Indy 500 is a racing game played from a top-down point of view. In the one-player game, your goal is to complete as many laps as you can in 60 seconds. In the two-player game, the first player to complete 25 laps wins! The game features several different race tracks, two difficulty levels, and additional variations such as ice race, tag, and crash 'n score.
Ice race makes the track icy, causing your car to slide often and making it difficult to steer. In tag, one player is "it" and needs to tag the other player. For each second you race without being tagged, a point is earned. Crash 'n score involves crashing into targets on the track to earn points, with the first player to do so scoring a point, followed by a new target appearing elsewhere on the track.