Round the World is a real-time card game played simultaneously. The players are travel agents creating "trips" around the world for their customers. Each "flight card" shows two continents (each continent has its own color): a "departure" and a "destination" connected by an airplane/arrow. You try to get rid of your own 30-card deck within a period of exactly five minutes by creating "trips" card by card with matching colors from card to card until the trip is complete and can be "booked" (saved for scoring).

All players play at the same time, everybody to their own speed and rhythm. Holding your deck in one hand, you draw the top card as your sole "hand card" and add it to the ones you already placed in front of you to create "trips" — or you put it under the deck again. When you add a card, you may pick up the card from the other end of the trip and continue using this as your "hand card". You may also add cards to your opponents' trips and take cards (you desperately need) from them. All cards not "booked" (i.e., still in the deck or in incomplete trips) score against you, so if you empty your deck too soon, your opponents are able to lengthen your trips without completing them...

A game consists of two rounds of five minutes, plus two simple scoring phases. The focus of the game is on your perfect timing within the five minutes, keep an eye on cards with landmarks (better for scoring!), and on your opponents "offers". There are variants included shifting the focus and making the game more challenging.