Introduction

Flipkick, introduced in JKA by the JA+ mod, is a form of combat that generally involves performing attack moves triggered by the jump button.
While often used to annoy other players, combined with the grapple hook feature, Flipkick actually makes for a surprisingly complex and difficult means of competition. Later it also became common to combine grapple hook and Flipkick with saber attacks.

Flipkick became exceptionally (in)famous on the Deutscher Imperial Server (2004-2014) and its successor Deutscher Empire Server (2014-2021). Mostly due to the server's extreme popularity as well as it using the default damage settings for Flipkick, as opposed to most other servers, that either disabled Flipkick entirely or used damage or grapple hook settings that rendered Flipkick almost useless.

With the death of Deutscher Imperial server in 2014, the only server that still supported and encouraged traditional Flipkick fights was the Deutscher Empire Server, which also used the former's original configuration. JKA's overall population has become very small aswell, making Flipkick more a "lost art" than a common part of the game now. A very small community still practiced and taught this playstyle however until Empire Server was closed in 2021. Today it is rarely used on random JA+ servers.

Rules

Flipkick has never been any "official" means of combat on JKA, so all of its rules are rather aspects the bigger part of the community has agreed on in the past. In general it can be said however that all the rules should be obvious to players as they are common sense.
Even though Flipkick does not have many of the flaws that saber combat has (The huge influence of FPS/packets, random blocks et cetera), it is very susceptible to cheats that involve macros or artificial aiming. Even an untrained eye can usually detect cheaters fairly easily though and experienced players should be able to beat illegitimate players regardless. The administration of Deutscher Empire Server was especially familiar with all kinds of means and ideas to cheat in Flipkick matches and would intervene immediately if a player was caught cheating.

The following is a list of rules worth mentioning. They are either self-evident or have been established by the community over the years.
A final important note is that there is a general distinction between "street fights" and "real matches" within the Flipkick world.

- "Street Fights" are open, FFA-like, spontaneous fights without any organization or necessary sportsmanship. (Usually related to laming / FFA / unfriendly competition) Naturally cheating is still absolutely forbidden for these aswell.
- "Real Matches" are organized, set matches between players that wish to fight each other for practice or scores. (This is the most common form nowadays, due to the small size of the community)

The following rules apply at all times:

• Aim-assisting or highlighting tools of all kinds are forbidden. (Aimbots, ESP-Features, Wallhacks...)
• The grapple hook must be unmodified. Only the JA+ Client Plugin grapple hook or the default grapple hook for people without the JA+ Client Plugin are legitimate. Especially features like "Auto-Release" for grapple hooks or macros that simulate similar actions are forbidden.
• Using more than one "Jump" (+MoveUp) button is forbidden. (For example Button-Mashing with multiple binds)
• Macros, Scripts or "Flipkick commands" (EternalJK et cetera) are obviously forbidden. Players must press all buttons manually.
• Hiding behind the chatbubble during fights will be considered forfeiting the fight unless it is done for actual AFK / typing reasons.
• Similarly, running away or making no effort to attack the opponent at all will be considered forfeiting.
• Using the jetpack in Flipkick fights is forbidden.

The following rules focus on the difference between Street Fights and Real Matches.

• In proper matches both players must specify 2 things beforehand:
  - With / Without saber. (Whether it is a grapple hook + Flipkick match only or a match in which saber attacks will also be involved)
  - With / Without hp refresh. (Whether resetting hp by suicide, duels or other means after a kill will be a part of the match or not)
  If these rules have not been specified, it will be assumed that both options are okay.
  
  
• In street fights both players are free to choose on their own. (Whatever works best for them and is worse for their opponent).

Other notes:

• There are no specific rules regarding com_MaxFPS, cl_MaxPackets and cl_TimeNudge values. However the general rules regarding cheating on JKA do apply, so using legitimate values is highly recommended.
• Common cheats that involve unlocking camera limits fall under the general JKA cheating rules. However using wide camera angles will put the player at such a disadvantage in Flipkick fights that it is hardly worth punishing for.