The player controls a ship that can rotate left and right and propel itself forward similar to the more famous asteroids, and like this game, the player also has a "City Mary" device, hyperspace. In the center of the screen is the sun, which attracts objects to itself, just like Space War! , The screen is curled around the edges.
Waves of enemy spaceships appear in groups of up to eight. There are seven different types of ships that get smaller to make them harder to attack. Each "phase" of gameplay ends when each of the seven waves is destroyed. Spaceships present a collision hazard and usually fly around the screen randomly. As the game progresses, they are more likely to try to hit the player directly. At higher levels, ships get weapons and try to shoot the player.
The player's ship is armed with two types of weapons: a cannon and a "nuclear weapon". The cannon fires a single shot in the direction indicated by your ship, and the game allows up to four shots on the screen at the same time. A nuclear weapon destroys all ships in the area when it fires, which happens when the button is pressed a second time after being launched from a ship. The player's ship starts the game with three nuclear bombs and gains a new one every 10,000 points.
Whenever an alien ship is destroyed, there is a "survivor" left in space. The player can collect survivors by flying over them with their ship. Alternately, he can shoot them or let them fall into the sun. The player is awarded points for a successful rescue and eventually free ships.
Solar Quest uses the "classic" monochrome Cinematronics chassis featured in Space Wars, and used a colored plastic overlay to get a yellow sun, a blue playing field, and red win information at the top. The game was originally planned based on a color display, but was released in monochrome.