Royal Flush Gaming Build Your Own Keyboard Review- Barebones TKL 67| Carrot Switches| Amazing Joker Keycaps

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I was lucky enough to be sent some great gear from Royal Flush Gaming to share with you guys. I received a fully built setup on a hot swappable TKL 67 Barebones board, with thoccy Aflion carrot tactile switches.

As well as two other sets of switch types- Afleon Blue Sky Linear switches, and the Aflion Panda Tactile Switches- I also received a new proprietary set of Joker keycaps custom designed by Royal Flush Gaming.

First Impressions

Royal Flush Gaming — First inspection of the package revealed this cool keycap set box. The TKL 67 barebones arrived in a separate box. My first impression was that the board seemed weighty. I also discovered the board is at a comfortable angle. Some people don’t like when the board is chocked up at the back but this one is much more neutral but with just a slight helpful angle.

Hot Swapping the Board

Carrot switches on keyboard — My build arrived initially with the pirate keycaps installed

My build your own keyboard build arrived fully assembled with some fun pirate keycaps installed that set the stage perfectly for shootouts in Sea of Thieves. After some initial tapping I popped these off to take a look at the thocky carrot switches. And, to prepare for the big reveal of this review: the magnificent Joker keycaps make their grand entrance, leaving no doubt that this setup is exceptional. Prepare to be dazzled!

Royal Flush Gaming’s Proprietary Joker Keycaps

TKL Barebones 67, Joker Keycaps from Royal Flush Gaming

A ton of thought has been put into this design- it’s very thematic and has a lot of nice little touches- I particularly like the little joker hat key, the explosion for the delete key and the card designs on the arrow keys. Most of the keycaps seem to be a uniform profile, but interestingly the delete (explosion) key and the page up/down are sculpted cherry keycaps.

The only tricky part is remembering what keys the three keycaps to the left of the arrow keys correspond to. Luckily the board came with a helpful layout guide on the manual which I have been able to use to remind myself of what goes where.

Arrow Keys Joker Keycaps — It’s like deciphering hieroglyphics, but fear not! The brilliant minds behind this board knew our dilemma and gifted us with a layout guide. So, no need to fret, my friend. Just consult the sacred manual, and all shall be revealed! May the keycap gods guide your fingers to victory! 🧙‍♀️🔮✨

Getting creative with the switches

The hot swappable board makes it simple to remove and add switches. Using the tool provided it was easy to pull out each switch- getting the tool underneath the switch and having the other side grip the switch made it simple enough to extract each switch.

I did damage a switch or 2 being overzealous when pushing them in- just make sure the contact pins are centred over the notches before you push down.

This poor carrot switch is bent on one of the pins

I put a few of the panda switches on the arrow keys just to have a little bit of haptic variance. These have a lighter feeling to them than the carrots. Which as I write this article, am enjoying for repetitive key presses such as trying to select a specific letter in a paragraph. For the bigger keys- (spacebar, shift, enter, backspace) which have some mounts to support the key as it rests on the switch, I used the blue sky linear switches as I found these to have the least resistance, and again give me a different type of feedback so I know that I’ve hit the right key.

Cool RGB Keyboard — Check out these funky RGB backlights! You won’t believe the snazzy show they put on! Picture this: a dazzling display of colors that would make even the most seasoned disco ball jealous. I thought about showing you a GIF, but those pixels were acting all party pooper and blowing up the file size. So, you’ll just have to trust me when I say it’s an out-of-this-world, mind-boggling experience. Seriously, it’s so awesome, it should come with a warning: may cause uncontrollable bouts of “oohs” and “ahhs”. Trust me on this one, you won’t be disappointed!

Connectivity

I was able to connect the keyboard very easily to my PC via Bluetooth. It can connect in a fairly native way without any dongles which is a big plus for saving some USB ports. The latency was quite low and it was nice for general typing. I’ve got the USB cable plugged in now and enjoyed using it to write this article.

A big thanks to Kristopher from Royal Flush Gaming for sending out this build for me to review and tinker with! His mission is to allow Keebnerds like us to improve their desk and, customise their whole experience from the ground up.