đž Archived View for idiomdrottning.org âş dixit captured on 2024-05-10 at 11:38:52. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
âŹ ď¸ Previous capture (2024-02-05)
âĄď¸ Next capture (2024-08-18)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dixit is a cardgame from 2008. Here is how I like to play it.
Everyone is responsible for drawing new cards as they play cards, instead of there being a âdeal cardsâ phase. Donât worry about getting out of sync, there is no advantage to having too few cards. Just draw up to handsize when you notice it.
You have to guess the card that you really thought that player played. Even though there are often situations where thatâs strategically bad (because you want to give that player fewer or more points). Thatâs why this house rule: guess honestly. This is obv an unenforcable rule unless you are The Shadow that knows what lurks in the heart, but, I find that having an explicit policy is good.
When you donât have an OK play, itâs allowed to play your worst card to get it out of your hand. You donât have to play your least-bad card. However, if you have a card thatâs even remotely OK, play it. Obviously, for this and the âhonest guessingâ rule, be Postel about it: check yourself but donât be a goof that lectures others about it.
Do not let people kid around about the clues (or go âI donât know what that isâ) until after the round has been scored. That can spoil someoneâs clue! Of course say it again if they didnât hear it or they forgot it.
Do the two or three point thing first (âToo easyâ, âToo hardâ, or âJust rightâ), and only once those points have been handed out, do the extra single points.
The three points I like make sure to convey right away with a new group is the drawing not dealing, the split score, and the honest guessing policy. Anything else here can wait, or be shown by example.
Gather all the cards that people have played in the turn, make sureâby looking at the backsides of the cardsâthat theyâre all facing the same direction before you shuffle them.
Also, flip them up quickly (either one by one in rapid sequence, or as one combined flop), and then let people take them in all at once, in good time. Do not do the thing where you say the clue for each flip, and especially donât do that if you say the clue in a different way each time.
When using the original tiles, which I like (over the pegboard from Odyssey), once everyone has selected a tile, itâs good if people place them on that card. (People should take care to not do that until everyone has selected a tile, of course.)
I like it when the clue-giver also marks a card, the correct one. That way people can see right away what happened.
Sometimes it can be a fun minigame to see how few questions you need to ask before scoring. For example, you know that people donât guess on the card theyâve played (thatâs not allowed) and you know that they havenât played the card that you yourself played. That way you can, by process of elimination, suss out who should get extra single-points. A fun party trick.
When there is downtime, think of your next few plays when itâs gonna be your turn to say a clue. Have a few spares in case those cards you have in mind leave your hand before then (do not hang on to them in case there is a perfect fit for someone elseâs card).
Iâve sometimes done well in this game even when most of my clues have been too easy or too hard, if Iâve been consistently good at guessing.
One thing that has made me sour on the game is references. Thatâs when you know another player has read the same book or seen the same show as you have, and that the others havenât, and you give clues that really tie in to that reference. This problem, I donât have an answer for. Not only is sprinkling in some references fun, itâs also hard to say what even is a reference. All language, expressions, words... itâs all references in some sense. The problem is that every injoke or nod can feel like a jab for someone else. This game is best played with strangers, which naturally leads you into relying less on references, and also when there are references, theyâre a way for strangers to bond over a shared experience.
Stella is a Dixit variant that comes with word cards, lantern track and tokens, and some pretty low-quality erasable marking boards & dry-erase pens. You can use scrap paper to mark your cards if you donât wanna use the whiteboard. Just make a four by three grid (thatâs like five lines #), making a note of where âmoonâ is so you donât get confused.
If you have a scoring track & bunnies from Dixit or Dixit Odyssey, thatâs gonna be great to use with this, but even if you donât I still hope this sparks some ideas on how to learn, run, and teach this liâl game.
First, everyone marks cards and places their lanterns on the lantern track as per usual. The most confusing part of the game is the scoring method so thatâs the only thing Iâm rewriting here.
Then flip the person whoâs the highest on the track to the one-star side. Everyone else should be on the two-star side.
Then starting with the person who has the start player token (âfirst scoutâ), they point to one card theyâve marked.
Then everyone else who marked that card raises their hand.
If at least one other person did, you and everyone else who marked it gets as many points as are showing on their lantern token (two for most people, one otherwise).
If exactly one other person marked it, you then also get one extra point each. Getting this âsuper sparkâ point âseparatelyâ helps make it clearer whatâs going on.
If no-one else did, you âfallâ: move your lantern token to below the bottom of the track. You no longer score this round but still need to raise your hand to help other people score. Unfair but true!
Then circle that card on your marking sheets, or even flip it over on the table, so it canât be chosen again this round.
Keep on taking turns, skipping everyone who has fallen or who had matched all their marked cards. If you were on the âone-star sideâ (called being âin the darkâ) and you did manage to match all your marked cards, you get a bonus: one extra point per card you had marked, kinda getting back all the points you were short by being on the one-star side.
Thatâs how one turn is played. There are four rounds.
The rulebook confusingly gives points equally but takes points away when the in-the-dark player falls, which I changed to instead giving one less right away (with the chance to earn âem as a bonus later), to take advantage of how the lantern tokens have a two-star and a one-star side, which makes explaining the scoring way clearer.
According to the Stella rulebook, if people are tied having marked the most cards, neither gets flipped. That turned out to be exploitable and the cleanest fix is to have everyone who is up there getting flipped to the one-star side (âin the darkâ).