In Bedpans & Broomsticks, all but one of the players are the Elders of the Shady Pines Village retirement home. You are all trying to get to one of the 3 exits from the building. Another player controls the Staff of doctors, nurses, and orderlies who are trying to stop you and return you to your bed.

Each round you move your pieces on a layout consisting of room-tiles that represent the layout of the Village. You start on a single tile, but you can't remember the rest of the layout. So you place a new tile each time you look through an open, exterior corridor onto a room tile that you have not seen before. Along the way you can pick up and use Stuff-markers that you find.

This movement and exploration continues until enough of the Elders are captured or neutralized by the Staff, or until one or more of the Elders reaches an exit and escapes.