Ghost Town is a text adventure with some simple graphics acting as a map. The game is set in an old American town, deserted in the aftermath of the Californian gold rush. The task of the player is to locate Jake Clampett's gold mine, collect its hidden gold and return with it to the town square. Everything that the player needs can be found by exploring the town. The game uses a text parser that can understand three forms of input. These are two word sentences consisting of a noun and a verb (such as open door), single words such as north and inventory and abbreviations such as N for north and U for up.