The pilot controls the speed and direction of the ship as well as firing lasers and bombs across the screen.

The targeting reticle does not remain stationary relative to the player's ship, but stationary relative to the surroundings, which means that it goes to the edge of the screen as soon as the player's ship makes a turn if the co-pilot does not compensate.

[2] The ship's "hit points" are represented by "Energy", which slowly depletes as the game progresses, even if the player does nothing.

When the Energy bar reaches zero, the ship is destroyed, the defeated player loses one "life", and they return to the game's main menu.

Depending on the settings on individual machines, players start with anywhere from one (default) to four lives, with an additional life added for having a co-pilot.

If the last life is lost, the player has an option to insert more credits to continue the game.

[2] Joystick: Flight control Trigger: Fires forward laser as long as it is held.

Each arena in the game is spherical and traveling long enough in one direction brings a player back to the spot they started from.

Asteroids are massive spheres of rock which stops a ship and deals damage in the process.

When the game begins, players choose whether they wish to fight head-to-head, cooperative against computer-controlled ships identical to the players', enter a general melee, fight through missions, or modify their ship.

The number of computer-controlled ships increase each time players defeat the Team arena and re-enter in the same game.

In the Mission mode, a single player ship is made to fight the eight alien races.

Their tactics are similar to the Troids', but if the player fires a bomb at a Hydra squadron, it will Hyperspace away.

The game is programmed with a computer-generated voice, which serves as the player's on-board assistant, and often relays important alerts and messages.

The ranks in the game are Cadet, Corporal, Lieutenant, Captain, Admiral, and Space Lord.

RePlay reported Space Lords to be the seventh most-popular upright arcade game at the time.