The world encompassing the piñata community is slowly dying, and to keep these creatures from going extinct, players must create a world where the piñata can thrive. Viva Piñata offers a place for gamers to create a lush green environment where all kinds of piñatas can live and prosper. The player has complete creative control over the neighborhood they create, and can add grass, flowers, trees, fences, ponds, and other objects that will lure in the piñatas. Each type of piñata has different needs, such as a worm piñata's need for good earth to burrow and a rabbit piñata's need for long grass and carrots.

Piñatas can come in the form of customizable horses, sheep, raccoons, worms, crocodiles, or wolves, and just like in nature, some of them will not get along. Players can build fences to keep rival piñatas away from one another, and also to keep predator piñatas away from prey. Wild piñatas are red with black stripes and can cause general disorder in a garden. They are filled with bad candy that is poisonous to other piñatas and can be taken care of by asking helpers to beat them with a stick, taming them, or sending them off to pollute another player's garden. Connecting to the Xbox Live online community opens up opportunities for item trading, player competitions, and obtaining rare objects and game currency through the Xbox Live Marketplace. ~ Gracie Leach, All Game Guide