Photodump

My first impression of Photodump was favourable rather than thunderstruck: a clean dice engine builder with a little of Dice City’s feel, only simpler and more streamlined. It is exactly the sort of box that suits a Tuesday after work; nobody has to prove anything, you roll some dice, and the game gets on with it.

Its centre is straightforward: dice are used to build an engine that gradually becomes more productive. The flow is the familiar, honest one expected from a D'Clair game, with choices widening as your engine develops rather than being buried under exceptions or left to blind guessing.

What really matters at the table is pace. There is effectively no downtime, so everyone remains present while the dice roll and the snake burns; it is less YOLO than it first appears, though mercifully it does not mistake itself for nuclear physics either.

On its own, it is a pleasant engine builder with solid value, and it does not demand instant devotion. Add Shy Pluto, though, and the package gains the small extra turn that keeps it on the table: changing rules between games, story cards, and a cumulative score after all ten plays give weight to what might otherwise be simply a very well-made evening.

Updated session

Returning to the game with Shy Pluto plainly changed my earlier, merely positive view. The mini campaign looks slight at first, but the accumulation of story cards and the prospect of a final combined score supplied the dimension Photodump had been missing, and won me over completely.