly smaller than on my older keyboard but that is just something I measured. The keys are easily pressed down (unlike my old keyboard in which you needed to press a little, here the key sort of glide down when you touch them, I got used to that quickly, found it kind a nice). The only thing for me that is unusual about the keyboard (except the ergo form) to me is the fact that it is an english keyboard and not an Swedish, the symbols on the numeric keys are wrong for me (though I don't to look at the symbols that much, so it doesn't really matter).

A little history so far, the creator of the Keyflip keyboard is Jean-Pierre Audebert. In April 1998 the keyboard won several awards including the gold medal of the "Concours Lpine"at the Foire de Paris and the "Prfet d'lle de France." at the Foire de Paris in France.

What is it then, the keyflip keyboard is as the name suggest a keyboard optimized for pinball playing. As the picture below shows you can both tilt and flip in a realistic and comfortable way. I don't recommend having the keyboard in your knees though, tilting gets very hard then...

Installation

If you have a PC, just connect the keyboard to your PS/2 port. If you use a six-pin port for the keyboard you need an adapter (I needed one, doesn't cost much more than $5-6). No special drivers needed. The keyboard will come out for MAC too sometime, no idea when.


Setup / Configuration

To be able to use the keyboard with a pinball you need to change the key configuration in the pinball to fit the keyboard. There is no setup utility for the keyboard. On the back of the keyboard is a small 3-position switch. Depending on how you set the switch the key assignment you have to set for the flipper and tilt keys vary.

No Flip: This setting disables the 4 special keys (the 2 flipper buttons and the 2 tilt "buttons") on the keyboard. Nothing will happen when you press the keys if this setting is on, if it is not on nothing more will happen than that a text character is printed out when you press the key (if you are in a text editor that is).

Old Flip : When this setting is on the special key assignment is as follows.

• Left Keyboard Flipper = Left Shift
• Right Keyboard Flipper = Right Shift
• Left Keyboard Tilt Button = Space
• Right Keyboard Tilt Button = Space

New Flip When this setting is on the special key assignment is as follows.

• Left Keyboard Flipper = x
• Right Keyboard Flipper = n
• Left Keyboard Tilt Button = l
• Right Keyboard Tilt Button = r

So what is the point with that the "Left Keyboard Flipper" equals the character "x", well what it means is that you inside the pinball configure so that you use the x key to control the left flipper. If you do so you will also be able to use the keyboards special left flipper key to flip the flipper! Gees, how hard can it be to describe such a simple thing...

Old Flip as you probably understood is ideal for older pinballs of which 90% has the [L Shift], [R Shift] and [Space] key setup. Usually you can't change key config in "older pinballs" (those from behind 1995 sometime), so the Old Flip setting is very useful.

The New Flip position has no possibility to assign "uptilt" to any key, instead you are supposed to press both tilt buttons the same time to cause an uptilt effect. This requires that the pinball in question supports the keyboard though. If the pinball doesn't support the keyboard you will simply have to play without uptilt or not at all...


Flipping

After having configured the pinball you wish to play you simply press the two perfectly round and mint-green keys on the two top sides of the keyboard. The keys are easily pushed in. You can even imaging "slapping" the key... ofcourse that is all in your imagination since that depends on how the pinball is programmed. And what's more, the keys can now get stuck in a realistic way!!! Reality bites. Not that I have yet experienced the flipper keys getting stuck.


Tilting

Depending on whetever the pinball in question supports the keyboard you can tilt in three directions, otherwise two. To tilt you simply press the palm of your hand against one of the two (or both, read below) bottom corners of the keyboard where the tilt buttons are hidden under the shell. The tilt idea is good and works surprisingly well.

Anyway, if the keyboard is supported you sidetilt using the two tilt sensitive bottom corners of the keyboard and to tilt upwards you press the two tilt corners simultaneous. If the support is good the table will tilt upwards straight up or slightly to the left (78 degrees for example) depending on how simultaneous you press the two tilt corners. If you are early with the left tilt the uptilt will be dominated to the left. Again, nice idea and I belive it could work well. I can't comment on this since I haven't played a supported pinball yet.

If the pinball is not supported and it is still a 3-way tilt pinball you will only be able to take advantage of the sidetilts. Ofcourse that depends on how you configure the keyboard, if you assign uptilt to the right keyboard tilt key and left tilt to the left keyboard tilt key that works as well (you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, just notice it is a pretty stupid setup). So if the pinball uses 3-way tilt and is not supported you can't do that neat upwards tilt described above. In other words, you can't take advantage of the keyboards full potential in most new pinballs unless the keyboard is supported.

Older pinballs in which you can only tilt upwards the tilting works excellent with the keyboard without any support whatsoever. Simply set the keyboard in Old flip position and play.


Support

As I have already mentioned, if you wan to be able to tilt correctly in newer pinballs (in which you tilt 3 ways) the keyboard needs to be supported by the pinball. No support is needed for older pinballs with which you can use the old flip setting.


In the whole

In the whole I can't see any reason to why you shouldn't want to buy this keyboard. But still I want to point the different sides of the keyboard. I should say in the whole apart from the support problem, you might want to wait until your favourite pinball is supported (no saying how long that might take) if that is your main reason for buying the keyboard. You can still play older pinballs (Pinball Fantasies!) and have a little fun with it.

So the problem might be that your favorite pinball doesn't work 100% with the keyboard. Pro Pinball: Timeshock! for example could really really use support. I tried playing it with the keyboard and it worked fine except for that I couldn't tilt upwards, flipping and sidetilting worked well. And I just have to say, it was a terrific sensation to play timeshock with those flipper keys, so smooth, realistic, it certainly raised the barrier of playability or at least the fun level!! So sad it isn't supported yet since you soon realise you really need to be able to tilt in all directions, but I'm sure that will change.

Note now that this review was written when the keyboard was still rather newly released (needed a couple of weeks to try it out!), so the support might have changed (I certainly belive it will).

My complaints then (they're always more interesting than the good sides anyway)? Well first of all it is the tilting support. Concerning the keyboard itself I have nothing to really complain about, it looks ok, everything works ok and well it is just good! Ofcourse I guess there is the risk you'll get a keyflip-hand if you play to long (the tilting can be demanding). I'm not so serious now as I hope you probably understand, I haven't felt any cramps or pains in my hand after longer plays. You lean your hands on the key rows on the sides of the keyboard, not that I think of it when I play but I just wanted to point it out that the ergo form isn't made so you can avoid that.

What else, well I can't have the keyboard in my knees when playing, I have to have it on my desk, tilting becomes utterly difficult otherwise (you can't just nod the sides to tilt, you need to push). I'm not sure how comfortable the playing is if you have big hands (if you place your hand against the side of your keyboard and flip with the fingers you get a smaller idea of how playing with the keyflip is), though I don't think that will be any bigger problem.

And in case the keyboard should break I belive you have a 2 year warranty... :)

The keyboard still might not be exactly as real pinballs (in the way of simulating true arcade feel, but how could it) but note this, it is a lot more fun to play some pinballs using it! For some reason I belive most "true" pinball fans are pretty interested in this thingie and well... what can I say, if you are interested or curious about it, then try it! As I said it is mostly only the support which is annoying in newer pinballs. Alright, without trying to sound to overwhelmed about the thingie I just can't help loving it (better stop before this goes to far)! A pinball keyboard, can I help that I like it, or at least the idea? I recommend you try it, if you like it you will stick with it, if not, that is your problem, I at least recomend it!

(see the news page/store page for availability information etc)