Geeks, games, and gamma rays

This week, I was able to get my board gamer’s hands on Dixit and Roll through the Ages.  Dixit won the Spiel des Jahres this year, and I was eager to open her up. If you’ve played Apples to Apples, you get the gist of Dixit. Each player receives a set of six unique, but whimsical cards depicting thoughts, emotions, or evoking ideas. The extremely original and stylized art is what makes Dixit so great. Each round the narrator chooses a card and gives a hint. He needs to be vague enough that not everyone gets it, but not so vague that no one does.

Gameplay of Dixit was surprisingly fun. It easily beat Apples to Apples for originality. If everyone is appropriately vague in their description, the player should have one or two cards in his hand that could theoretically fit the narrator’s remarks. And it is interesting to see what each player selects. Almost every round was followed by discussion of the cards, or laughter at too obvious clues. Initially, I was worried that the need to be just vague enough would make the game a challenge for some players, but our group had no problems. I’m looking forward to playing again, and I could see this making a debut as a party game. It has components only for up to 6 players, but it could easily be expanded to accommodate a large group.

Click through for more as I tackle Roll Through the ages, and try a new strategy with Puerto Rico.

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