Dance mat reviews

The dance mat is at the very heart of the Dance Dance Revolution. But which one should you buy and where? Since the closure of retailer Futuremax, it is tricky for european fans to buy their mats. They mostly rely on polish mat maker www.maty-taneczne. US DDR players have dance pad mania and precision dance pads. Living in France, it would be expansive to ship mats from there so this page focus on the european mats I know. American friends, please tip me off the great mats you have ! And everyone, do not hesitate to share if you know of a good dance mat shop. Please write to the website mail.
First I make a listing of the different kinds of dance mats on the market, giving my feeling about which one is best suited for your play level. Then I go back in details on two mats I own and like.

Different kinds of mats

One can sort the dance mat market into three main categories:

• Cheap soft mats (10-30€)
• Improved soft mats with foam insert (30-150€)
• Metal mats, arcade style (150-600€)

Now if you are gifted in manual craftwork, just follow this guide to build a high end metal mat yourself: Guide de fabrication. You need these pictures for the arrows, too: fleches. Jean Marie, a reader of the site, was kind enough to write this for us after having build four mats like these. Right, this is french, and I understand too little in the world of DIY to do the translation... still this is full of self explanatory pictures so I guess it is OK for you!
Back to the commercial mats, let's check it out right now!

Soft mats

Quick view: These are the cheapest mats available. They are completely flat with a plastic surface as pictured below:

These mats suit every purse but become very quickly annoying for the player building his skill. They slide on the floor a lot, making it a challenge to keep in mind the position of the arrows. You end up missing the arrows by hitting where the arrow was, but where it is not anymore because of the displacement of the mat. Another downside is the fragility of these mats. They usually last only a few months.

Offers for this category: Among the various embodiments of the soft dance mats you will mainly find the Topway I chose for the picture, with "Stay Cool" written in the center. It may exist slightly better models but nothing significantly better. I do not know any official retailer still offering these basic mats. You will find them other various brandings, usually overpriced, at ebay, Amazon and the likes.

Foam inserted mats

Quick view: Intermediate price offer. They differenciate by foam elements you assemble inside the mat just like a puzzle. A zip on the side of the mat let it open for this operation. The (more or less) rigid foam is about 5 centimeters thick. Look below:

This foam insert brings several sweets: first, the mat is much heavier and slide a lot less compared to the cheaper soft mats. The comfort is greatly improved by the foam absorbing the shocks of your feet on the floor. This is also a little bit less noisy for your neighbours downstairs, but just a bit!

I propose further on the page a complete review of the Deluxe v3 I own. I bought 4 of them before the shop closed. It is still, 12 years later, the mat I use.

Swedish brand Positive Gaming offered a truly excellent quality/price deal with the PG Impact soft mat, for PC / Mac USB. I also own one and give an extensive review there. But in 2023, you won't find any :(