The basic gameplay consists of a gondola controlled by the player that shoots various treasures (Keys, Hearts, Coins, Rings, Vases, Stars and Lyres) directly upward towards plates that have matching slots on the side of a building in an attempt to match the treasure with its matching slot.

Plates come in varied shapes such as bars, circles, half-circles, T-shapes, and X-shapes.

If a player manages to hit a high matching slot, the treasure will usually tumble and fill one or more lower slots for a combo bonus; each successive tumble increases the bonus and the chance of a power-up popping up.

After each section of a building is completed, the water level rises to introduce a new part of the building, until all the sections are completed to finish the level.

As with most PopCap games, Venice features online leaderboards.