Smog Riders Showdown is a card game in which each player controls a team of chibi steampunk characters who fight to control the steam city. Players must hire new characters and buy new items and weapons to become the ruler of the streets.

Smog Riders Showdown is based on "deck building", where players clash their characters in order to control critical locations. There are different types of cards: Character, Tactical (objects and weapons), Steam Coins and Dominion. Locations are represented with tiles.

A player wins the game if they control three locations or achieve 50 Steam Power tokens.