Roller Coaster Mania is a single player, mouse controlled game in which the player builds and rides roller coasters.

Navigation through the game is mouse controlled and is greatly simplified. The main menu, for example has just three icons, build a roller coaster; ride a pre-made roller coaster; and exit to windows. The build screen is equally simple with three panels in which the player chooses one of the five locations, one of the three styles of coaster each of which has four styles of carriage .

When building a coaster the player selects a track section from the menu and places it onto the active end of the build with the mouse. The game automatically adjusts the pieces of track available depending on the piece that was previously laid and the terrain. Sometimes the player will find that the game offers no track pieces at all, this is usually because the track is about to go through landscape, another section of track, or because the terrain makes it impossible to position the track supports.

Once a circuit is complete a menu pops up with the options to save the track, test it and to ride it.