Nordic Game Supply The Shrimp Review

We live in a world of plentiful and cheap gaming keyboards, but discrete gaming keypads are a rarity and a one-off quirky set. Like Razer’s Tartarus line, it’s a departure from standard keyboards, with an ergonomic shape that supports your hands and extra buttons. Others, like Cooler Master’s ControlPad, try to simplify things to be as compact and customizable as possible.

The Shrimp ($79.99) keeps things simple with its new gaming keypad from Danish gaming hardware distributor Nordic Game Supply. This is practically half his keyboard, with all keys placed on the left side of his 60% design after the “5” key. Those 25 keys are enough to play most PC games in a fairly compact and very familiar package. The Shrimp has some embellishments for convenience and style, so players who for some reason need a separate set of keys specifically for the game but don’t want to buy, carry, or store a brand new one. It feels like a solid option for keyboard.

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key shrimp cocktail

Unlike other keypads, Shrimp is just a mini keyboard. Compact but bulky, 1.69 x 4.91 x 5.41 inch plastic rectangle with 25 keys. It has all the keys on the left side of a normal keyboard, plus a half-sized space bar. This gives you all the keys you need to play competitive games like first-person shooters and fast-paced action games. With some creative in-game mapping, you can also play other types of games that span across a standard keyboard, such as RPGs, but MMOs and other genres that require a full-featured row. You will find yourself struggling. Hotkey. (That said, you can always offload hotkeys to your right hand with an MMO mouse.)

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

The Shrimp stays true to the classic keyboard format, but shows minor changes in some elements. The keycaps feel slightly larger and wider than the larger keyboards, allowing your fingers to rest on the concave valleys. The cap also has an oversized label and clear sides that are pleasing to the eye and allow lots of RGB lights to shine through.

Under the cap, we can see that The Shrimp features Gateron G Pro Yellow switches. They are linear, similar to “red” style switches such as the Cherry, and offer very quick actuation, making them ideal for competitive gaming. Gateron Yellow requires slightly more force than Red class switches. Gateron Red requires him 45 grams of force to operate and Gateron Yellow he needs 50 grams. After testing dozens of keyboards with red switches and a few yellow ones, I can tell the difference between the two. However, most users won’t notice the difference unless they alternate between the two.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

In addition to the keys, The Shrimp has two clickable dials and a volume mute button in the upper left corner. One dial is a traditional volume control and the other adjusts the RGB lighting style and brightness. These controls work fine, except for one shaky implementation: clicking the volume dial technically acts as a play/pause button, but most keyboard play/pause The button works contextually with the currently open app, but this button seems to work only with Windows Media. player. The play/pause shortcut Fn+S works between apps, but it’s more cumbersome to use.

For most gaming keyboards, the problem can be easily fixed by remapping the play/pause commands using the configuration app. However, Shrimp is one of the few PC gaming peripherals he doesn’t have software support for. Of course you can map the inputs in individual games, but you can’t make universal changes. You also can’t create custom macros, create custom RGB lighting settings, or choose colors per key. For most players, this doesn’t make The Shrimp any less effective than other keyboards, but it’s definitely disappointing for tinkers and power users with more specific needs. And Nordic Gaming Supply is considering making a companion app for The Shrimp, but won’t buy it if you expect enhanced functionality later.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

Shrimp also comes with a large, blocky wrist rest to match the large, blocky base. It’s very firm, but has enough padding to make it feel comfortable on your arm for long periods of time. This stiffness ensures your wrist is perfectly aligned with the keys, minimizing wrist movement. Given the size and number of keys, the pad and rest combination is a strong ergonomic choice, as you rarely need to move your wrist slightly laterally while playing. With the rest, the Shrimp’s depth extends to his long but compact 8.84 inches, so you can easily move it around your desk and into the right tilted position.

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Verdict: A Keypad Just For Fun

For better or worse, The Shrimp stands apart from the mainstream gaming peripherals. On the one hand, a dedicated 25-key mini keyboard for gaming is a great idea. Its look and feel is totally tame, but cool and unconventional. At the same time, the lack of configuration software that cuts off standard features like remapping and lighting customization makes the keypad feel a little raw. I guess.

(Credit: Kyle Cobian)

At $79.99, The Shrimp is slightly cheaper than the top-of-the-line Razer Tartarus Pro and Cooler Master ControlPad. It’s also a cheap option compared to the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested. Again, you’ll need the keyboard for everything but gaming, so it’s not an exact comparison.

Ultimately, this pad is for laptop owners looking for a better gaming-specific keyboard solution. Players who travel frequently may find The Shrimp’s smaller footprint convenient. We also found it suitable for employees who can’t or don’t want to use their mechanical keyboard during work hours, but want something more comfortable when playing games at home. If you like gaming with mechanical keys but don’t want a full keyboard, The Shrimp is worth a try.