Gamers, I need help. I've heard that adults are using Dance Dance Revolution to drop weight. They say it's fun, addictive and gives you a great workout.

I want to try it out, but I don't want to have to buy a system to do it. I've heard that there is a version that plugs into your tv and doesn't need a system. Problem is, when I research this on the web, I've no idea what I'm doing. I don't know which reviews to trust and I don't know what is a piece of junk and what isn't.

I called Toys R Us and they admit they don't know anything about it but have some American Idol version.

I'm clueless. What do y'all think?

Look Heather, someone made a whole website dedicated to Dance Dance Revolution! I didn't see on there where they list any other consoles than PS, PS2 or Xbox. However, they list places in Hagersbutt where you can go play. Playland and Pocket Change?

P.S. I really can't imagine some of these guys on this forum playing DDR, but the thought is entertaining!

I was on that website for hours and couldn't find anything.

There is no way I'm doing that in public. Besides, it would probably make me cuss and I wouldn't want the kiddie winks to hear.

I've played it before, but it was on X-box! It's not easy, and it is a good workout. I had also heard that people were using it for exercise purposes, and I could see where it would work!

Ha Ha! Even us Star Wars geeks look down on DDR geeks!

Seriously though, I'll try to help you out more when I get home from work and can internet surf more freely. There's a few other forums I frequent that have some hardcore DDR players/geeks that post occassionally on the topic.

I would definitely have to get one of the pads with the handle bar.

B!

Thanks, Sman.

Okay, help a dummy who has never heard of this before. You hook this game thing up to your TV via X-box, etc. and the TV screen then tells you what dance step to make and you do it on a touch sensitive dance pad???? Does the pad feedback to the X-box and "score" how well you dance the steps you're supposed to???

I know I'm behind the wave on pop culture and especially gaming, but how long has this been popular?

ah, go back to your Jack LaLanne, Snoop.

I don't know Snoop.... I think you're trying to fool us. You described it pretty accurately for somebody that doesn't know anything about it.

Are you sure you don't have a DDR studio set up in your basement?

They've had this technology since the old Nintendo NES systems. Anyone ever play the track and field game they had with the NES system? My friends used to have it back in the day!

Not too likely, Sman! Snoop has 2 left feet -- and 2 right feet!

Was one of these things in a Lindsey Lohan movie? I might have actually saw one in a movie I took my daughter to long ago. Or not???

Yoss! I remember my mom watching him when I was little!

I first heard of them being in the arcades at the malls a couple of years ago. The son of a friend of mine did a "marathon" type thing on it to raise money for a worthy cause.

I may try it in the privacy of my own home...definitely not at the mall!

We have one for our PS2. Love it, but I have to stay on the beginner level. My daughter kicks my butt on the intermediate. I'm a white girl, old, and have 2 left feet, bad ankles, and bad knees. (Could you guys help me come up with some other excuses?) It is a lot of fun. We do it as a family challenge, but my daughter also host DDR olympics with the neighborhood girls.

Okay girls...DDR slumber party at my house next weekend!

You know, it sounds REALLY WACKY, but it just might be fun. I'll have to ask my daughter if she's ever played it.

Heather - the DDR guru that I messaged says that any kind of standalone DDR-type products available (very few) are junk. He said your best bet would be to pick up a Playstation 2, the pad, and whichever DDR games you'd want.

So you're looking a $150 for the PS2, $20 for the pad, and $20-$30 for each DDR game.

...and $130,000 to buy a house so that I don't annoy my neighbor downstairs. Lemme check my purse....nope, don't have it.

Can y'all ask your kids if I can come over and play?

An upstairs DDR player would have been the least of my annoyances during my apartment living days.

Let's see, I had:

- the young couple who were weed smokers below me for a year (contact buzz as it wafted up my dryer vent and into my apt.). As an added bonus, they'd fight and beat each other up.

- the next door neighbor who apparently felt the need to shower 20 out of 24 hours a day (I could hear the water running through my walls).

- the kid next door who dribbled a basketball every waking moment he was home. And it wasn't a typical rythmic dribbling sound, where I'd hear "thump, thump, thump". This kid was awful at basketball and couldn't dribble right, so I'd hear "thump.....thump,thump,thump......thump...........<I'd think it was stopping, then>........thump, thump. Ah! Maddening!

These were places with fairly salty rent where I expected a small measure of peace for what I was paying. I would have welcomed a DDR player.