Dixit rules: how to play and how to score

Dixit quick rules

The goal

Each player holds illustrated cards with no text. Each turn, a different player becomes the storyteller: they give a clue about one of their cards, and the others try to find it among several. The clue must stay subtle: if everyone finds the card, the storyteller scores nothing. The game ends when a player reaches 30 points.

The storyteller’s clue

The storyteller picks one of their six cards, without showing it, and says a clue: a word, a sentence, a film or song title, a proverb, a tune, a mime or a simple sound. Each other player picks the card from their hand that best fits the clue and gives it to the storyteller, face down. The storyteller shuffles those cards with their own.

The vote

The storyteller places the cards face up, at random, next to the board’s numbered slots. Everyone secretly turns their voting dial to the number of the card they think is the storyteller’s, then all reveal at once. You never vote for your own card, and the storyteller doesn’t vote. Finally, the storyteller reveals their card.

Scoring

If all players or none found the storyteller’s card, the storyteller scores nothing and everyone else scores 2 points. Otherwise, the storyteller and those who found it score 3 points. On top of that, each player except the storyteller scores 1 point per vote their own card received. Everyone moves their rabbit one space per point.

The end of the turn and of the game

The cards used go to the discard pile, and everyone draws back up to six cards. The player to the storyteller’s left becomes the next storyteller. The game ends at the end of the turn in which a player reaches or exceeds 30 points: the most points wins, and a tie means a shared win.

With three players

Everyone plays with seven cards in hand. The two players who aren’t the storyteller each give two cards, so there are five cards around the board. For the bonus, a player scores 1 point if the other player voted for either of their two cards. At the end of the turn, those two players draw two cards.

Beginner traps

Giving a clue that’s too easy, just describing the picture, or too obscure: either way, you score nothing and each opponent scores 2 points. Playing a random card when you’re not the storyteller: each vote it attracts earns you 1 point. And the game doesn’t end the moment someone reaches 30 points, but at the end of that turn.

How to score Dixit

All or none found it

The storyteller scores 0 points; all the other players score 2 points.

Some found it, not all

The storyteller scores 3 points, and so does each player who found their card.

Votes received

Each player except the storyteller scores 1 point per vote on their own card.

Points

The total on the scoring track. The game ends at the end of the turn in which a player reaches or exceeds 30 points.

Worked example

With 5 players, Emma is the storyteller. Jake and Alex find her card; Mia and Leo vote for Jake’s card. Emma scores 3 points, Alex 3, Jake 3 + 2 votes received = 5, Mia and Leo 0.

Common mistakes

• Giving the storyteller points when everyone found the card: they score 0, and every other player 2.
• Forgetting points for votes received: 1 point per vote on your card, even if you missed the storyteller’s card.
• Giving the storyteller points for votes received: only the other players score that bonus.
• Stopping as soon as a player reaches 30: finish the turn first.

How to set up Dixit

Only the hand size changes: 7 cards with 3 players, 6 from 4 players up. The first player who finds a clue for one of their cards becomes the first storyteller.