The gamer's role in "FanAttack" is that of a soccer coach, whose objective it is to guide his players safely across an obstacle course, which he arranged for training purposes. The playfield is divided into a matrix of 12x9 fields, which hold the different elements of the game:

- The players
- Fans, that sneaked onto the field without permission, to take a closer look at their 'idols'.
- Pylons, which block single fields
- One ore more 'goals'.

Additionally there are (level-dependent) border lines between the fields. These, as well as the borders of the playfield determine the course the players and fans will take. At the beginning of each level a certain number of players/fans is placed on the field, facing a determined direction, and a selection of directional arrows is provided for the gamer. By placing these onto the playfield's matrix before starting the players/fans, the gamer is able to alter their course. Originally the fans/players will move straight into the direction they are facing, until hitting an obstacle (playfield's borders or border lines) and then turn right - relative to their direction. If the way to the right is blocked as well, they will turn left and if there is no other possibility they will run into the direction, they were coming from. A level is solved, when all players have been guided to a goal and non of the following events happen before:

 - A player is 'caught' by a fan.
 - A fan reaches a goal.
 - A player 'stumbles' over a pylon..

Controls:

The whole game is designed to be played with the arrow-keys (joystick) and the action-button ("Fire"). At the beginning of a level, the arrow-keys are used to move the (blue) cursor across the matrix. Being on the field of choice, the gamer can then set an arrow with the action-key. Pressing the action-key again results in switching through the available arrows, until the field becomes empty again. In this way misplaced arrows can be "picked up". When all arrows have been placed, the cursor turns green to indicate that the players/fans can be started with the action-button. On fields with pylons and the goals the cursor turns red, because it is not possible to set arrows here. Once the players/fans started to run, the current level can be restarted any time by pressing the action-button. The "*"-button pauses the game, "1" hides/shows the players/fans, to provide the gamer a better view on the level. The right soft-button opens an extra menu ("Main Menu", "Back", "Exit").