Dixit Review
Stats at a glance
Welcome to your own, immersive, art museum.
You’ll have to put your best paintbrush forward to win in Dixit. Picasso, Van Gogh, and everything you think you know about art? Yeah, throw that out. These abstract images are up for interpretation.
Come up with rude, wholesome, or witty captions for your compelling photo exhibit. Since you can play with 3-5 of your artistically favorable (or unfavorable) friends, you’ll have your work cut out for you. First to 30 points, wins!
The best comparison to this board and card game would be if Apples to Apples and Pictionary had a baby. Then, you’d have Dixit. Read the full Dixit card game review below.
Brief Overview of Dixit Card Game
Dixit is best played with those who tell great stories at parties. Why?
Well, you need context to carefully choose which card in your arsenal matches the storyteller’s card the best. The storyteller doesn’t want everyone to choose their card, or else they won’t receive any points.
The odds are high that you’ll select a card belonging to an opponent and not the storyteller. If this is the case, the card owner will receive one point for every vote. Sometimes, nobody chooses the storyteller’s card at all, in which case all players receive two points, and the storyteller is left with none.
It pays off to be correct in your choices. Be logical and analyze how your opponents think to gauge the competition. You won’t need to break your brain for the answers, but some in-depth personal research will definitely heighten your odds at victory.
Unboxing Dixit
The game includes the following components:
- 1 Instruction Sheet
- 36 Voting Tokens
- 1 Score Track
- 6 Wooden Bunny Tokens
- 84 Cardstock Image Cards
In case you didn’t catch that, the game includes an instruction sheet. That’s great news, as everything you need to know to start and play the game successfully fits on a mere double-sided piece of paper. No long set up and pack down needed!
One cute aspect of Dixit is how the designers incorporated the scoring track as part of the box. It’s an elevated track, used for both organization and point collecting. The track is depicted by lily pads on a stream, fitting perfectly with the point tokens of… bunnies? Of course, it would be too plain to have frogs as the point tokens. This is Dixit!
The components are all firm, high-quality, and will last a while. The cardboard numbered tokens come in a punch-out sheet. They’re double-sided with numbers and a Dixit logo.
The imagery cards are abstract, highly detailed, and much bigger than I imagined. They’ll still fit in your hands easily, but they’re not the normal-sized cards you see every day. This is to your advantage because you can see the artwork much more clearly.
There are 84 cards in the base set, and 84 cards in every expansion pack. If you find yourself getting burnt out on the starter set, switch them up with one of the expansions such as the Odyssey Expansion or the Daydreams Expansion. There are currently ten expansions in existence, and the artwork on the Daydreams pack is truly a sight to see.
How to Play Dixit
This was by far, one of the fastest games I’ve ever had the pleasure of setting up. Check it out!
Set-Up
Each player chooses a color and takes voting tokens of the same color, equal to the number of players. Place your rabbit token on the start square of the scoreboard. Shuffle the cards, and deal six cards to each player. Boom, you’re ready to play! Who goes first is up to you.
Taking Turns
The first player is the active player for the round. They need to choose one card from their hand to describe in as much or as little detail as they’d like. Be a poet or a mime, the choice is yours.
There are no real restrictions on how you can describe your card to your opponents. When I played, my friend described his card with a popular hit song. It didn’t work well to his advantage, but it can be successful in some instances. Most players describe their cards with a poem, lyric, sound, phrase, or just ramblings from their imagination.
Every other player will pick a card from their hand that they believe fits the story the best. Then, place the card face down on the table for the active player to shuffle and reveal. The cards are placed in the spaces next to the playing board labeled 1-6, and voted upon.
Now here comes the difficult part! All players, with the exception of the active storyteller, will vote on which card they think belongs to the storyteller. By placing the voting token that corresponds to the position of the card on the board, they cast their votes.
Scoring
The breakdown of scoring can be hectic to manage with bigger groups. Here’s a mini cheatsheet: (Storyteller = ST)
| All players select the ST’s card | ST receives 0 pts, all other players +2 pts. |
| No players select the ST’s card | ST receives 0 pts, all other players +2 pts. |
| 1+ players select the ST’s card | ST receives 3 pts, all players who selected ST’s card +3 pts. |
| A player votes for a card that is not ST’s | The card owner receives +1 pt for every vote. |
Game End
Dixit ends when one player reaches 30 points. Pretty simple, right? No players can lose points during the game, so keep a wary eye on whoever is in the lead.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Great for families, parties, and friends
- Pretty speedy gameplay
- The art is incredible.
Dixit is a game that can be played anywhere, at any time, with anyone. It’s perfect for children full of wonder, and adults full of crude humor. Playing with three people is just as difficult as playing with the full six. Plus, you can make it whatever you want. Challenge your friends with a theme, or idea to switch it up.
The game itself is playable in about 30 minutes to an hour. It depends on how much your opponents like to ponder life’s existence and question the storyteller’s visions.
The art is wondrous, detailed, and abstract. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before in a game. There were a few cards I looked up after playing that I wanted to purchase as merchandise but to no avail.
Cons:
- Repetitive
- A bit pricey
If you’ve played this game more than twice, you’ll start to get bored of the cards. Unless you have a completely wild imagination, you may struggle to come up with a new explanation for the cards you’ve seen before. This is where expansion packs add some jazz to the mix. Having more options made the gameplay totally different. You couldn’t use a Greek story (such as the Revelations set) to describe your card, or you’d lose. It required more brainpower, thus, making it feel like a whole new game.
Dixit is also a bit on the expensive side of most games, especially when you consider all the expansions you can get. I feel like the art was well worth the price point, but the game dynamics were not. I could only play this through two times without being bored.
Versions & Expansions
The core Dixit set has a little bit of everything, but for players who want to niche it down, I recommend one of the many expansion packs.
Each one has its own theme, so expand where you see fit. If you’re looking to play with more people, the expansions accommodate up to 12 players.
Dixit: Daydreams
A cloudy and whimsical expansion pack with defined details. The more you stare, the more you see. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. Honestly, I’d like some of this art on my walls, but I don’t know if I could sleep soundly at night afterward.
Dixit: Odyssey
This addition was once a stand-alone version and is now an expansion pack. I recommend this game over the original game for its clear-cutting point-scoring system. It would be easier to play with children or big groups this way, without the hassle of extra admin.
Dixit: Harmonies
As in music, this set is all about catching the feels. It focuses on base colors and shapes, with less detail than its predecessors. Pick up this expansion if you’re looking to go deeper with your other players and talk more seriously about states of mind.
Dixit: Revelations
You’re going Greek. This Spartan-style set serves up mythological beings, gods, and weaponry. I would consider it the most themed pack out of the bunch. Every image seems to be in stop motion, making your descriptions play out like an action scene.
Dixit: Journey
Dixit: Quest
Dixit: Mirrors
Dixit: Memories
Dixit Review (TL;DR)
Dixit is best played with a funny group of vocal storytellers or very vague people. Having less information made it more humorous as all the players had to grasp at straws with their photo choices. I would buy this game to have as a backup for a wholesome audience that would be disgusted at my humor in Cards Against Humanity.
I do appreciate the versatility of Dixit, though. I was able to play with two totally different age ranges and personality styles and it worked effortlessly both times.
Conclusion: Verdict?
Dixit works well for players looking for something short, sweet, and to the point. It’s not a deep game, full of loopholes, and crazy rules. It plays out calmly, smoothly, and with creative thinking.
I guarantee you’ll have a favorite card. Every time I’ve played Dixit with a copy that wasn’t my own, cards were missing; without a doubt pinned on someone’s wall somewhere.
I could see this game being an absolute weapon in creative writing classes or any classroom. It doesn’t matter what age range or what group dynamic, as long as players come full of imagination. Dixit adapts well to all environments and is a solid warm-up or cool-down before trickier table toppers.
We hope you enjoyed our Dixit review! Have you tried playing Dixit or any of its expansions? Which was your favorite? Drop a comment below and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear from you.
