Jazz Run to the End Zone
Jazz Running is a free, browser-based arcade game where you guide a drum major up a football field, stepping onto band members who carry the correct beat value to advance toward the end zone. But "jazz running" isn't just a game name — it's a real and essential marching technique used by marching bands and drum corps all over the world.
A jazz run is a special movement technique used when a marcher needs to cover a lot of ground very quickly — too quickly for normal marching to look smooth. Instead of the standard "roll step" (also called the glide step), where marchers keep their legs straight and lead with the heel to keep their upper body perfectly still, a jazz run has the performer push off and lunge forward, landing on the toes, to eat up distance fast while staying in form. Marching is measured in "steps to five yards": the standard is "8-to-5" (eight steps to cover the five yards between yard lines), and when a move calls for a step size larger than about 5-to-5, marchers switch to a jazz run. Jazz runs are performed at fast tempos — around 180 beats per minute — which is exactly the high-energy feel this game captures.
The world of competitive marching reached its highest art form in drum and bugle corps. Drum Corps International (DCI) was founded in 1972 when a group of corps banded together to govern and promote the activity themselves. A modern drum corps is made up of brass players, percussion (both the marching battery and a stationary "front ensemble"), and a color guard — performers aged roughly 13 to 22 who tour and compete across the country each summer. Unlike a traditional military band, corps-style marching uses constantly changing step sizes and elaborate drill, set to everything from symphonic music to jazz, rock, and film scores.
If you want to see jazz running and world-class marching in action, look up these celebrated corps:
Use the arrow keys (or tap above, left, and right of the drum major on a touchscreen) to step. Move forward only onto the band member carrying the target beat value shown at the top — land on a wrong beat and you're "out of step" and lose a life. Beat the play clock and reach the end zone to score, then keep driving down the field. Three difficulty levels let you start gentle and work up to a real challenge.