A game of Tenpenny Parks is played over five rounds, called months. Each month, players take turns placing workers on the game board to take actions like removing trees, building concessions and attractions, and buying more property to make their growing theme parks as attractive to Visiting People (VP tokens) as possible.

At the end of each month, rewards are given to the player with the park that best exemplifies raw emotions (Thrill, Awe, and Joy). After five months, the player with the most VP tokens wins!