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Can you be a real pro gamer if you don’t own a light-up mouse pad?

Can you be a real pro gamer if you don’t own a light-up mouse pad?

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One of the more recent trends in gaming accessories is the addition of LED lights to everything. Keyboards? LEDs. Mice? Pass the glowy stuff. Headphones? Dang right they’ve got programmable colors. Cup holders? Yeah, that actually exists. (I’m as surprised as you are.)

And, of course, the subject of this post, the mouse pad. Gaming companies have been making custom mouse pads for gamers with ultra high-tech surfaces for years, and when Razer announced the Firefly mouse pad with LED lights, it felt like an inevitable progression. (Since then, we’ve also gotten illuminated pads from Corsair and Thermaltake as well.) But the Firefly is only really compatible with Razer’s Chroma color system. What if you’re a fan of SteelSeries’ gaming accessories? How would you be able to be the uber-elite pro gamer you were meant to be then?

Fortunately, your problem is solved, with the new QcK Prism mouse pad from SteelSeries. Like Razer’s Firefly, it features colorful and programmable lighting for giving a perfect illuminated touch to your gaming rig. And the new mouse pad is compatible with SteelSeries’ PrismSync system so all your gear will be able to light up in harmony.

Sure, it costs $59.99, which is a ludicrous price to pay for a mouse pad, even one with millions of possible colors and a double-sided surface that can flip between hard polymer and soft cloth options. And yes, you could buy six of SteelSeries’ regular QcK mouse pads for that price.

But they wouldn’t light up like the QcK Prism. And if you don’t have a light-up mouse pad, are you even a real pro gamer?