A dance mat is a video game input device operated by feet. Arcade versions are made of steel, but soft plastic mats are affordable for home use. Soft mats may slip and be less responsive, but can be turned into metal platforms with online instructions.
A dance mat, also known as a dance mat or dance platform, is a special type of video game input device, meant to be danced to. It’s essentially a video game controller, but instead of being operated by the hands, it’s operated by the feet while lying on the ground and jumped on. The dance mat is used in a number of dance games, the best known of which is the popular game Dance Dance Revolution, sometimes referred to simply as DDR.
In arcade versions of these video games, the dance mat is usually a rigid platform, called a dance platform. These pads are made of steel or other rigid material and often have support bars that players can hold onto if they wish. They are very strong and built to hold a huge range of weights forcefully jumping up and down on them hour after hour, day after day. While it is possible to purchase an arcade-quality dance rig for home use, the price is often many hundreds of US dollars (USD), making it out of reach for most people. Cheaper metal dance rigs can be found for around $150-$250 USD, but this is still too expensive for many people.
Luckily, there’s a much more affordable alternative for home users: the soft dance mat. A soft dance mat, rather than being made of steel or aluminum and hard plastic, is instead made of soft plastic, sometimes with hard plastic components. While not as durable as hard pads, these soft mats will still hold up for extended periods of time under home use conditions. With high-end soft dance mats costing only around $60 USD and budget versions costing just $15 USD, they offer an extremely affordable option for those who want their own dance games at home.
One problem with a soft dance mat is that it may not be as responsive as a hard dance platform, leading to occasional frustrations when dance moves aren’t accurately registered. Also, because a soft dance mat is relatively light, it can slip on the surface it is on when dancing, which can cause the player to move off center and lead to a stoppage in play. While many soft mats include rigid backings to try and bring them down, gamers often find themselves resorting to techniques such as sticking the mat to the floor or attaching it to a cardboard backing or something heavy to hold it in place.
There is a third option between buying a cheap soft dance mat and an expensive metal dance platform, which is changing a soft dance mat into a metal dance platform. Instructions can be found on the internet on how to do this, by cutting holes in aluminum foil to build a frame into which the constituent parts of the soft dance mat can be inserted. Some enterprising people even build their own dance mat entirely from scratch, taking apart a regular game controller and using its input devices in a homemade frame.
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