Dance Card! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Dance Card Anatomy
• Let's Dance!
  • 1. Spin Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
  • Move
  • Dance
  • Chat
  • Nerve
  • Free Actions
  • Winning
• Spin Dial
  • Spin Icon Reference
  • Ditching
• Cards and Components
  • Smooth Moves! Cards
  • Mix It Up! Cards
  • Challenge! Cards
  • Cool Kids!
• Reference
  • Personal Abilities
  • Game Modes
  • Smooth Moves!
  • Challenge Cards
  • Selfie
  • Dice
• Quick Reference Guide

Components

• Game board
• Dance Cards (x32) and Student standees (x32)
• Chaperone standees (x4)
• Dance Dice (x14)
• Song Die (x1)
• Chat Tokens (x48)
• Status Tokens (x24): Success Tokens (x12) and Failure Tokens (x12)
• Selfie Tokens (x2)
• Spin Dial (x1)
• Smooth Moves! cards (x32)
• Mix It Up! cards (x32)
• Challenge! cards (x10)
• Music Rules! cards (x3)
• Game Mode cards (x3): Solo, Competitive, Cooperative
• Selfie! card (x1) and Shojo! cards (x7)

Deluxe Edition components (leave them out until you have played the base game a couple of times first): Cool Kids! reference card, Rumor! cards (x4), Rules! cards (x3), additional Dance Cards (x4) and Student standees (x10), Status Tokens (x12), Chat Tokens (x8), Smooth Moves! cards (x16), Challenge! cards (x9), Mix It Up! cards (x16), Spin Dials (x2). Six promotional Halloween-themed standees are also included in the box; you can swap these with the default standees during setup, but make sure there is only one standee for a given character on the board at any one time.

Game Setup

1. Unfold the game board and place it in the center of the play area.
2. Shuffle the Smooth Moves! cards into a single deck and place the deck on the designated space.
3. Shuffle the Mix It Up! cards into a single deck and place the deck on the designated space.
4. Select and place a Music Rules! card face up on the designated space.
5. Randomly distribute the 32 Student standees (but not the chaperones!) on each of the eight board locations, as follows:
   • The Refreshments and The Bleachers: 8 Students each
   • The Green, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Dance Floor Spaces: 3 Students each
   • The Janitor's Office and The Restrooms: 2 Students each
6. Place the Dance Dice, Chat Tokens, and Status Tokens near the board within easy reach of all players.
7. Select one of the Game Mode cards (Solo, Competitive, or Cooperative), read the rules, and place it face up in the play area.
8. Each player selects one Dance Card and places it face up in their play area.
   • For your first game, avoid choosing Felicity or Zoe because these students have more complex personal abilities.
   • Once players are familiar with the game, Dance Cards should be assigned randomly for a more unpredictable experience.
9. Each player reads the personal ability on their Dance Card and collects any necessary cards or tokens required.
10. Optional: Draw one, two, or three random Challenge! cards and place them face up on the empty Challenge! spaces at the bottom of the board.
    • Do not use Challenge! cards until you have played the game at least once without them.

Once setup is complete, the first player takes their turn to begin the game!

Dance Card Anatomy

At the beginning of each game, each player takes a Dance Card that represents their unique Student. That Student has Friends who encourage the Student and improve their chances of success, a Rival who gets in their way, and three Partners who they are trying to dance with to win the game. Each Partner has two Contacts with whom the Student can Chat to increase their chances of success and a Crush who can distract the Partner and make it more difficult to dance with them.

1. Student Name.
2. Student ID, which is used to determine initial turn order and referenced in other game elements.
3. The automatic Dance Dice that this Student has available for dance rolls.
4. The personal ability that gives this Student an edge in certain situations. See the Reference section for more details.
5. The Friends of this Student. If the Friend of a player's Student is present on the same Dance Floor location as the Student when a player takes a Dance action with any Partner, the player adds the indicated die or dice to their dance roll.
6. The Rival of this Student. If the Rival of a player's Student is present on the same Dance Floor location as the Student when a player takes a Dance action with any Partner, the player adds one Black Die to their dance roll.
7. The three Partners with whom the player must Dance to win the game.
8. The reward icon for this Partner. Draw Smooth Moves! cards equal to the number indicated by the icon when a Success Token is placed on the portrait of this Partner.
9. The dance difficulty for this Partner. If the combined results of a dance roll meet or exceed the required value and the required icon or icons, place a Success Token on the portrait of this Partner.
10. This symbol indicates the Student's music preference, which is also referred to as the student color and referenced by other game elements.
11. The Contacts of this Partner. If a player takes a Chat action with a Contact, place the indicated Chat Token on the portrait of the Contact. When a player takes a Dance action with this Partner, the player adds the die that matches the Chat Token on this Contact to their dance roll.
12. The Crush of this Partner. If the Crush of a Partner is present on the same Dance Floor location as the Partner when the player takes a Dance action with this Partner, the player adds one Black Die to their dance roll.

(Example Dance Card, Quentin: "Once per turn, you can take one free action, determined by the Song Die: blue (Dance), pink (Chat), yellow (Nerve).")

Let's Dance!

The game is played over a series of player turns, starting with the player with the lowest Student ID and then going clockwise around the play area. Each turn is broken up into two phases: the Spin Phase and the Action Phase.

1. Spin Phase

The active player takes the Spin Dial from the previous player, rotates it to the next icon, and resolves the effect for that icon.

• On the first turn of the game, the active player rotates the dial to the START position and resolves that effect.

2. Action Phase

The active player can perform up to two of the following actions during their turn. Players can repeat the same action twice or perform two different actions.

Move

The active player can move any one Student onto an adjacent board location. The active player can move either their own Student or any other Student in the game.

EXCEPTION: A player cannot move one of their Partners onto the same Dance Floor location as their Student.

Example 1. The active player wants Phoenix, who is currently on the Bleachers, to Dance with Estelle, who is currently on the Green Dance Floor location. The player uses one Move action to move Phoenix from the Bleachers to the Dance Floor location, and then a second Move action to move Phoenix from there to the Green Dance Floor location.

Example 2. The active player wants to increase the chances of a successful Dance between Phoenix and Estelle by moving Phoenix's Friend, Ignacio, onto the Green Dance Floor location, and by moving Estelle's Crush, Raj, off of that location. The player uses one Move action to move Ignacio from his current location to the Green Dance Floor, and then uses a second Move action to move Raj out of the Green Dance Floor location. There is now an increased chance that Phoenix will have a successful Dance with Estelle on a future turn!

Example 3. The active player wants Maxine, who is currently on the Green Dance Floor location, to Dance with Steven, who is currently on the Refreshments location. The player cannot move Steven onto the same Dance Floor location as Maxine because Steven is Maxine's Partner. To get around this problem, the player uses one Move action to move Steven onto the Blue Dance Floor location, and then uses a second Move action to move Maxine to the Blue Dance Floor location.

Your Move actions can be used in creative ways to increase the chances of a successful dance roll!

Dance

If the active player's Student and one of their Partners are both on the same Dance Floor location, the active player can perform a dance roll. Follow these steps in order.

Step 1. Assemble your dice pool by gathering the appropriate dice from the general supply:

1. Gain the automatic Dance Dice shown next to your Student's personal ability.
2. Gain the indicated Dance Dice for each Friend on the same Dance Floor location as your Student and their Partner.
3. Gain one Black Die if your Rival is on the same Dance Floor location as your Student and their Partner.
4. Gain the indicated Dance Die for each Chat Token on a Contact for this Partner. These tokens are placed after taking a Chat action.
5. Gain one Black Die if the Crush of your Partner is on the same Dance Floor location as your Student and their Partner.
6. Check the Music Rules! card, any Challenge! cards, and any other special rules in play to gain or remove Dance Dice as indicated.

Example. The active player wants Kate to Dance with Dwight. To create a pool of Dance Dice, they do the following:

1. Gain Kate's automatic Dance Dice, which are one Blue Die and one Gray Die.
2. Gain one Pink Die because Yvette (one of Kate's Friends) is present on the same Dance Floor location.
3. Gain one Black Die because Kate's Rival Eliot is present on the same Dance Floor location.
4. Gain one die for the Chat Token placed on Jordan (Dwight's first Contact) and one Gray Die for the Chat Token placed on Phoenix (Dwight's second Contact).
5. Gain one Black Die because Renee (Dwight's Crush) is present on the same Dance Floor location.
6. Gain one Gray Die because Dwight's color matches the color of the Song Die. The Music Rules! card states: "During dance rolls, gain one Gray Die if the color of your Partner matches the color on the Song Die."

When the active player performs their dance roll, they will roll the Blue Die, the Pink Die, the die gained from Jordan's Chat Token, two Gray Dice, and two Black Dice.

You can take a Chat action with any Crush on this card. If you do, place a Gray Chat Token on the portrait of that Crush.

Step 2. Roll the Dance Dice.

Step 3. Evaluate the results of the roll and check for success or failure:

• Add up all of the numbers on the Dance Dice and take note of any icons shown. Whenever a die with multiple icons is rolled, all of those icons are added to the results.
• Compare the results to the dance difficulty of your Partner. The dance difficulty of each Partner includes a number and, in some cases, one or two icons.

The dance roll is a success if the total numerical value and icons shown on your Dance Dice meet or exceed those shown on the Partner's dance difficulty. If the results do not meet or exceed those shown on the dance difficulty, the roll is a failure.

Step 4. Place the appropriate Status Token on the portrait of that Partner.

• If you were successful, place a Success Token on the Partner and gain the number of Smooth Moves! cards indicated by the reward icon.
• If you were unsuccessful, place a Failure Token on the Partner.

If a Partner has a Failure Token on their portrait, that Partner cannot be selected for a Dance action again until the Failure Token is removed (see the Nerve action for one way to do this).

Example 1. The active player has Kate take a Dance action with Dwight and rolls one Pink Die, one Gray Die, and a Black Die, which results in a total value of 4 along with two icons. The player rolled both of the required icons indicated by Dwight's dance difficulty but did not meet or exceed the required numerical value of 5, so the roll is not successful, and the player must place a Failure Token on Dwight's portrait.

Example 2. On a future turn, after removing the Failure Token (see Nerve action below) and after positioning Students on the board to gain more Dance Dice, the player has Kate take another Dance action with Dwight. The player rolls more dice (including a Green Die and a Blue Die and two Gray Dice), and the results show both of the required icons indicated by Dwight's dance difficulty and a total numerical value of 5, so the dance roll is a success. The player places a Success Token on Dwight's portrait and gains three Smooth Moves! cards, as indicated by the reward icon.

Chat

If the active player's Student and a Contact are together on either the Refreshments or the Bleachers, place the indicated Chat Token on the portrait of the Contact. That die will be added to the dice pool of future dance rolls with that Partner.

The active player wants Nate to Dance with Renee on a future turn, so they take a Move action to move Nate onto the Refreshments to be with one of Renee's Contacts, Isabel. The active player then uses a Chat action to place a Gray Chat Token on Isabel's portrait, which will add a Gray Die to dance rolls with Renee in the future.

Unless otherwise stated, never remove a Chat Token once it has been placed.

Nerve

If the active player's Student is on either the Restrooms or the Janitor's Office location, ditch every Failure Token on their Dance Card and draw one Smooth Moves! card for each token that was ditched.

Example. After failing a dance roll with Dwight on a Dance Floor location during a previous turn, the active player takes two Move actions to move Kate to the Restrooms. On their next turn, the player takes a Nerve action to ditch the Failure Token from Dwight's portrait and then draws a Smooth Moves! card.

Sometimes, you need to get away from the crowd to take a break, recharge your batteries and build up your nerve for that big Dance!

Note: Unless otherwise stated, the Dance, Chat, and Nerve actions are tied to specific locations on the board. Remember this so that you do not accidentally take a Chat action on the Restrooms or a Dance action on the Janitor's Office location!

Free Actions

• Playing Smooth Moves! cards: The active player can play any number of Smooth Moves! cards from their hand to trigger the effect on the card.
• Ditching Smooth Moves! cards: The active player can also ditch Smooth Moves! cards at any time during their turn to take a free Move action for each ditched card.

Smooth Moves! can really make or break your chances out there, so stock up before stepping onto the Dance Floor! Oh, and don't forget that you can ditch 'em to get people moving!

Winning

The objective of the game for each player is to place a Success Token on the portrait of every Partner on their Dance Card. The specific win condition will depend on which Game Mode card is in play:

• Solo: The game ends as soon as the player places a third Success Token on their Dance Card. The solo player wins the game!
• Competitive: The game ends as soon as any one player places a third Success Token on their Dance Card. This player wins the game!
• Cooperative: The game ends as soon as every player places a third Success Token on their Dance Card. The players win the game!

Spin Dial

The Spin Dial represents the randomness and chaos of a high school dance, adding variety to each game by giving each player something different to do on their turn. During setup, the first player gets to choose which Spin Dial to use during the game.

At the beginning of their turn, the active player takes the Spin Dial from the previous player, rotates it to the next icon, and resolves the effect for that icon.

Spin Icon Reference

• START: Roll the Song Die and place it on the Music Rules! card. On the first turn of the game, the active player rotates the dial to this position and resolves this effect. If the result is "?", the active player chooses the song color.
• SPARK!: Resolve the Spark! effects on all cards with this icon that are face up on the board or in the play area. The Music Rules! card is one example of a card with this icon, but other cards in the game might also have this icon.
• SMOOTH MOVES! +N: Draw the indicated number of Smooth Moves! cards and add them to your hand.
• MOVE +N: Gain the indicated number of free Move actions, which can be used at any time during your turn.
• MIX!: Reveal the top card of the Mix It Up! deck, follow the instructions, and then place that card in the ditch pile unless otherwise stated on the card.

In most cases, the effect shown on the Spin Dial is performed by the active player. However, some Spin Dial icons include the word "ALL," which means that all players will perform this action.

The Spin Dial has one icon with the phrase "Skip if 3P" at the top. In a three player game, skip this icon by advancing the Spin Dial to the next icon and resolve that effect.

Ditching

During the game, players will be asked to ditch certain components or die results.

• To ditch a Smooth Moves! or Mix It Up! card, place that card in the ditch pile beside its respective deck on the board.
• To ditch a token of any kind, return it to the general supply.
• To ditch the result of a die roll, simply ignore that result as if it were not part of the roll.

The Spin Dial adds a lot of excitement! Sometimes, it changes the music or moves Students around the Dance Floor. And sometimes, it gives you special bonuses that make your turn superpowered!

Cards and Components

Smooth Moves! Cards

Players gain Smooth Moves! cards through a variety of means during the game, such as through successful dance rolls, using personal abilities, revealing Spin Dial icons, or by taking Nerve actions. Players keep all Smooth Moves! cards that they gain in their hand, which is hidden during Competitive games but not Cooperative games. If the Smooth Moves! deck ever runs out, reshuffle the ditch pile to create a new deck.

In play. Each Smooth Moves! card has a specific ability printed on it that players can use by playing the card. To play a Smooth Moves! card, place it face up in the play area, resolve the printed effect, and then place it in the ditch pile. Alternatively, a player can choose to ditch a Smooth Moves! card from their hand to gain a free Move action in place of the printed ability. Like a regular Move action, these can be used to move any Student on the board. Unless otherwise stated, only the active player can play or ditch a Smooth Moves! card, and doing so does not cost the player one of their two actions per turn. There is no limit on the number of Smooth Moves! cards that a player can play or ditch on their turn.

Example 1. The active player uses their first action to move Felicity onto a Dance Floor location and then their second action to have Felicity Dance with Quentin, who was already at that location. The player rolls one Blue Die and one Gray Die, which results in a total that is short of Quentin's dance difficulty, which means that the roll is a failure. However, the player chooses to play The Look! from their hand, which replaces one die result with another (changing a result on the Blue Die). This brings the total of the roll to meet Quentin's dance difficulty, which means the roll is a success!

Example 2. The active player wants to use a Nerve action on the current turn to ditch a Failure Token that is on Steven's Dance Card, but Steven is currently on a Dance Floor location and needs to be on either the Restrooms or the Janitor's Closet location. The player can choose to spend both of their actions to Move Steven from his current location to the Restrooms, but then the player will not have an available action to spend on a Nerve action. However, the player does have a Smooth Moves! card in their hand that they are willing to part with. The player chooses to spend one action to Move Steven to the Refreshments, and then ditches a copy of Fancy! from their hand to Move Steven to the Restrooms. The player then spends their second action to Nerve, allowing them to ditch the Failure Token and gain a new Smooth Moves! card in the process!

Mix It Up! Cards

The active player must reveal the top card of the Mix It Up! deck whenever the MIX! icon is revealed on the Spin Dial during the Spin Phase. The player must follow the instructions printed on the card, and then place the card in the ditch pile before moving on to the Action Phase of their turn. The game ends if the Mix It Up! deck ever runs out. If that happens, refer to the Game Mode card that was selected during setup for more details.

Showstopper! Most Mix It Up! cards instruct the player to move Students around the board in a specific way. However, there are Showstopper! cards mixed into the deck that work quite differently. The player who reveals a Showstopper! card must place that card face up beside their Dance Card, and then resolve the printed Spark! effect whenever a Spark! icon is revealed on the Spin Dial. Most Showstopper! cards require the player to ditch them after the Spark! effect has been resolved, but a few Showstopper! cards will remain beside the player's Dance Card even after the Spark! effect has been resolved.

Challenge! Cards

Players can choose to include one, two, or three randomly selected Challenge! cards during setup, which will drastically increase the game's difficulty. Please note that including Challenge! cards is not recommended for games that include any first-time players. Challenge! cards are separated into two categories: general Challenge! cards and Chaperone cards.

General. General Challenge! cards add special rules to the game, which apply to all players and are meant to make the game more difficult. (Examples shown: Hard to Get!, Frenemies!, Comfort Zone!.)

Chaperone. Chaperone cards add character standees to the board that pose an additional challenge to players. Please note that players cannot use a Move action to move Chaperones on the board because the Move action is reserved only for Students.

1. The name of this Chaperone.
2. The board location on which to place the character standee for this Chaperone during setup.
3. The special ability of this Chaperone. Note that not all Chaperones will have a special ability.
4. The Spark! effect for this Chaperone.

(Example, Ms. Branford: "During dance rolls, gain two Black Dice if on the same location as Ms. Branford." Spark!: "Move this chaperone one location clockwise on the Dance Floor.")

Cool Kids!

Players can choose to include the Cool Kids! reference card, Student standees, and/or Dance Cards during setup, which will provide players with more options during the game. Please note that including Cool Kids! is not recommended for games that include any first-time players.

In play. To include the Cool Kids!, shuffle the Dance Cards for Roxi, Joe, Charlotte, and Xander into the Dance Card deck before players select their Dance Cards. Then, place the Cool Kids! reference card near the board and follow the instructions printed on the card, which include the board locations on which to place the character standees for Roxi, Joe, Charlotte, and Xander. Please note that players can use a Move action to move Cool Kids! on the board because the Move action is reserved for Students.

Reference

This section clarifies and expands upon the rules as they pertain to specific components in the game.

Personal Abilities

Unless otherwise stated, the player can only use the personal ability listed on their own Dance Card. Below are further explanations for some of the Students with more complex or unusual personal abilities.

• Steven: The "Multiple icons on a single die" mentioned in this ability refers to die results such as a die showing two icons. This is an intentional disadvantage meant to balance out the advantage of Steven having three automatic dice instead of the more common two.
• Austin: Only the free Nerve action mentioned in this ability can be taken on a Dance Floor location. Unless otherwise stated, Austin must take all other Nerve actions on either the Restrooms or the Janitor's Closet location.
• Howie: The ditched card mentioned in this ability does not have to be one of the two cards that the player gained from this ability. It can be a card that was already in the player's hand.
• Marty: The "one icon of your choice" mentioned in this ability refers only to the four non-numerical icons, not numerical icons.
• Zack: The free Nerve action mentioned in this ability must still be taken on either the Restrooms or the Janitor's Closet location.
• Benjamin: If the player decides to use this ability to move one Partner from an adjacent location onto the same Dance Floor as Benjamin, the player must take the free Dance action immediately after doing so.
• Aria: If the player ends their turn on the Blue Dance Floor or Green Dance Floor, they must move Aria to the Refreshments. If the player ends their turn on the Yellow Dance Floor or Pink Dance Floor, they must move Aria to the Bleachers. This move happens automatically and does not require the player to use an action.
• Estelle: This ability replaces the ability to ditch a Smooth Moves! card to gain one free Move action. The player does not gain both a free Move action and a free action of their choice by ditching a Smooth Moves! card.
• Unless otherwise stated, the free actions mentioned in this ability must still be taken on the appropriate board locations.

Game Modes

Solo!

• The Mix It Up! deck: To create the Mix It Up! deck, shuffle all included Mix It Up! cards, randomly select 25 cards to create the deck, and then return any unused Mix It Up! cards to the box.
• The Special Rule: For example, if a Mix It Up! card states that you must move the Rival of the player on your right to that player's location, you should move your own Rival to your own location.

Cooperative

• The Mix It Up! deck: To create the Mix It Up! deck, shuffle all included Mix It Up! cards, randomly select 32 cards to create the deck, and then return any unused Mix It Up! cards to the box.

Smooth Moves!

Rumor!

• You can select yourself if playing in Solo or Cooperative Mode.

Challenge Cards

Not Cool!

• Only gain one additional Black Die if on the same location as a Cool Kids! Student if your Student color matches the color of the Cool Kids! Student.

Selfie

• "...and set these students aside" refers to the Dance Cards for these students. Leave their character standees on the board.
• During the game, you can only take one Selfie! action on the Refreshments and one Selfie! action on the Bleachers.

Dice

• Players can only gain dice as long as those dice are physically available. For example, players can never roll two Blue Dice or seven Gray Dice.

Quick Reference Guide

Players take their turns in clockwise order, starting with the player with the lowest Student ID. Each turn has two phases: the Spin Phase and the Action Phase!

Spin Phase. The active player takes the Spin Dial from the previous player, and then rotates it to the next icon and resolves the effect.

• Roll the Song Die and place it on the Music Rules! card.
• Resolve the Spark! effect on all cards with this icon.
• Draw the indicated number of Smooth Moves! cards.
• Gain the indicated number of free Move actions.
• Reveal the top card of the Mix It Up! deck and follow the instructions.

Action Phase. The active player can perform up to two of the following actions during their turn. Players can repeat the same action twice or perform two different actions.

• Move: The active player moves any one Student to an adjacent board location.
• Dance: The active player performs a dance roll with a Partner on the same Dance Floor location as their Student.
• Chat: The active player places the indicated Chat Token on the portrait of a Contact on the same Refreshments or Bleachers location as their Student.
• Nerve: The active player ditches every Failure Token on their Dance Card and draws one Smooth Moves! card for each token that was ditched. The player must be on either the Restrooms or Janitor's Office location to take this action.
• Free Actions: The active player can play or ditch any number of Smooth Moves! cards on their turn.

Refer to the Game Mode card (Solo, Competitive, or Cooperative) for the exact win or lose conditions.