The game was released in Japan on November 18, 2004, in North America on December 6, 2004, in Europe on March 18, 2005, and in Australia on September 15, 2005.

The next home console game in the series, Mario Party 7, was released for the GameCube the same year.

In Mario Party 6, up to four players take turns moving on board game-style stages, often playing multiplayer minigames to earn coins and stars.

The object of the game is to amass the most coins and stars before completing a set number of turns.

On multiplayer game boards, the sun will periodically set or rise (every three turns), producing different effects.

In the game's frame story, Brighton and Twila, the sun and the moon who watch over the Mario Party world, argue over who is more popular.

Special Orbs are used automatically to protect players' coins or stars from being stolen from Pink Boo and Chain Chomp, occurrences exclusive to certain boards.

Solo Mode is where a single player embarks on a special single-row board with a set number of spaces to collect minigames.

Also the player plays minigames with the computer-controlled Red, Green, and Blue Koopa Kids.

The majority of rare games are usually obtained by stopping on the space at the end of Solo Mode, although one is purchased in the Star Bank.