DropMix is a rhythm-based card game that uses some borderline magical technology to seamlessly create mash-up mixes of famous songs and artists. The game comes with a wide plastic board/controller that can detect cards that are placed on it. These specific DropMix cards are individual songs with an attached musical components to them via an NFC chip (think the drums of Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out or Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe Vocals, two of my favorite cards).
You then download the game app onto your smartphone, connect the phone to the board and prop up your phone up to the unit. As you place cards down into the platform slots, the app builds a mash-up with the musical components on the board in almost real-time. These mash-ups in reality only 32 bars long but amount of variety and control you have is pretty liberating. Not only can you assemble mash-ups from any five card combination, you can adjust the BPM and which key the segment plays in. You can also buy additional themed card packs that expand your creative toolbox but can be rather expensive.
Besides this musical playground, the app come with a couple of other game modes, including a surprisingly competitive “Clash” mode where two competing players try to reach 21 points first by laying down the appropriate sequence of cards on the board. Still, the main selling point of this game is the creative freedom it offers with almost no required expertise in music. Anybody can pick this up and make a catchy tune within a few minutes.
I picked this game up when it was on sale a few months ago and subsequently forgot I had it in the back of my closet. After bring it to a couple of get togethers, I rediscovered that this game has an almost mystifying ability to bring people in and get their heads bobbing. Here are some of my favorite mixes and an example of the music you can easily create with this game.