Sportsball Merge is a Suika game with a sports theme. The player's goal is to follow a merge evolution cycle. They must merge smaller pieces of sports equipment in a blue-tinged, see-through container to create larger objects until they finish with a black-and-white soccer ball. The game uses different, crowded stadiums as a backdrop.
The player starts by merging shuttlecocks and yellow tennis balls. The other pieces of sports equipment include green mini-golf balls, black eight balls, red cricket balls, white softballs, blue bowling balls, volleyballs, footballs and basketballs.
When the player drops a shuttlecock or ball into the container, it can drop in a vertical line with a heavy impact, bounce or roll. Small objects often displace or become wedged between larger ones. The pieces also shake, roll or float slightly upward in the container. If the player waits patiently, the action can result in merges.
Sportsball Merge displays the player's score and highest ever score on the left side with a horizontal score bar. When the player reaches a specific score, the game displays "GOAAAL!!" on the screen and then resets the bar. The game also displays a preview of the next piece and the game's evolution cycle to the right of the container.
If the player starts to run out of room, they can shake the container to force some identical pieces into new positions that make automatic merges take place. If they allow the pieces to pile up too high in the container, they lose the game.
