In Restart, you can hoard tiles and block others from playing theirs, but who will do it best? Whoever gets rid of all their tiles first — or has the fewest points at game's end — wins.

The game's depth comes from special tiles, such as the RESTART and END tiles, which can instantly change the course of play! In addition, the Scissors and Trash Bin tiles allow you to remove tiles from rows, adding more tactical options.

Each player is given a screen and a number of tiles behind it, depending on the number of players. From the dealt tiles, players place all of their 1-tiles in the center of the table to begin a row for each of the game's five colors.

On their turn, a player may play one or possibly several tiles to continue a row of the same color. Played tiles must always have a higher number than the previous tile in that row, and multiple tiles may only be played if they are consecutive numbers (for example, 4, 5, and 6 of the same color).

The game includes tiles in five colors, numbered 1–15, plus two special tiles with the value 16: the 16-END tile, when played last, closes the row, while the Restart-tile (16 when played, 0 after) effectively restarts the numbering of that row. In addition to colored tiles, there are two types of special tiles that can be played on any row: the Scissors-tile allows you to remove the last tile played on a row. The Trash Bin-tile allows you to remove all tiles from a row except for its starting 1-tile. After playing either the Scissors or Trash Can, the player may immediately continue their turn by playing number tile(s) on the same row where they removed tiles.

A round ends when no one can play anymore or all players have chosen to pass. At that point, remaining tiles for each player are scored, and a new round begins with a fresh deal. The game continues until one player has 100 or more points, or if anyone manages to play their last tile. The winner is the player with the fewest points, or the one whom managed to play all of their tiles!