The Hobbit: There and Back is a competitive adventure game where players draft dice to create paths, collect resources, and perform actions that help them achieve their chapter objective. All players open their adventure books in the same chapter of the game and play in turn order starting with the smallest player. Each chapter has unique objectives and ways to use resources in the game, but a round is usually started by rolling the pool of dice and selecting one, then the next player selects, and so on until there are no more dice. The player whose turn it would be next rolls and the rounds continue.

Each player receives their own adventure board to play on. The boards are made with thick dry-erase pages and bound together with a lay-flat binding (think of those super thick books designed for toddlers). Players also receive a dry-erase pen to mark their cards and scoreboards as the game progresses. The story takes players through the eight most iconic challenges faced by Bilbo and the Dwarves in The Hobbit, including overcoming Trolls, Goblins, Wargs, Giant Spiders, and an encounter with the dragon Smaug!