Down in the Dumps is a graphical adventure game in which the player takes control of the family Blub. In each chapter the player controls a different family member. The family of minuscule aliens wanted to go on holidays to another planet, but after a crash with evil aliens, they crash-land in a dump on earth. It is up to the player to take control of the family members and collect the required parts to reconstruct their spaceship.

The game is played with the mouse in typical point & click adventure style. You can collect in an inventory and combine items with each other or use them with objects in the game world. The game makes use of prerendered backgrounds and characters. The entire game takes place on the dump and is in a comedic style.