Why I like Dixit

Today was the culmination of a series of board game analyses we’ve been doing, as we presented our findings to the rest of the class.

Out of the games I analyzed, Dixit has to be my favourite, I’d like to take a minute to explain why.

I first came in contact with Dixit when I saw it played on an episode of Table Top and I instantly knew that I wanted it on my board game shelf.

Dixit is a card game of creativity and social wits. The players take turns assuming the role of “storyteller”, describing an illustration card in a way that is clear enough for some players to understand, but vague enough to pass others by. The remaining players then select one illustration card each from their own hands that they feel fit the storyteller’s description. After shuffling the illustration cards, the players try to make an educated guess as to which card was played by the storyteller based on their understaning of the storyteller’s thought patterns.

What really makes this game interesting is the way that it – through it’s mechanics and the dynamics they create – brings out creativity and imagination in it’s players. To understand how that happens, we need to examine the scoring system. Every turn, when all the votes have been cast, score is awarded according to this table:

As no points are rewarded to the storyteller if everyone or no one guesses correctly, the storyteller needs to describe his/her illustration card in a way that is clear enough for some players to understand, but vague enough to throw some players off. And in order to come up with such a description, the storyteller needs to be attuned to the social context – being the other players – in which the game is being played.

I think this is what fascinates me so about what Dixit does, the way that it affects our creative thinking and most of all, our way of thinking about each other. This is a game that rewards you for getting to know your “opponents”, their likes and dislikes, their sense of humor, what kind of litterature they read, what movies they watch and much more. I write “opponents” with qoutation marks because the competitive aspect of the game quickly becomes secondary, overshadowed by the pleasant feeling of having connected with the people around you.

//Simon