The Ploopy A+ Trackball Is Here

It always seems like a missed opportunity that trackballs don't detect when you twist the ball. It would be so natural for spinning a model in CAD or zooming.

The easiest approach would probably be to add a second optical sensor and do some math to calculate the twist rate.

Hugged.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260814114201/https://blog.ploo...

Looks similar to my trusty Kensington Expert, only with more buttons:

https://www.kensington.com/p/products/electronic-control-sol...

Even the wrist rest, which I've never seen on another trackball, seems to have been copied from here. Anybody tested out both?

They really need to find a better name than "Ploopy" though.

I bought the regular mouse and had a fun time assembling it. It works fine.

However the "ergonomic" design is extremely uncomfortable for me and caused hand pain. I let it ride for a few weeks hoping I'd get accustomed, the pain got better but didn't go away. Also the far-left and far-right mouse buttons are superfluous and detract from the core experience.

Please do a symmetrical version and maybe throw in a scroll wheel with steps/clicks, I'd happily buy another.

Instantly couldn't resist clicking on some unknown thing called "the Ploopy A+".

I see we've reinvented the slashdot effect.

> preorder a kit for $99CAD

What is a kit here? A trackball? All the parts needed to assemble a trackball? A populated circuit board, where the rest needs 3D printing? A pile of electronic components that need to be soldered together and the rest needs 3D printing?

The repairable, open hardware angle is the real sell for me. Nice to see a trackball designed to be kept instead of replaced.

They have a countdown for the pre-order here[0]. Seems like it's available as a kit Wednesday, August 19th, 2026 at 10am ET to pre-order.

I love all I/O devices..

I think the main difference from the Ploopy Adept is they added two knob buttons?

[0]:https://ploopy.co/aplus-launch-countdown/

Can it detect rotation?

What size is the ball?

I'm really put off by the poor quality of the 3d printed body

Extremely cute design. I was going to compliment the bold color choices as well as the extremely-'90s jade-on-platinum, but…

> Adept, a unique trackball perfectly suited […] for 3D-printing

I guess this means it could be any color you want? And yeah their store page for the Adept confirms: https://web.archive.org/web/20260720095136/https://ploopy.co...

> Since the Adept is 3D-printed, your Adept can be as unique as you

I am fine with this in theory but would have no idea what to expect here since I'm not familiar enough with 3D-printing. How robust is this for something I'd be touching every day and would want to take apart and put back together multiple times?

The screw wells in the case parts they sell look like the are just plastic and get tapped by self-tapping screws: https://web.archive.org/web/20260720095151/https://ploopy.co...

Maybe the intention is to consider it disposable and make a new one if and when it gets fucked up? If I had one I would like to try adding some machine screw anchors, because for something that's going to get that much use I would probably be taking it apart and putting it back together a lot, fiddling with it until I got it perfect so none of the buttons rub up against anything, so there are no squeaks when I press on it or rattles if it gets moved around, etc.

Those are totally my own hangups of course; not trying to FUD the thing and would love to touch one first and see :)

Dual knobs sounds incredibly cool and are something that makes me want to try a trackball again. I loved trackballs in the '90s† when display resolutions were small and it was normal to click and drag a scrollbar thumb, but I haven't used on any machine in the last 15 years because, I dunno, just haven't vibed with the feel of them. My little 75% keyboard‡ already sold me on knobs by having just one.

† peep my Macintosh Quadra 700 with my favorite Sihlouette ADB trackball https://i.ibb.co/m5qctLzp/Quadra700-Stack.jpg

‡ peep my NuPhy Kick75 High Profile with my favorite Framework Laptop 12 <3 https://i.ibb.co/bjVTfq0m/P1111881-1.jpg

Not a trackball, but anyone else watch Engineer Bo, or tried their very nice Knob? https://youtu.be/ehd3Ue2fKKM

I dig that the Ploopy knob is QMK based, also high resolution. But watching how much effort E.B. has put into my favorite input device of all time, I can't help but want one of theirs.

The internal LED's are cool here. I like the indicator effect, especially with the partial transparency ball. I do wish this was bluetooh and ZMK based. Even though ZMK is lagging a decent bit behind QMK features. Zephyr is just so cool! Wireless is so great. In my opinion.

[dead]

Who the hell wants to solder their own trackball? Equivalent products exist at roughly the same price point, fully assembled and tested with a warranty.