Dixit Odyssey
Beschrijving
Dixit Odyssey is both a standalone game and an expansion Dixit Odyssey for Jean-Louis Roubira's Dixit, which won Germany's Spiel des Jahres award in 2010. Game play in Dixit Odyssey matches that of Dixit: Each turn one player is the storyteller. This player secretly chooses one card in his hand, then gives a word or sentence to describe this. Unfold and place the scoreboard in the middle of the table. Each player chooses a voting board and then places the rabbit of the corresponding color on the 0 space of the score- board. The 84 image cards are shuffled and 6 are dealt to each player. The remaining image cards form the draw pile.
Dixit Odyssey Board Game
Beschrijving van de Producent:
Dixit Odyssey is both a standalone game and an expansion for Jean-Louis Roubira’s Dixit, which won Germany’s Spiel des Jahres award in 2010.
Game play in Dixit Odyssey matches that of Dixit: Each turn one player is the storyteller. This player secretly chooses one card in his hand, then gives a word or sentence to describe this card—but not too obviously. Each other player chooses a card in hand that matches this word/sentence and gives it to the storyteller. The storyteller then lays out the cards, and all other players vote on which card belongs to the storyteller.
If no one or everyone guesses the storyteller’s card, the storyteller receives no points and all players receive two; otherwise the storyteller and the correct guesser(s) each receive three points. Players score one point for each vote their image receives. Players refill their hands, and the next player becomes the storyteller. When the deck runs out, the player with the most points wins.
Dixit Odyssey contains 84 new cards, each with a unique image drawn by Pierô and colored by Marie Cardouat, artist of Dixit and Dixit 2. The stand alone version also includes a folding game board, 6 new rabbit scoring tokens (12 total), and a box large enough to hold all the Dixit cards released to date. The stand alone version of Dixit Odyssey includes enough components for up to twelve players and also has variant rules for team play and for new ways to play with the cards.
Coming from an artistic background, I was prepared to play Dixit and sit back in my chair with a feeling of unbridled pride and smugness. It was more difficult than I suspected – And there were some basic issue with the original game that I wasn’t thrilled about. After Dixit 2 added cards and did not solve some of these issues, I was disappointed. Ah, then came Dixit Odyssey… Dixit Odyssey simple takes what I consider an inimitable original game and makes it better.
Style/Components: (Dazzling)
All the components and artwork are stunning and, as I will mention later, support the game mechanics better than the original. Odyssey does add a more “practical” scoreboard and it is welcomed. Along with some new voting cards, the game is now very functional for more players. The artwork remains vivid, enchanting and haunting.
Gameplay: (Some old, some new)
The gameplay remains unchanged from the original, with some exceptions.
Odyssey adds a new “Dixit Party” rules for 6-12 players as well as rules to play “Team Dixit.”
“Dixit Party” works well (We played with 8 players) as new rules allow the Storyteller to play a more active part and even play spoiler. This is very welcomed since sometimes the scoring for regular gameplay can be a bit lopsided at times – especially with players of varying ages. The Storyteller can also secretly vote (with a red token) on the image that he or she thinks the most players will vote on – effectively wiping out any points scored for that image.
This is a simple change, but worked so well that I that it increased the interactivity in a game and improved it. Point awards are a bit different to accommodate for the number of players – but it works well as there is a foil added to the mix.
The best change I found is one subtle rule: the Storyteller saying something without looking at their cards – then choosing a card that matches the spoken phrase is works great for kids. This change makes the game more inclusive – always a good thing when playing with family members of varying ages.
I was hoping the “Team Dixit” rules would allow for better play with younger players as well. But as it turns out, teammates sit across from each other and can only choose one or the other player to hand an image to the Storyteller. I think this could have been more inclusive to allow combined play, but it really just allows for alternating play between teammates based on whether they think they have the best image to fool the other players. And the teammate that does not choose an image gets to vote, so even your teammate doesn’t know which image you handed in. Again an interesting mechanic, and balanced, but if I am honest, I was hoping for a more cooperative role for teammates.
Value: (Wonderful replay value)
You can get Dixit Odyssey for around $30 and this is a bargain for the game with great replay value and charm. This “expansion” is a game in itself. So you can play with this edition alone.
Audience: (Families and friends)
Dixit has been and will be a great Family game. Avid and Casual players will find it fun as well with the right group. Strategy gamers… look elsewhere. Also, as mentioned, gameplay is now easier for kids with some new rules tweaks.
Dixit Odyssey Online
Instructions (Short and simple)
For the most part the instructions are simple and short. Easy to read, and able to be remembered easily when play starts. There are a few places where sentence construction is a bit confusing and requires a re-read or two. But perhaps this is because there are only slight differences for the original rules and require slightly more attention.
Overall Review: (A great game gets better!)
I may be in the minority, but I didn’t enjoy the original Dixit as much as many others seem to have. It’s a great game, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t as gung-ho as a lot of others. For that reason, I didn’t review the original. As a gamer with children, playing with them was very lopsided, more so than some other party games. Developing, artistic, creative thinking is something that is difficult to teach, I think this type of thinking comes naturally to some children/people or it doesn’t. That is indeed what makes this game challenging.
Odyssey however changes my opinion. The new board is great. (using the old box/board we had rabbits constantly strewn about with the slightest nudge.) Also having a place to put the cards also makes things more organized. The new Voting Cards are welcomed as well – even if the intention was to include them for larger numbers of players. The new rules variations also add another level of interactivity that, personally I found lacking in the original.
If you haven’t played the original Dixit or Dixit 2, you may want to start with Odyssey to enjoy the full potential of the game. It’s a rare thing to work backwards in a game with expansions, but in this case make the exception.
It’s almost as if the designers listened to the rumblings about a great game, and sought to make it a perfect game. And now, Odyssey makes it very nearly that.