As a Super Solver, your job is to recover the hidden treasures of the ancient world in 4 caverns (Greece & Rome, Egypt, India & China and Near East) to reach the fifth and final cavern where the ultimate challenge awaits you.

Challenge of the Ancient Empires is a platform game, divided into 5 levels (called "caverns"), each of which includes 4 sub-levels ("chambers"). In each chamber you have to collect 6 pieces of an ancient artifact and assemble them like a jigsaw puzzle.

The chambers are full of dangerous animals which you have to avoid. There's some food you can collect to regain lost health though. The chambers are also full of puzzles, usually involving manipulation of switches.

You have 3 tools with you - a helmet with a headlight, jumping shoes and shields. The helmet emits a beam of light when activated, it is used to solve puzzles that rely on rotating prisms to direct a light beam to a switch. The jumping shoes allow you to, well, jump higher. The shield protects you from enemies for a short time when activated, but you have a limited number of shields and they need to be used wisely.