Marble Madness

Marble Madness is an isometric platform game where the player controls an onscreen marble from a third-person perspective. The player controls the marble's movements with a trackball—most home versions used game controllers with directional pads. The aim of the game is for the player to traverse six maze-like, isometric courses before a set amount of time expires. Each course has its own time limit, with the remaining time from completing a course added to the proceeding one. The game also features an option which allows two players to race against each other on the courses.

Courses are populated with various objects and enemies designed to obstruct the player. As the game progresses, the courses become increasingly more difficult and introduce more enemies and obstacles. Each course has a distinct visual theme. For example, the first course, "Practice", is a simple course that is much shorter than the others, while the fifth course, "Silly", features polka-dot patterns and is oriented in an opposite direction from the other course.