Dixit Game review

Over the Holidays the wife’s sister picked up Dixit. My first play through was on New Years eve and I wasn’t quite at my peak game learning condition that night. Let’s just say things were a little fuzzy. Since that night we have played quite a few times because the in-laws made a terrific find.

The rules were simple to learn, I was able to quickly grasp the concept even in my fogged frame of mind. All of the players receive a hand of cards. Upon these cards are oddly beautiful artworks, some quite bizarre. A player is selected to lead by selecting a card from their hand without showing it to the other players. The player gives a clue to the card by saying a word, phrase, singing a song, or… whatever. The other players then s

elect a card from their hand and give it face down to the player who gave the clue. The cards are shuffled and laid face up.

At this time players chose which card they believe is the right card. They do so by selecting one of their numbered tokens without showing it. Once all players have made their selection they show their tokens. Any correct answers score points and any wrong answers score points for the player who played that card. So other players will play cards they believe best fit the clue in order to earn points.

Scoring is rather interesting for the active player. The clue giver gets zero points if either all players or no players select their card. Therefore in order for the clue giver to score points clues must be vague enough to ensure at least one player selects the wrong card. But the clue must also be clear enough so at least one player selects the correct card. It creates a need to be able to anticipate how other players think.

How do you get window?

The game really drives creativity and shows how other players’ minds work. An important example is a friend who used the clue “Window." All other players played cards with windows in the artwork. Unfortunately his card had a kid and a bear with a slingshot which made him think of a broken window. No actual windows in the artwork. He was too creative and complicated in his clue and we made fun of him all night.

I find that the game is fantastic for working on interpretation of art and creative thinking. It’s simple enough for kids to understand but still complex enough for adults to enjoy making it a great family game.

There two negatives to Dixit. Some of the artwork is a little bizarre, enough so that it just doesn’t work with everyone’s creative processes all the time. Also the limited number of cards means that the same artwork will be seen repeatedly. This will lead to players getting in to a habit of repeating clues and the game becoming stale. Thankfully there are some expansions to the game for when this starts to become an issue.

To sum up Dixit is a great game for any game group. It is both simple to learn and deep in creative nature. This game is fantastic for building art appreciation and interpretation as well as driving creative description. While the bizarre nature of the artwork doesn’t play to everyone'

s tastes it can still be fun to attempt to discern the meaning of it. The limited amount of cards can begin to lessen replay value but there are expansion sets available to add variety.

I would recommend this game for families who want a goofy way to build their children’s imaginations and work on their creativity. I would also recommend this for adult groups who appreciate art and enjoy being creatively obtuse in their description of it.

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