Spiel Essen Sales:
This game will be available at Spiel Essen held Oct October 23-26, 2025 in Essen, Germany. We are not taking preorders. Please come to the Saashi & Saashi Booth "6C300" in Hall 6.

Invite to dance, or be invited.

It's the early 20th century, this evening a lavish ball is beckoning elegant ladies and finely-dressed gentlemen from high society for a splendid evening of dance! A large crowd has already gathered in the ballroom, and those who have found dance partners begin dancing in pairs. Charmingly inviting partners from other dance areas is crucial to your success. Conversely some may dance off to someone else’s side of the hall! Can you make this the most dazzling, exciting ball in memory?

Game Overview

Your goal is to gather the most distinguished crowd of ladies and gentlemen in your Dance Area. They're all searching for dance partners! Depending on how you play your cards, you can invite unpaired ladies and gentlemen from other Dance Areas - though this also scores points for your opponents. Sometimes, singles may be whisked away from your Dance Area by others. At game's end, you'll score points for Pairs you formed, your ranking in each color group, and more. The player with the most points wins!

How to Play

Each player starts with 8 cards in hand. On your turn, you simply play 1, 2, or 3 cards from your hand. Cards go into rows in front of you, sorted by color. Then, you draw the same number of cards from the deck, bringing your hand back to 8, to end your turn. Play then passes clockwise.

Sounds simple, right? However, two special twists make this game shine:

Twist 1: Every color has Gentlemen and Ladies cards.
Twist2: You can steal cards from other players’ with the “Shall We Dance” rule.

Twist 1: Gentlemen and Ladies

Each color has an even split—half Gentlemen, half Ladies.
When you play cards on your turn, you have to choose all Gentlemen or all Ladies (never a mix). And the 1 to 3 cards you play must either all be of:

・One new color (not yet in your rows), or
・Existing color(s) (already in your rows).

These restrictions create delicious dilemmas every turn!

Each card represents a guest at the ball, Gentlemen and Ladies looking for dance partners. When a Gentleman and a Lady of the same color are in your row, they pair off into a couple. Couples score points at the end, so you’ll want as many as possible! However since you can only introduce one new color at a time, choosing which guests to invite becomes a tricky balancing act.

Twist 2: “Shall We Dance”

Here’s the showstopper rule: “Shall We Dance”
If, after you play cards, you end up with a free Gentleman or Lady (someone without a partner) in one of your rows and another player has a matching free card of the opposite gender in their row, then you must invite them over! You take their card, pair it with yours, and voilà, a couple is formed.

But there’s a catch:
You can only invite one card per color on each turn.

If multiple players have eligible cards, you’ll need to choose carefully whose to take.

Why? Because whenever you swipe a card with “Shall We Dance”, that player earns a Popularity Token (points).

This creates a lively back-and-forth as cards flow between players, couples are formed, and the balance of power in each color keeps shifting. Also since endgame scoring includes a Color Majority Bonus (points for the most cards in each color), every stolen or lost card matters!

The Grand Finale: “Last Dance”

When the deck runs low, it’s time for the final flourish: the Last Dance.
Everyone secretly chooses one card from their hand, places it face down, and then reveals them in turn. These last-minute pairings can completely shake up the outcome, keeping the suspense alive until the very end.

A Fresh & Snappy Card Game

With just the simple action of playing 1 to 3 cards, you’ll find:
The joy of forming as many dance pairs as possible, the tension of competing for color majorities, and the excitement of stealing cards with “Shall We Dance?”.
All packed into a quick 20-minute game full of lively interaction and dramatic twists.
A simple yet sparkling card game experience, ready to sweep you onto the dance floor!

Release Date:
"SHALL WE DANCE" will be available for presale at the Autumn Game Market held November 22th & 23th. General sales are scheduled for late November. Additionally, preorders will begin in late-November on the official Saashi & Saashi homepage.

Author : Saashi
Illustration : Takako Takarai
Graphic design : Saashi & Saashi
Rules writing assistance : Makoto Nishida
Translation(EN) : Nathan Hunley