Dixit

01Discover the game

In Dixit, a player secretly chooses an image and gives a clue. Others offer images that could also match this index. All cards are mixed and displayed, then each one tries to find the storyteller's one. You have to guide a few people to his card without making it obvious to everyone.

Overall difficulty is Medium. Good play depends on choosing clues, knowing the other players and offering a plausible image. This chapter follows Dixit Refresh, the Libellud booklet credited 2021, for three to eight players. The Dixit Odyssey Party and Team modes and the voting rules of the twelve-player box are separate.

02Equipment

This edition contains 84 illustrated maps, 8 ballots, 8 wooden rabbit pawns, 1 tray and 1 ruler. The board includes a score track, eight numbered locations for the images and an aid to remind the count. The 84 base cards are sufficient; no extension is required.

The wheel shows the number of a card, not a color or a victory point. The rabbit indicates the total points. Our pedagogical illustrations can use generic maps described by words, without replicating commercial works: the important thing is to understand the link index, images and votes.

03The goal

Get the highest score at the end of the round where at least one player reaches or exceeds 30 points. You can score by having your image recognized when you're a storyteller, by finding the storyteller's image and by attracting votes on the image you proposed as a decoy.

The best clue is not as precise as possible. If all the others find your card, you do not mark anything as a storyteller. If no one finds it, you do not mark anything either. So you have to look for an understandable link, but open enough to let it hesitate.

04Preparing the hands and votes

Each player chooses a color, takes his wheel and rabbit, then places it at the start of the track. Mix the 84 cards and distribute six to each, face down. The rest forms the Stock. Keep next to a spot for the Waste.

The first player who finds a clue becomes the first storyteller. The next storytellers will be the players placed on his left. Keep your cards secret and make sure that each number used will remain visible under the displayed images.

At three players, preparation changes: each receives seven cards. The adapted course is explained below; do not start with six cards hoping to correct only the number of images on the table.

05Build the puzzle, vote and renew

The storyteller chooses a card

The storyteller looks at his hand, selects an image without showing it and pronounces a clue. It can be a word, a invented phrase, a known reference, a song, an imitation or an onomatopoeia. The clue must be given publicly: no secret sign reserved for a single person.

The storyteller keeps his card face down. The others choose each one, in their own hand, a card that best evokes the index. Each one secretly gives it to the storyteller, who gathers these images with his own and mixes it all. We no longer change a card after seeing the proposals of the neighbors.

Exhibit cards

The storyteller sets the cards at random, face up, at numbered locations. At six players, there are six exposed cards; at eight, eight. Do not give an indication of the order in which they were received. Each one must be able to examine all the images before voting.

Vote secretly

All players except the storyteller set their wheel to the card number they think they are his. It is forbidden to vote for their own image. When everyone has chosen, simultaneously reveal the votes. The storyteller does not have a vote and does not change his index to direct the last hesitations.

It is not permissible to show one's hand or to announce one's image to influence others. A discussion on the index may exist, but the choice must remain personal and secret until the common revelation.

Count and then reconstitute hands

The storyteller reveals his image and applies the counting of Section 7. Advance the rabbits, then discard all the exposed cards. Each picks up a card to find six cards in hand. If the Stock is not enough for all, mix its remaining cards with the Waste to form a new Stock.

The player to the left of the storyteller becomes the storyteller of the next turn. An image that has already been seen can come back after reconstitution of the Stock: you must not remove it permanently from the game.

Three players

Each player has seven cards. The storyteller proposes one; the other two offer two, which gives five images exposed. Each non-teller always votes only once and does not vote for either of his or her images. In the end, the storyteller picks up one card and the other two to find their hand of seven. The other rules remain the same.

06A round with four players

Alice is a storyteller and announces "the great start." The four maps of the exercise show generic scenes: a suitcase under a moon, a paper boat, an open corridor and a gigantic shoe. These imaginary drawings are only used to explain choices; they do not correspond to the maps reproduced in a box.

Alice had chosen the suitcase, placed in number 2 after mixing. Bob votes 2, Chloe votes 2 and David votes 4. Some found, but not all: Alice receives 3 points, Bob 3 and Chloé 3. David does not receive points for his search. If card 4 belonged to Bob, David's vote adds another 1 point to Bob, or 4 for him in total.

If all three had voted for 2, Alice would score 0 and each of the other three would score 2. If nobody had voted for 2, Alice would again score 0 and each other player 2, plus any bonus for votes received on their own images. A scoring illustration should show the exact votes as well as the four final scores.

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07Count and Victory

When some players find the storyteller's image but not all, the storyteller scores 3 points and each good voter 3 points. Bad voters do not score these search points. If all find or no one finds, the storyteller scores zero and all the other 2 points.

In any case, each non-contributor scores 1 point for each vote received on his or her own card. This bonus exists even when no one has found the storyteller's image. The storyteller does not receive any additional bonus by voting on his or her card.

Finish the full count of the round, then check the track. If at least one rabbit has reached or exceeded 30, the game stops and the largest total wins. Players tied in the lead share the win. Reaching 30 before calculating the bonus of a neighbor does not allow to stop the round in the middle of the scores.

08Frequent errors

• Vote for your own decoy or have the storyteller vote.
• Give the storyteller a reward when everyone finds out.
• Forget the votes bonus received when no one finds.
• Do not mix the cards before exposing them.
• Apply the six player rules of an old box to the eight variant.
• On three, forget the hands of seven cards and the two decoys of each non-teller.

09Tips for starting

Avoid clues that describe only a single detail that is visible to all. A well-known impression, emotion or association of the group can leave a real hesitation. But a reference that only you know will often be too obscure.

When you are not a storyteller, do not necessarily choose the card that looks most materially like his: you don't know her yet. Choose the one that makes the clue credible to you. After the votes, listen to the explanations of others; they show how a single drawing can cause different readings.