Stupid Anki Tricks — Using a Gamepad

This is something I stumbled upon last fall while trying to find an easier way to go through a ton of Anki reviews in a short period of time. I mentioned it on the Reviewing the Kanji forums somewhere, but I never posted it here. Well, here it is for posterity’s sake.

Problem: Using the keyboard to do Anki reviews is too much work, even for someone as lazy as you. Reviews are piling up. What will you do? What will you do?!?

OMG LAZY!

Solution: If you have a Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2, you can use the Logitech Profiler to create a Game Profile for Anki. Just map keyboard shortcuts to the buttons on the controller that you want to use. I assigned the space bar to the shoulder buttons, then the number keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the numbered buttons 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. I also assigned the sync function ctrl-shift-y to the 9 and 10 buttons, to make syncing easy.

Now you just have to activate the Profiler when you run Anki, and you can slouch back and review in that half-catatonic gamer state you so dearly love, with barely a muscle moving.

Feeding tubes and adult diapers are optional.

It’s Not Perfect, But What Is?

There are a couple of downsides I have noticed: for some reason, the Logitech Profiler is kind of annoying, in that I have problems running other games with the controller. It wants to force the Anki profile remaps to all of the other games, so I only use this controller with my laptop, on which I don’t do much gaming.

Also, whenever I adjust the volume or screen brightness of my laptop, I have to switch to the Profiler screen, then back to Anki to “re-engage” the controller again. For some reason, the controller stops working in Anki whenever I fiddle with those buttons. It’s probably some sort of driver issue, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

In general, I find this interface to be the fastest and easiest way to do Anki reviews. It works even better when you hook up the HDMI-out from the laptop to your HDTV.