Chikka changa changa.

Bollywood - an Indian style of dance that is slowly becoming increasingly popular in the western side of the world. One famous Bollywood film that has generated an unforgettable (literally lodged-in-your-head unforgettable) song is Dil Se with the cult favourite Chaiyya Chaiyya. The song features a large group of people dancing and singing on a train and being able to dance on top without falling off; impressive stuff.

See? Impressive. Who even knows how fast that train's going?!

For our game this week, we were asked to capture the essence of this particular Bollywood scene and transform it into a party board game that inspires movement - like games such as Twister. We decided that the best thing to do would be to get the players dancing - cause hey, that's about the only thing going on in this scene (next to the singing). We decided that players would draw cards and then watch a video to learn the move, with a limited number of views. Players would then perform the move and some point to get points, with harder moves earning more points.

We studied the Chaiyya Chaiyya clip, Jai Ho from Slum Dog Millionaire and the other Youtube "sensation" Tunak Tunak Tun. Using all these moves as the base, we then recorded ourselves performing the moves and proceeded to name them accordingly. Thankfully, I have 15 years of training in dance, so this really was a snap. The reason we chose these three songs is that we felt they captured the Bollywood essence best - all are upbeat and leave you with a carefree feeling. The moves themselves seem rather... impromtu, although everyone can be seen performing them at once. Its this carefree, semi-spastic flowing of the limbs that makes Bollywood what it is.

RULES:

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Chaiyya Chaiyya Party Extreme!

Setup:

• To begin a new game of Chaiyya Chaiyya Party Extreme, both the Easy Dance Deck and the Hard Dance Deck must be shuffled separate from each other.
• From here, the easy deck and the hard deck are placed on the game board inside their designated areas.
• Determining which player goes first is simple.  The owner of the game goes first and then determines the order for the game.

Gameplay:

•  The Gameplay phase begins when the first player picks up either an Easy or Hard Dance Card.
•  After choosing their card, the player will read off the card details to the other players of the game.
• On each card are three details: The Song Indicator, The Dance Move, and the Score Modifier.
• After the details have been revealed to the other players, the dancing player must find their corresponding dance move in the dance list.
• The player will be able to view the dance move twice before they are allowed their one chance to complete three consecutive repetitions of the move.  Dancing will be completed with the three songs provided.
• The other players will judge whether the player has completed their move successfully
• If the move was completed, the player gets the corresponding score and they keep the performed dance card in their hand. If the move was not completed, the card is inserted back in the deck
• Each player may only have a maximum of four cards in their hand at one time. The player may pick up a Dance Card and perform for their score however, they must discard before a new card can be added to their hand
• Whenever a player has more than one card in their hand, they may attempt a Combo Dance!  This means that the player may try and perform all of their dances in one performance to earn all of the score modifiers combined! 
• To win, a player must reach a score of 1000 points, or a player can win through the Special Combo Dance.  A Special Combo Dance is when the players four cards are all from the same Song Indicator.  If the is able to complete the Special Combo Dance for the duration of the songs provided!
• HAVE FUN!

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Overall, it was a pretty interesting experience creating a dance game. One thing I wish we could have done was create an interactive DVD video of sorts with a cool menu. This would've made the experience way easier to convey to the user. Also, it would be cool if there was a sort of training mode where the moves are walked through slower in case people wish to practice.

None the less, this game will get you hopping and laughing at your friends - guaranteed.