Join Twilight Sparkle and her friends as they visit Mistmane's Eastern Village, where they will celebrate all of their accomplishments in restoring Equestria to its peaceful ways by releasing Cutie Mark lanterns. As the glowing lanterns rise up to form patterns in the sky, they all can feel the magic of friendship abound!

In My Little Pony: Festival of Lanterns, players have a hand of tiles depicting various color arrangements of floating lanterns, as well as an inventory of individual lantern cards of specific colors. When you place a tile, all players — both you and your opponents — receive a lantern card corresponding to the color on the side of the tile facing them. Trade mooncake tokens for new lantern cards, and return lantern cards to claim a dedication tile worth points. After all tiles have been placed, all players get one final turn, then whoever has the most points wins.

My Little Pony: Festival of Lanterns features gameplay similar to Christopher Chung's earlier game Lanterns, with some modifications, including a solo mode and a "Gala" expansion in which you add up to four friend cards to the game from the sixteen included; on a turn, you can now spend mooncakes to use the power of a friend to fain a bonus lantern, make a second dedication on a turn, force someone else to trade lanterns with you, and so on.