Harvey Smith Showjumper allows you to compete on your own or against five other players to get the best time on 12 courses which are selected and competed on individually. After selecting your course which a map is shown on the title screen, you view part of the arena with the course, from the side at an elevated angle and the screen scrolls when you move your horse. After crossing the start line you must jump the fences in the correct order without knocking them down before crossing the finishing line. If you knock down a fence then a fault time is added on to your final time but if you hit or jump the wrong fence then you are eliminated. You can control the speed of the horse and the horse can refuse and throw you off if you don't jump in time when you approach a fence. Each player takes it in turns to ride and a table shows the positions after every attempt at the course. You can name the horses yourself and also design your own course to compete on.