For reasons that seemingly amount to japery, Google have unveiled a double-sided, endlessly looping keyboard design – but only in Japan, and they’re not actually making it. However, the blueprints for 3D-printing it are freely available on GitHub, which is enough to convince me that someone needs to develop some kind of chaotic party game that uses the Möbius strip-shaped Gboard (good spot, Tom’s Hardware) as a controller.
While the keyboard itself is quite literally a joke – see its tee-hee ho-ho ‘trailer’ above – I am dead serious that it could be the centrepiece for an enjoyably competitive, 2-4 player button mash-off that would make the average Jackbox session look like a model UN meeting. The circular, omnidirectional shape makes it perfect for gathering round in a group, and its fully mechanical keys – besides giving the Gboard some cred as a gaming peripheral – should be hardy enough to survive the furious bashing that ‘friendly’ party games inevitably devolve into.
As for the actual game design… I’ll leave that to the pros, though inspiration is out there. Chiefly, Karting Khaos, a simple top-down racer that we hosted at the Future of Play booth at EGX 2023. Each player gets assigned a kart, but their steering and acceleration controls are randomly assigned across 24 comedy quiz show buttons – producing thrillingly disorganised contests, as racers hunt for their gas pedals and contend with mid-race input scrambles. It’s tremendous fun, and in the course of writing this paragraph, I have become tremendously sad that the Gamer Network sale means I won’t be able to hang around the booth playing it again this year.
Still, bigger picture: a keyboard like this twisting monstrosity could easily allow us to recreate Karting Khaos’ madcap vibe, but in the comfort of our own homes, and without the need for a table-sized controller. Just one about as big as a generous birthday cake, and that can fascinate mathematicians for centuries.