[1] The player controls a cat named Lucky around an island with seven different regions that resemble different Japanese locations and geography, such as bamboo forests and mountains.

By competing in the mini-games, players accumulate points that are tallied onto a Global Leaderboard, with the highest-scoring team being rewarded the title of winner by the end of the Olympics.

For example, the Artistic Swimming event takes the form of a Dance Dance Revolution style rhythm game, whilst the Skateboarding event features a trick system similar to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

These side quests involve Lucky helping out the residents of the island with a variety of tasks such as item fetching and trade sequences.

[8][9] As of the Summer Paralympic Games 2020, two new side quests have been added, with one leading to an advanced version of Rugby.

Players may also reset their progression (for instance, to switch teams) by 'leaving the Champion Island' (after talking to the Komainu gatekeepers present at the pier to Lucky's boat once all 7 scrolls have been obtained and side-quests completed, with the game's credits then being shown as Lucky departs the island on her boat[10]) or simply selecting “Start a new game” in Settings.

At the start of the game, Lucky arrives by boat at Champion Island, a place where everyone from around the world competes with each other.