In Villainous, each player takes control of one of six Disney characters, each a villain in a different Disney film. Each player has their own villain card, playing deck, player board and 3D character.

During a turn, the active player moves their character to a different location on their player board, takes one or more of the actions visible on that space (often by playing cards from their hand), and then replenishes their hand to four cards. Cards include allies, items, effects, conditions, and (for some characters) curses. You must use your cards to fulfill your unique win condition.

One of the actions allows you to choose another player, draw two cards from his playing deck, and then play one of them on that player's board, covering two of the four action spaces in one of that player's locations. The play deck contains heroes, items and effects from that villain's movie and these cards allow other players to thwart that specific villain.