At the start of a level a number of pieces are placed within a maze. Typically they are represented as boxes within a warehouse. The player controls a single piece; the Sokoban or warehouse keeper. The Sokoban can move anywhere within the maze. Boxes can only be pushed one at a time by the Sokoban. Therefore you need to be careful not to move the boxes into corners or against walls as you may not be able to push them away from those boundaries.

The ultimate objective of the game is to place a box on each of the target squares in the least possible pushes of the box and moves of the Sokoban.

One of the more fascinating features of the game of Sokoban is the ability for people to design their own levels. There are literally thousands of levels freely available from numerous Sokoban internet sites.