SpongeBob SquarePants: Boo or Boom is a chain-reaction game similar to Bomberman with an undersea Halloween theme. As a Halloween costumed version of SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy or Squidward, the player places bombs called plumsters on tiles around a neighborhood in the city of Bikini Bottom with the intention of destroying gray planke-o-lanterns. The player's goal is to earn as many candy points as possible before time runs out.
When the player's plumster goes off, it paints the tiles in the immediate vicinity with the character's color. Every time they surround a house with their character's color, the structure also takes on the same color. For example, Patrick's tiles and any nearby homes turn pink. The number of points the player receives directly relates to the number of tiles and houses that match their character's color by the end of the level.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Boo or Boom helps the player by revealing power-ups inside of plumsters, including power-ups that allow them to see all plumsters at once, switch places with a plumster, run faster, make the blast range wider, and stock up on plumsters. That said, it penalizes the player if they allow their avatar to get caught in a plumster blast by erasing their score and any collected power-ups.
