Rocket League's game-play is pretty much the same as its predecessor, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Players control a rocket-powered car and use it to hit a ball that is much larger than the cars towards the other team's goal area to score goals, in a way that resembles a soccer game, with elements reminiscent of a demolition derby. Players' cars can jump to hit the ball while in mid-air. The players can also pick up a speed boost by passing their cars over marked spaces on the field, enabling them to quickly cross the field, use the added momentum to hit the ball, or ram into another player's car to destroy it; in the latter case, the destroyed car re-spawns moments later. A player may also use a boost when in the air to propel themselves forward in flight, allowing players to hit the ball in the air. Players can alter their car's orientation while midair, which combined with midair boosting allows for controlled flight. Players can also perform quick dodges, causing their car to do a short jump and spin in a given direction, which can be used to nudge the ball or gain positioning advantage over the other team.

Matches are usually five minutes long, with sudden death overtime if the game is tied at that point. Matches can be played from between one-on-one up to four-on-four players, as well as in casual and ranked playlists. The latter serves as Rocket League's competitive online mode, where players compete in various tiered ranks within game seasons, with victories or losses raising or lowering a player's rank, respectively. The game includes a single-player "season" mode, with the player competing with computer-controlled players. An update in December 2016 introduced "Custom Training" sequences that can be created by players and shared with others on the same platform; players can specify the ball's path and the presence and skill of opponents on the field as to practice specific shots-on-goal over and over.

Teams will first be entered into the CLE Open League Qualifiers “Open Qualifier” stage for the applicable Whitsunday regional QLD in which they are registered. Teams may participate in up to two Open Qualifiers, each of which is comprised of a “Double Elimination Bracket,” meaning that a Team will not be eligible to move forward if they lose two Matches in the bracket. Seeding will be determined by CLE and/or Tournament Administrators at their discretion. All Matches in the Open Qualifiers will be Best-of-Three. The final 32 Teams (16 Teams in the upper bracket and 16 Teams in the lower bracket) remaining will qualify to participate in the “Whitsunday League Series” (as defined below) and will be ineligible to participate in any additional Open Qualifiers. 

The Whitsunday League Play Series is titled the “CLE Whitsunday Series Rocket League Championship”. Whitsunday Rocket League Championship consists of League Play that is a Round Robin with eight Teams. Six of these teams qualified through the CLE Open League Qualifiers. Two of the Teams qualified through the CLE Whitsunday Series Playoffs. The Teams will play one Best-of-Five Match against every other Team. Rankings will be determined by comparing the total number of Match wins received by a Team during the  Whitsunday League Play Series. If a Team is disqualified from a Match by CLE and/or the Tournament Administrator, the Match will be recorded as a 3-0 win in favour of the opposing team.

The top four ranked teams from Whitsunday League Play Series will compete in the “Whitsunday Series Playoffs”. The Whitsunday Series Playoffs is a double-elimination bracket with Best-of-Seven Matches. Teams will be seeded from first through fourth based on how they performed in Whitsunday League Play Series. The playoff bracket will proceed as follows:

    Match 1 - The fourth and first seeded teams will play each other.

    Match 2 - The second and third-seeded teams will play each other.

    Match 3 - The loser of Match 1 will play the loser of Match 2. The loser of Match 3 will be eliminated from the Whitsunday Series Playoffs and be ranked in fourth place.

    Match 4 - The winner of Match 1 will play the winner of Match 2.

    Match 5 - The loser of Match 4 will play the winner of Match 3. The loser of Match 5 will be eliminated from the Whitsunday Series Playoffs and be ranked in third place.

    Match 6 - The winner of Match 4 will play the winner of Match 5. The winner of Match 6 will be the Whitsunday Series Playoffs Champion. The loser of Match 6 will be ranked in second place.

Arenas are the main areas where the game takes place. They feature boost pads dotted around the field. The four in the corners and 2 at the edges (8 in total in the Octagonal & Throwback Arenas) refill 100% boost, while all other pads refill 12% boost. The arenas also feature a cage-like structure, keeping both the ball and the players inside. It also allows players' cars to drive around it, though if not moving, they will slide down the walls, and cannot stick to the ceiling for too long.

Players spawn into the match at one of five places: 

Goalie: Directly in front of the goal, inside the goal box. 

Defenders: Inside the penalty area in front of the goalie spawn.

Wings: Outside the penalty area in front of the defender spawn.

During any given match there are two teams, Team Blue and Team Orange. The team is composed by three players, therefore, team-work is crucial to victory. Because of the number of players involved in the game-play, it is recommended that players maintain tactical positions and rotation across the arena. Described as "soccer, but with rocket-powered cars", Players' cars have the ability to jump to hit the ball while in mid-air. A player may also use a boost when in the air to propel themselves forward in flight, allowing players to hit the ball in the air.

Players can alter their car's orientation while mid-air, which combined with mid-air boosting allows for controlled flight. Players can also perform quick dodges, causing their car to do a short jump and spin in a given direction, which can be used to nudge the ball or to quickly gain a positioning advantage over the other team. Players skillfully maneuver their rocket-powered car and use it to hit and rebound the ball, which is much larger than the cars itself, off the walls, their car, and their opponent's car. To score points hit the ball into the other team's goal area to score  goals, in a way that resembles a soccer game, with elements of a demolition derby. The team with the highest points of goals will be the winner of that match.