Up, down, right, left, down, up.

To many students, those words may not mean very much, but to a "Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR) player, those words can often mean the difference between winning and losing a round.

One outlet for students to play the video game is through Penn State's DDR Club.

Stephen Kerwin (sophomore-astronomy and astrophysics) formed the organization last fall because there was not an existing DDR organization on campus.

"I came up here last year and expected to find a club for DDR, but I didn't, so I started making up flyers and posting signs looking to get a group of people together to play," Kerwin said. "It started out with 10 to 15 people, but we now have 60 members signed up on our ANGEL Web site."

The group meets once or twice a week, in one of the residence hall commons, depending on the availability of playing space.

"We try to play at least once per week," Kerwin said. "We usually have between 15 and 20 club members per meeting, because of exams and other activities going on."

The game was first introduced in Japanese arcades and, currently, the original DDR, as well as DDR Max, DDR Max 2 and DDR Extreme are all played in arcades across the United States. Home versions of each game are also available for Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and personal computers.

To play the game, players move their feet to touch arrows on a dance pad corresponding with those displayed on their screen. The steps are in rhythm with a song selected at the start of each round.

Songs are ranked in difficulty by a series of footprints, with one footprint denoting the easiest songs. The highest level of play can be nine for old versions of the game and 10 or more footprints for newer games.

For many DDR players the game offers a chance to get into shape while doing something they enjoy.

"I started playing DDR at home because I was bored and had nothing else to do," Aaron Abramowitz (sophomore-computer science) said. "Since then, I've lost about 20 pounds by playing the game."

In addition to the game's physical benefits, players often make friends as a result of playing the game.

"When I came up here last year, I met other people who played the game and I eventually ended up ordering dance pads from eBay and playing the game with them in my room," Alexander Johnston (sophomore-archeological science) said.

Some players go to seemingly extreme lengths to satisfy their need for the game.

"I played DDR last year while I had pneumonia," Abramowitz said. "My friends told me not to, but I did it anyway and it wasn't that bad."

Although most DDR playing takes place on campus or in local arcades, some have taken their love of the game abroad.

"My friends and I were in London last spring and we saw an arcade next to the restaurant we were in and we couldn't resist going in to play DDR," said Caerleigh Sanner (junior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management).

As gamers become more advanced, they often try to incorporate their own moves into the existing dance patterns.

"Last year, the DDR Club had a meeting on Mardi Gras," Johnston said. "It was really crazy because people were doing easy songs and instead of stepping on the pad with their feet, they were hitting the arrows with their hands, butts and even their heads."