In Graduation, each player is a stereotypical high school student trying to gain status while taking courses and eventually graduating. Along the way, each player goes through trials and tribulations, sometimes brought upon by the other players, who are also trying to gain status. You can change your student type throughout the game, so players may start out a jock in freshman year and end up a nerd by senior year.
During the game, you start as one type of student and have a hand of cards, either action cards (such as "Detention" or "Friendly with Foreign Exchange Student") or course cards (such as "Algebra" or "Biology"). By playing these cards, players gain status, and if they play enough course cards, they'll eventually progress to the next grade. After finishing their senior year, the students graduate and the player with the most status wins.