Alley Oops' game screen loosely resembles a bowling alley, with the player moving left and right across the 8 lanes, with the ability to loop from the far-right to far-left or vice versa. Each of these contains sets of bowling pins, as well as harmful hazards such as wine bottles (which must be avoided - contact costs one of your five lives). The pins can be shot for points, using your seemingly unlimited supply of bowling balls.
There will often be X or / symbols behind the pins, representing strikes and spares. Collect these as they fall to have them added to your scorecard. As bowling players may guess, points from a strike reflect onto your next 2 successful takes, while points from spares go onto the next one. Once you have collected 10 symbols, you have completed the level, and receive bonus points for the strikes and spares, plus an extra life. Losing a life resets the card.