Dixit Journey Board Game Review

Dixit Journey

By ASMODEE GAMES

3-6 players
Play time 40 mins

Setup time 5 mins

Teaching time 5 mins

Dixit is not one of my favorite games. But it is my wife's favorite. She is over the moon when I have enough guests to play a Dixit. You can consider me as a mediocre gamer because heavy games like mage knight and war of the rings turn me off, while overly light games like Dixit do not pose a challenge to me.

Dixit is a super light, party game for casual non-gamers, best for people who you want to introduce into the board game world. It is the game I would only bring out if I see someone who has no interest in games for that matter. Most of the time, it is the wifey who brings it out for us to play.

Game components 10/10
Looking into the opened box, everything is placed neatly in the well-made insert, though you will have to squeeze some cards here and there once you sleeve them (and believe me, you will want to sleeve them after seeing your precious cards damaged at the edges). The cards are beautiful with creative, beautifully printed pictures on them. They are much bigger than the normal size poker cards so you'll have to buy special sleeves for them. The board is sturdy and will last many games. The voting tokens are thick, printed double sided and do their job well. The player pawns are good plastic (finally no more wooden ones. I got wooden ones in pandemic and shadow hunters). So good quality components. No complaints there.

Game mechanics 8/10
Everyone is dealt 6 cards. On the cards are beautifully printed pictures of anything you've never seen before. Throughout the game, every player takes a turn to be a storyteler. The storyteller chooses a card and describes it vaguely. Then the rest of the players choose a card from their hand that best matches that description and passes it to the storyteller. The storyteller shuffles the cards and places them on the numbered board. Then everyone tries to guess which of the cards belongs to the storyteller using voting tokens.

Once the voting tokens are revealed and placed on their respective cards, the scoring begins. If all players chose the storyteller's card or nobody chooses the storyteller's card, everyone gains points except the storyteller. If at least one player but not all players chose the storyteller's card, the storyteller and those who chose his card gains points. You also get bonus points for anyone who chooses your card when you are not the storyteller (terms and conditions apply).

The first player who reaches 30 points win.

Replayability 5/10
Yes, you can play a number of times but after a few games, you will find the pictures are repeating. 84 cards and very soon, you will cycle through all of them. So unless you get more expansions, the pictures will get boring. And it's not only me. Wifey also commented on the same thing, just so you know that this is a common feeling between gamers and casual gamers alike.

Game Experience 4/10
There is nothing wrong with the mechanics, because I remember, the first time I played it, how well I thought the pieces and the rules did their job in this game. However, the game lacked that challenge that I was looking for. Heavy gamers will probably rather sit out and watch than play. The only skill you will learn out of this game is how to read people. After games of Dixit, you will get to know someone by the way they describe their card. Once you know this, it is easy to predict his/her cards (like I said, no challenge, no math, no memorizing, no strategy, no puzzle, no freaking challenge)

They call the active player a storyteller, but all we do to describe a card is mostly just one word. And call them a storyteller (bullocks). Of course you are not limited to one word. But if you say more than one word, everyone's going to likely choose your card and you won't get the points you need to move your pawn and win the game.

Overall 6/10
Don't get me wrong, this is a good game - for casual light gamers. It can accommodate a party of people as well (have a look at the variant below for 7+ players). It is also good when you just wish to have something light going in the background as you socialize. But it is definitely not my go to game to scratch an itch. My wife loves it for the pictures, but like I said, soon enough you'll get bored with seeing the same cards over and over again.

Pros:
Bring out when having a group of non-gamers
Super light
Component quality is fantastic
Beautiful pictures

Cons:
No challenge =.="
Pictures get boring after some time


Game variants
2 player coop variant
The storyteller chooses and describes a card in his/her hand. The other player chooses a card to best match that description. Then draw 4 more cards from the draw deck and shuffle them with the 2 cards chosen. Reveal them and guess the other person's card. For every correct guess, the plauers get a point, and for every wrong guess, "Dixit's" pawn moves forward a point. Get to 30 before the game's pawn and you win, otherwise you have lost.

7+ player variant
(not play tested yet)
You will need to make up extra pawns and voting tokens for this. Paper voting tokens would do just fine but if you don't mind everyone knowing each other's votes beforehand, players can use one voting token and just place them on the cards ignoring the numbers on them. After the storyteller shuffles everyone's cards and lay it face up, everyone gets to vote for two cards. Scoring follows as per normal except that if a player choosen to use one voting token instead of two and he has chosen the storyteller's card, then he/she gets bonus 2 points.

7+ player variant version 2
Group them 2 in a group and play it just as above variant except each group gets to choose 2 cards from a combined hand of 10 cards. The players play as a group and win as a group.


What did you think of the game? Leave me a comment on your opinion of it...