Bring Out Yer Dead is set in the Victorian era and revolves around families competing for the best grave plots for their dearly departed. Small wooden coffin tokens are used for game pieces and French Tarot-style playing cards feature characters such as the grave digger, the grave robber, the fortune teller and the plague doctor.

As the potential new head of the family, you must earn as much influence and riches as you possibly can to solidify your place in the family and in town. Influence is earned by vying to get the “dying” members of your family into the most desirable grave plots available. Players use their cards to bid to get bodies on the Grave Digger's cart; switch graves; move opponent’s bodies to less desirable grave plots; dump bodies in the river; rescue bodies from the river; or even do a little grave robbing of their own.