PretzelDash is a Boulder Dash variant that's all about curled-up salty baked goods. The premise of its classic 8-bit predecessor remains intact: the protagonist is sent down to the pretzel mines, digging for grub and (hopefully) avoiding the numerous lurking dangers - falling boulders, wandering monsters, explosions and inescapable traps. However, other mission types exist in addition to the usual stage goal of eating a set number of pretzels.

These missions differ between stages, and range from merely reaching the exit intact to performing arbitrary tasks on unsuspecting objects and enemies. The enemies (brown monsters) may have things dropped on them, and the resulting explosion can open up inaccessible areas, in contrast, the blue monsters are harmless, and sometimes have to be exploited and manipulated to complete the mission. Some objects obey the laws of gravity - rocks and pretzels roll off and pile up when unsupported by dirt. Others do not, and the green balloons rise up in the air instead of falling down. Instead of a time limit for each mission, the time limit is merely recorded for scoring purposes.