The player controls a jungle explorer who sports a pith helmet and a safari suit. The player must rescue his girl from a tribe of hungry cannibals. To do this, he must swing from vine to vine, survive a crocodile-infested river, jump or duck falling rocks rolling downhill, and release the girl before she 'takes a dip' in the boiling cauldron. Jungle Challenge is one of the first video games to use parallax scrolling.

The gameplay is split into four scenes, which have different objectives.

In Scene 1, the explorer is required to swing from vine to vine. This is accomplished by pressing the action key when two vines swing closely enough together. Timing is critical, and missing the vine causes the explorer to fall to the jungle floor, losing a life. In some cases the vine may also have a gorilla swinging from it, in which case the explorer must time his jump not only to catch the vine but also to not hit the gorilla. If he hits the gorilla, he falls to the jungle floor and loses a life.

Scene 2 has the explorer navigating a crocodile-infested river. The explorer can attack the crocodiles from below with his knife, unless their mouths are open. The explorer must return to the surface periodically to breathe, where he cannot attack the crocodiles. Bubbles periodically rise from the bottom of the river, which can trap the explorer and carry him to the surface, potentially hitting crocodiles on the way.

Scene 3 involves the explorer dodging various sized boulders rolling and bouncing towards him as he runs up the side of a volcano. Timing is critical as the different sized boulders bounce at different speeds and heights, and the explorer can be trapped between them.

In the final scene, the explorer must evade cannibals while attempting to get to a woman being lowered into a flaming cauldron. After the player rescues the woman, the word 'Congratulations!' appears, which is then followed by a message saying 'I Love You!!!' followed by the woman kissing the explorer.