It had always seemed like an idiot's game, line them up, squeeze the bulb, take the money.
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"an idiot's game"
Weirdly, I could find no etymology on this phrase. Yes, I only used various search engines on the Internet and not hiring a bunch of research assistants or visiting the local library. Partly this is because the Internet is broken and gives weight to popularity of use. So instead of discovering why this phrase seems to have some weight as an actual idiom, I'm overwhelmed by pages and pages of people quoting some character in Red Dead Redemption 2. Being that the phrase is just two common words stuck together which connote an easily digestible idea, the phrase isn't particularly looked upon as an idiom, even if I saw examples of it used in so many diverse spaces that it feels like a common saying.
Everybody reading this phrase gets the point so I guess it doesn't need an etymological breakdown in the Oxford English Dictionary. Merle's describing a game that only idiots would play, like Three Card Monty or Russian Roulette. He's hinting at the simplicity of people who fall for fads like this. It's his initial reaction to the entire concept of photography, looking down his nose at a budding new technology that seems to serve no purpose other than to bolster the vanity of those paying for their pictures.
"line them up, squeeze the bulb, take the money"
Wait. Is prostitution also an idiot's game?!
Anyway, Merle first thought of photography as a scam to take people's cash.
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