Dance pad

A dance pad, also known as a dance mat or dance platform, is a flat game controller that is placed on the floor and used to play music video games. Most dance pads are divided into a 3×3 matrix of square panels for the player to stand on, with some or all of the panels corresponding to directions or actions within the game. Some dance pads also have extra buttons outside the main stepping area, such as "Start" and "Select". Pairs of dance pads are often joined together for certain gameplay modes.

Popular arcade games, such as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), In the Groove, Pump It Up, and StepManiaX use large steel dance platforms connected to the arcade cabinet, whereas versions for home consoles usually use smaller (often flexible) plastic pads. Home dance pads are made for systems such as the GameCube, Wii, Dreamcast (Japan only), PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, but can also be used in computer emulators, such as StepMania, through the use of adapters.