Seen from a top-down perspective, players have to maneuver various cars, trucks and other vehicles through a variety of environments, parking them in marked spaces. A pedal on the right side of the touchscreen is dragged up and down to accelerate and reverse, while turning is achieved by either physically tilting the device, or on the touchscreen using a wheel or slider.

A flashing green rectangle designates the spot where the current vehicle has to be parked, and arrows lead the way if the destination is off-screen. The environments are littered with other parked cars and randomly generated, moving traffic that pays attention to traffic lights. Coins hidden away from the prescribed paths can be collected for extra money, which can be converted into extra lives allowing continued play even if the vehicle hits an obstacle.

Subsequent levels increase difficulty through the layout of streets and parking lots (narrower pathways, tighter turns, heavier traffic), new vehicles (such as race cars or heavy rigs with trailers), and new scenario elements (e.g. streetcars, railway crossings, snow, or nighttime). Parking Mania was repeatedly updated to include new levels. As of version 1.9, the full game includes a total of 160 levels, of which the last 50 have to be unlocked through an in-app purchase.

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