Like Just Dance, free, with no console

Just Dance is what most families mean when they say "a dancing game": music, a screen, and something that watches you move. The catch is the shopping list — a console, a controller or the phone app strapped to a wrist, and for most of the songs a subscription on top. For a five-year-old who mostly wants to jump around to music in the living room, that is a lot of setup for a lot of money.

Say it plainly first: this is not Just Dance. There is no choreography to follow and there are no chart songs. If a routine to this year's hit is the point, this page will not help you. If the point is a five-year-old who wants to jump around to music and have the screen answer back, read on — that part a webcam does now, for free.

Hopla does the watching part with the webcam you already have. Open the site in the browser, allow the camera, stand back until your whole body is on screen, and the games respond to what you do: dance while the music plays and freeze when it stops, hit the beat with a hand or a foot, jump the bars, flap your arms to fly. There is no download, no account and nothing to buy — every game is free, all 35 of them.

It is built for kids from 4 to 14 rather than for the whole family's karaoke night: rounds are one minute, four ranks go from very forgiving (Rookie) to properly sweaty (Master), and points are never deducted. Two kids can play at once, side by side, each on their own rank and sharing one score — no winner, no loser, no tears at the end of the song. The music is original and free to use, not the chart hits, which is also what keeps the games free.

The camera image never leaves the device: it is processed inside the browser and is not uploaded, stored or recorded. Plug a laptop into the TV with an HDMI cable and you have the dance-game setup back, minus the console.

Hopla is not affiliated with Ubisoft. Just Dance is a trademark of Ubisoft.