We think you'll quickly get to grips with how Chalo Chalo works by playing a couple of matches, but if you prefer more guidance read on.
Most modern USB gamepad controllers should work with Chalo Chalo. Use any one of the analogue sticks for movement and any button to carry out an action. The action performed will be different depending on what's happening in the game at that moment. Press any of the center buttons on your controller to show a menu allowing you to start a new game or quit.
On the Join Screen press an action button on your controller. A coloured dot will appear. Move your coloured dot into the central circle. When three or more dots stay within the circle for a short while a new match begins.
During a race, try to get to the yellow goal before your opponents can.
You travel slowly over tar (black), quickly over grass (green). Ice (white) is difficult to steer on but preserves momentum well. Don’t touch the lava (red).
At the begining of a race all players are confined to the Start Zone. This is a good moment to make a plan. After a countdown the Start Zone barrier disappears, freeing players to begin their approach to the goal.
If you are not carrying a Power, pressing an action button nudges rival dots next to you - pushing them away. Nudging other players also slows you down for a moment.
After the first player reaches the goal a ring of lava starts to close in. Players too slow to reach the goal are destroyed when the lava touches them.
The player who reaches the goal first gets two points. The player in second place gets one point. Players who fail to get to the goal lose a point. The first player to get seven points wins the match.
New players can join a match that's already underway by pressing an action button on their controller any time a race landscape is visible.
The twinkly cells are single-use powers that you can collect. Press an action button to activate a power you collected previously. If you reach the goal while carrying a power you will bring it with you to the next race.
When armed, Rift displays a line across the screen pointing in the direction the player is steering in. When activated, all other players are pushed perpendicularly away from the line.
When activated, Blindfold obscures everyone’s view of the race map for a few moments.
When activated Gust pushes all players in the direction the user is facing.
Activating Teleport instantly changes a player's vertical screen position, mirroring it across the horizontal center of the screen.
Press an action button once to fire a projectile forwards. Press a second time to stop the bomb’s motion and start the detonation sequence. After a short delay the bomb explodes, spreading Tar over the nearby cells.
By default, pressing any of the middle buttons on a controller accesses a pause menu. This menu allows players to quit the game. When Chalo Chalo is installed in a public setting (e.g. a game festival, or a museum) the organiser might prefer to prevent players from quitting the game. To facilitate this we've added an 'Exhibition Mode' which disables the Pause Menu.
Pressing E on a connected keyboard toggles Exhibition Mode. Exhibition Mode state is recorded to disk so you should only need to activate it once for any installation - even if the machine Chalo Chalo runs on will be turned on and off over the course of the installation.