Dixit
“It’s Kind of Like Apples to Apples… But With Style!”
Review by Craig Hargraves
One of the problems with party games in recent years is that many of them, for better or worse, tend to riff off the extremely successful Apples to Apples formula. Sadly this tends to leave the market full of very same same uninspired party games.
Now, 2010 Spiel des Jahres winner Dixit does, in spirit, tread down this well worn path but in Dixit’s case it’s hard to hold it against the team that put this wonderful game together. It’s just done with such unique flair and style that it can easily stand on its own. Where other games trudge down the same tired path, perhaps imagining it’s a yellow brick road, Dixit skips along with wanton joy leaving a trail of flowers and colour in its wake (yet somehow tinged with a sense of foreboding gloom…)
Okay, so the basic idea of the game is that everyone has a hand of gorgeously illustrated cards. One player, the “storyteller”, is going to choose one of their cards and say a word or phrase which communicates something of its identity (but not too much). Other players then choose one of their own cards with similarities to the storyteller’s phrase in the hope of throwing off their competition. Cards are shuffled, laid out and players choose which one they believe was the story teller’s. Everyone scores points for correctly guessing the original card or fooling other players with their own card. The storyteller will score points if some people, but not everyone, correctly identifies their card. Score is then kept by jumping small wooden rabbits around a stone path. That’s right. Rabbits around a path.
Okay, so maybe it isn’t that close to the Apples to Apples formula (certainly not as close as others imitate) but it has the feel and it’s a comparison that is often made. What makes Dixit stand out on its own however is the style that the game carries and with all due respect to designer Jean-Louis Roubira, for me it’s Marie Cardouat’s outstanding art on the 84 over-sized cards that steals the show for Dixit. Her illustrations are amazing with their ability to convey a certain melancholy gloom while using so much joyous colour at the same time. And what amazes me is their ability to reveal more and more details and interpretations even after many, many plays.
The rest of the production is also top-grade. Even the rabbits and their scoring path, which my first instinct says makes no sense, is actually perfect. They just mesh nicely with joy of the art and the social play experience and in their own way actually do make sense.
With all of the details and possible interpretations possible with each card there is a good degree of replayability. However with only 84 cards it is possible that some players will tire and become frustrated with the same art over and over. Here the highly recommended “Dixit 2” comes to the rescue with 84 more cards which mix seamlessly with the originals. Future expansions are sure to bolster this number too. If anything the biggest challenge to Dixit’s replay value is that the game kind of becomes more difficult each time you play as you are forced to invent new clues to cards you have previously used. Replay will certainly push your creative muscles.
So is this wonderful award winning game for everyone? Well, probably not. At the end of the day it is a party game and if party games just aren’t your thing then this one probably still won’t work for you. Also there is a certain pressure that comes along with being the storyteller. Many people are going to spend all of their time between turns desperately looking at their cards trying to come up with something, anything to say. For some people that experience just won’t be fun.
For everyone else though you should give Dixit a try. It actually isn’t Apples to Apples. It’s its own unique wonderful thing that really should be experienced.
Dixit 2
More of a Great Thing Is a Great Thing
Review by Craig Hargraves
Dixit 2 really is a simple expansion at its heart. It’s 84 more beautifully illustrated cards for your games of Dixit. No new rules. No new pieces. Just cards. Again the illustrations are done by Dixit’s artist Marie Cardouat and she manages to hit on many of the themes and moods that she hit with her art for the original game. This more of the same approach allows Dixit 2 to seamlessly mix with the original cards. It’s likely that after a few plays you’ll have actually forgotten which cards came from which set.
The only real complaint that some may have with this expansion is the price, particularly relative to the original game. Personally though as I take the time to look through each card and consider the effort and work involved in the creation of the art I really find it hard to complain. But no doubt others out there will be harder to please.