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Even for most seasoned video gamers, board games can still be a bit of a tough sell. It’s extremely common to see eyes glaze over while reading instructions for a new game, leading to confusion during play. Since board games don’t run themselves in the same way that their digital counterparts do, it’s easy to play things completely wrong without even knowing it. Photoghasts, a new haunted photo card game created by T.W. Burgess, takes cues from many recent board games that blend a physical game with a phone app to make running a game a smooth experience.
Burgess, a huge fan of found footage horror and urban legends, originally started the project as a merging of short form ghost stories with spooky analog art. Each animated photo he created was accompanied by a brief, but evocative description, leading to great success on Twitter and TikTok. After collecting his art into a book, which had an accompanying augmented reality app that brought the photos to life, he decided to take the concept and transform it into a pocket-sized card game.
There’s a certain satisfaction that this project, which started out as a digital recreation of a very physical object, in this case a photograph, now becomes a physical card game, aided by a digital app. Each card features a grainy photo of the ghost, their name, a short story and some stats. Given its origins, it’s no surprise that all the artwork is excellent. Dark photos with hints of horrifying ghosts lurking in the shadows is extremely my jam, and Burgess knows how to pull off that style effectively. The microfiction is also great, telling stories of specters like Lady Impatience, a woman who’s seen tapping her wrist and asking when the train is due, and Little Girl Gloom, a ghost that haunts a playground and tugs on your toes while you’re sitting on the swing.
Photoghasts is notable enough for its art, but the game itself is fast and simple, lasting only a few minutes. Each player is dealt a series of both Photoghast cards and action cards to make up their hand. Once the app is activated, players pass the phone around and take turns quickly scanning cards with the AR app. Scanning a Photoghast card animates it in one of three unique ways. Either the ghost is removed from the card, cleansing the photo and giving you points, the ghost remains in the card, leaving your score unchanged, or the ghost attacks you, losing you points. Each card has a specific value, and the higher the number, the higher the chance it will give you a jump scare.
While you can do a little risk-reward analysis with the point values, this can feel kind of random as to whether or not you’re successful, which is where the action cards come into play. These can be played instead of a Photoghast card, and they apply modifiers to previous cards played. Options include negating point loss from a jump scare, swapping a card with another player, doubling points, and removing another player’s card. It’s a very quick game, each turn has to be completed in three seconds, so figuring out when to risk playing a high value Photoghast card or one of your few action cards is the key to success. It still sometimes feels like there’s a lot of luck involved with whether or not you’re successful, but Photoghasts is short enough that you can keep playing one more game.
If you don’t feel like playing with the app, there’s also an alternate ruleset for an offline mode. This mode makes use of the stats on the card, playing out like a variant on the traditional card game War. When it’s your turn, flip over your top card, pick a stat, then compare with everyone else’s top card. Whoever has the highest score in that stat takes all the cards from that round, and the person who collects all the cards wins. It’s another quick card game that moves fast and has just enough player choice involved. While it lacks some of the immersion of the app-based version, there’s still some fun to be had if you want a simpler, fully analog version.
If the found footage style is your thing, it’s easy to recommend Photoghasts on the art alone. It’s crisp, creepy, and printed on a high quality card stock. As a card game, it’s compact and fast-paced in either form, making it a perfect thing to stick in your pocket or purse and play on the go. Even if you’re not familiar with card games, the app makes playing a breeze and adds a dynamic element to the already strong art. If Halloween had an equivalent of a stocking stuffer, Photoghasts would make a perfect gift for the holiday.
You can grab your copy of Photoghasts here.
