Poizone is a Pengo variant with an ecological theme. The player controls the penguin Zozo as he attempts to decontaminate each of the game's 50 levels. Like in Pengo each level contains blocks that can be pushed or destroyed. It differs though in that the main objective is not to kill the enemies but to destroy a number of toxic blocks. To complete a level 90% of these blocks have to be destroyed and it has to happen before time runs out.

There are eight kinds of toxic blocks and each has its own way to be destroyed. For example some blocks has to be destroyed from a specific direction while some has to be pushed away. Destroying a toxic block in the wrong way leads to a lost life. A life is also lost when making contact with a monster. Some other blocks exist such as power pills that can be used to avoid monsters and diamonds that give bonuses.