If the player owns the Piggy Bank mascot, red coins worth five coins each are added to the game, and coins received from free gifts or watching ads are doubled. One hundred coins can be used for a chance at a new character from a lottery machine. Coins are counted the top right corner of the screen. These are obtained in-game by collection during gameplay, watching advertisements, completing tasks, collecting a free gift given every few real-time hours, and using legal currency to buy them in various amounts. The player is able to collect coins an in-game currency, characterised by its squarish shape and red C in its middle. Various popular culture references and games are also included, such as Forget-Me-Not and 'Emo Goose' voiced by Phil Lester. Other characters include Doge, Archie, Dark Lord, and #thedress, a female character wearing the dress of the same name. In addition, the Android version includes Android Robot, based on the operating system's Android logo. Future updates may invalidate this number, as new characters are added often. Currently, there are two characters, the Piggy Bank and Bashy Beaver, that can only be unlocked with cash or 10,000 coins.

Another 12 characters are only unlocked with green “tokens” similar to coins except that they can only be gained by watching ads or getting in the top ten leaderboard for daily challenges. Of those, 204 characters are unlockable through coins (the “prize machine”) and 46 are 'secret characters'. The current iOS version of Crossy Road contains 262 characters, including the default, Chicken. Furthermore, there are coins scattered across the environment that can be used to make new characters playable. Every forward movement will earn one point, with every fifty points sounded out by an effect.

If the player takes too much time crossing an obstacle, or goes idle, a bald eagle will snatch the character, resulting in the game's end. For example, in the instance of a river, the player must cross the river using floating logs, without landing in the water. The player must time movements correctly in order to pass these obstacles without dying. The game consists of an endless series of obstacles in a set path, such as rivers, cars and trains.

The player plays as a chosen character and must tap to go forward or swipe the screen in the appropriate direction to move the character horizontally. The objective of Crossy Road is to cross an endless series of roads and obstacles as far as possible without dying.

Crossy road grass background