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.
On a gamepad, use either analogue stick or the D-pad to steer, and any of the face or shoulder buttons as your action button. 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 open the menu.
On the Join Screen press an action button. A coloured dot will appear. Move your coloured dot into the central circle. Bot dots also make their way to the circle, filling empty racing slots up to the Bot Fill Target (3 to 8 racers, five by default). When the racers are gathered in the circle a short countdown runs and a new match begins. Up to eight racers can take part.
During a race, try to get to the yellow goal before your opponents can.
You travel at normal speed over ash (grey), quickly over grass (green) and slowly over tar (black). Ice (white) is difficult to steer on but preserves momentum well. The goal itself gives you an extra burst of speed. Don’t touch the lava (red). Twinkly cells carrying powers appear on ash.
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 sends out a pulse - shoving rival dots next to you away.
After the first player reaches the goal a ring of lava starts to close in. Within about six seconds the whole map is consumed. 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 are destroyed 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 while a race is on. If a bot is racing, you take it over; otherwise you drop straight into the race as a new player.
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 still 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.
When armed, Teleport shows two landing markers above and below you. Steer up or down to choose one. Activating Teleport instantly moves you there.
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.
If you don't have enough hardware controllers, players can use their phones instead. Turn on the Phone Controllers setting, and a QR code appears on the Join Screen. Phones on the same WiFi network as the computer running Chalo Chalo scan the code and tap Join Game. Hold the phone sideways and use it just like a gamepad: a steering area and an action button. Phones can also join races that are already underway.
You can play Chalo Chalo with friends over the internet using Steam's Remote Play Together. The host launches the game and invites friends from their Steam friends list; everyone plays with their own controller as usual, and remote players' screens are streamed to them.
Phone controllers only work on the host's side in this configuration: phones connect over the host's local network, so friends joining remotely should use a gamepad instead.
By default, pressing Escape or any of the middle buttons on a controller accesses a menu. This menu allows players to change settings or 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 menu.
Turn Exhibition Mode on or off from the settings screen, or by pressing E on a connected keyboard. 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. While Exhibition Mode is on, the game returns to the Join Screen automatically after a minute of inactivity.