Death Race is a vehicular combat game that puts your car in an open space with gremlins. Your goal is the crash into the gremlins so you can brutally and cruelly kill them. Upon dying, they scream. In the spot where the gremlin once was, a cross-shaped gravestone will be left. This clutters the playing field, making it harder to move around. There are dotted lines on the sides, representing two narrow "safe" zones on the left and right sides of the screen for the gremlins, as your car will crash on contact with the dotted lines.