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I've read Differences between Dixit versions?, and the BoardGame Geek "Dixit product guide" which help, but I'm interested in something more specific.

Is there a version/expansion of Dixit that has the same "riddling/storytelling" element as the main game, but can be played with just cards? (therefore, can be easily transported in just a pocket or without taking up much room in a bag)

I've seen Dixit Jinx which at first glance looked like exactly what I'm talking about, but apparently as well as dropping the board it also has "abstract" cards resulting in, apparently, much more basic and limited riddles/stories/clues.

Dixit Odyssey is apparently playable standalone and looks like its board is much smaller (I could be mistaken from the photos). If the board folds up small, that'd be fine, I could just ditch the giant box, but it's hard to tell from the photos I can find. Some listings of expansions (example) talk as if they can be played standalone with other basic equipment but others say they need the full original.

I travel a lot and so the smaller space would be a big help. Games like Once Upon A Time are great for this, I can just ditch the box and slip the cards in a pocket or at the bottom of a bag.

Dixit appears to also be mostly about cards and riddling/storytelling (must confess I've not actually played it), but all the versions I can find appear to be either expansions, or come in a big box with a board.

I've seen a few comments various places that seem to say that some of the Dixit card-only expansions can be played as standalone games if you use something else (dice, paper) to keep score but I'm not clear about which this is true of or what would be needed.

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  • I think you may have some misconceptions. >Dixit appears to also be mostly about cards and storytelling (must confess I've not actually played it) - it's not a storytelling game, it's more like riddle/guessing game. A player puts a card down and gives a clue, then everyone else put card down that they think will fit the clue, then cards are shuffled and other players try to guess which was original card. That's it. Gluegiving player is just called "storyteller" in game terminology, there is no actual storytelling.
    – Deo
    Dec 3, 2016 at 14:01
  • >it also has "abstract" cards and drops the storytelling element. - All Dixit cards have that. They are designed to spur a lot of different associations that could be used as a clues, but it's hard to produce coherent story with those. So I believe Dixit is not what you think it is. I advise to play it/watch videos of it being played, and then reconsider your question.
    – Deo
    Dec 3, 2016 at 14:06
  • Okay, my terminology is not precise (though lots of sources do describe it as a "storytelling game" presumably in the loosest sense of the word) - what I was getting at there is that from what I've seen, the "Jinx" cards have much less to work with than the regular cards and so the resulting riddles or whatever are much more basic. I'll try to rephrase
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Dec 3, 2016 at 14:21

3 Answers 3

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There are no official portable Dixit version I'm aware of, but to play the game you need only 3 things:

  1. Set of cards with artwork
  2. Way to secretly vote for cards for each player
  3. Way to track score

Expansions are just a sets of cards, so choose one you like most. For secret voting you can make a set of tokens with different colored backs and numbered fronts, just like in base game. Or you can use dice and reveal them simultaneously. And for scoring you can use just pen and paper or any counters that go up to 30. You might need to make a box/container too, as I think expansion box is bigger than necessary. My friend did exactly this, although not for portability reasons, just because she liked set of cards from expansion the most, and it worked fine.

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  • Would playing cards work as voting tokens (assuming up to four players)? e.g. Everyone has a suit, puts their card face down, and when they're turned over, say, 4 of diamonds means the "diamonds" player voted for card #4?
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Dec 3, 2016 at 14:49
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    @user568458 Yes, any method will do. Tokens are just smaller usually. Base game uses numbers 1-6, that's why dice work well, but you can use any count you feel like it. Also, one small advise: DIxit suffers a little from lower player counts, when there are too few cards to choose from, but you can mix 1-2 random cards from the deck to somewhat offset this. So you would probably need counters/cards numbered up to 5 or 6 anyway.
    – Deo
    Dec 3, 2016 at 15:17
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If you just take the cards you can use a mobile app for voting and keeping score - search Dixit Score on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Full disclosure - I'm the maker of one of these apps - Dixit Score for iOS (by sovio): https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1252988123

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I would recommend another game with similar feeling. Try Codnames: Pictures. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198773/codenames-pictures

I think it's more portable, but there is a lot in common with Dixit (in fact people are actually playing Codenames using cards from Dixit).

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  • Ha, liking Codenames is actually what got me interested in Dixit in the first place!
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Dec 5, 2016 at 9:11
  • While it is a nice recommendation, this does not really answer the actual question.
    – SQB
    Sep 2, 2019 at 9:52

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