I still remember the day when I decided to play StarCraft competitively. The year was 2001 and I attended my first big LAN party called «Dimensions». Competing for the first prize in the StarCraft tournament were three legendary players: [pG]Korn from Germany, NTT from the Netherlands and ElkY from France.
When I first watched them play StarCraft I remember thinking «This isnt even StarCraft anymore.» The speed at which they played was mind boggling. It felt like they were doing ten things at once, frantically jumping between battles on the map and their production facilities. I particularly was impressed with the speed and accuracy with which they moved their mice.
I also remember how serious [pG]Korn was about his equipment: he applied silicone spray to his mousepad, to enhance the glide. And he used the Logitech Wingman Gaming Mouse, which some argue is the first gaming mouse ever made (fun fact: the Logitech Wingman Gaming Mouse is the only other gaming mouse besides the Zaunkoenig M1K which does not have a wheel). Korn explained the technical advantages his mouse had over others. He also weighed the pros and cons of the recently released Microsoft Strategic Commander (a funky mixture between mouse, joystick and trackball).
After this LAN party I stopped playing casual team games and focussed on duels. I relentlessly played a game called «Reflex» on missionred.com (probably the first aim trainer in the world) to improve my mouse skills. And I started obsessing about what the optimal gaming mouse might look like, ultimately resulting in the development of the Zaunkoenig M1K and the founding of Zaunkoenig together with my brother Dominik.
Fast forward to 2019, to our Kickstarter for the Zaunkoenig M1K. Out of the blue [pG]Korn backed us. And on April 16 2020, after testing out his Zaunkoenig M1K, he gave us his verdict: «In my opinion the M1K definitely is the absolute optimum for StarCraft! :)»
Reading this made me feel like I was back at that LAN party, all those years ago.