[10] Each ruleset involves multiple players rolling dice (numbered one to ten in Battle Royales and one to five in Team Battles)[11] to advance, playing minigames to earn coins and items, and sharing the goal of gathering more Stars than their opponents,[5][12] with each of the six game boards requiring a different method of doing so.

These Stars are based on randomly selected criteria, such as winning the most minigames or traveling the highest number of spaces.

[16] Depending on which space a player lands on during a board game, they can gain or lose coins or initiative a minigame[12] involving a non-playable character,[13] such as Donkey Kong (DK).

[4][5] Orbs, items introduced in Mario Party 5 as "capsules", can be purchased at shops or collected on certain spaces during board games.

[23] Mario Party 7 features a total of 88 brand-new minigames,[24] divided into nine types: 4-Player, 1-vs.-3, 2-vs.-2, Battle, Duel, 8-Player, DK, Bowser, and Rare.

[30] Additionally, there are spaces on each board that can initiative a Bowser minigame, with a loss potentially resulting in deduction of coins.

Game mode and minigame records are also viewable at the Duty-Free Shop, and in-game music and character voices can be listened to here.

In the final board game, Toadsworth informs the player that they must collect a Star in order to confront Bowser.

After collecting the Star, the player engages in a final boss minigame against Bowser, who is defeated and ends up stranded on a small island with Koopa Kid.

[34] In October 2005, Nintendo announced that a new bundle including a GameCube, two controllers, a microphone, and a copy of Mario Party 7 would be made available in the United States on November 7, the same date of the game's release in North America.

[37] Reviewers generally praised the eight-player mechanics and minigame selection,[1] though felt that there was not enough new content overall to distinguish the game from the six previous home console installments,[5] particularly Mario Party 6.

[1][4][12][13][26] Casamassina wrote that the multiplayer experience was "as robust and enjoyable as ever" and praised the varying aesthetics and unique obstacles of the game boards.

[4] However, some reviewers criticized the implementation of the microphone add-on in certain minigames,[1][4][15] with Casamassina stating that its inclusion felt "forced and unnecessary"[9] and Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson noting inconsistency with commands being recognized.

[15] The game's emphasis on luck was generally criticized,[4] including by Jared Rea of 1Up.com, who wrote that due to "the ridiculous amount of penalties across the boards, you never get a sense of accomplishment in your actions".

[15] Russ Fischer of GamesRadar+ added that although "the laying of traps can add a much-needed devious quality", they could easily get out of hand and make the game frustrating for losing players, in addition to padding out gameplay.

[5] IGN's Matt Casamassina deemed the overall presentation "only passable", noting a lack of detailed facial animations or voice acting for characters during cutscenes.

[26] Reviewing the game for The Globe and Mail, Chad Sapieha complimented the collectibles, though offered a less favorable response toward the audio and visual presentation, believing it to be largely unchanged.

[39] As of December 31, 2020, worldwide sales had reached 2.08 million units, making Mario Party 7 the 11th-best-selling game for the GameCube.