Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16: Licensed to Drive is a party game four up to four players. You play as Mary-Kate, Ashley or one of their friends. As they just turned sixteen, they drive around the game boards, which look like cities, in their own cars.

In each turn of the main adventure mode, a spinner determines how far each player goes. Some spaces have special actions that move the player, assess fines or grant bonus, or allow the player to purchase items to help them in the game. If two players land on the same space, there is a head-to-head competition to determine who can stay. At the end of each round, there is a four-player minigame. These minigames can involve racing racing, windsurfing, kayaking, assembling a car from pieces to match a picture, tag, reflexes or any number of other things. Coins to purchase helpful items are awarded based on performance in these games.

There is also a Bring It On mode where victory is determined by winning a set number of minigames. This can be played with or without the game board and an Arcade mode, which allows you to just play the minigames.