Dixit is one of those titles that I underestimated for a long time. Even though I knew it was one of the most popular party games, I didn’t understand its phenomenon. It’s good that sometimes I’m wrong. Already after the first game many years ago, which I strongly avoided, I really liked Dixit . That’s why I had to have the newest addition in my collection as well. This time, the cards included exhibits from the National Museum in Krakow.
As in every box in the series, Dixit: MNK also contains 84 cards. Even though it is not a standalone game, it can be considered one. The only difference from the base game is the lack of components for counting points and voting, which can be easily replaced with elements available at home or borrowed from other boxes. However, I bet that it won’t be enough with just one set of cards, so the ones with pawns and tokens will definitely be added to the shelf as well.
The rules have remained unchanged. Everyone gets a certain number of cards in their hand. Then, one by one, everyone takes on the role of the author, who chooses one of their cards, comes up with any password for it and places it face down in the middle of the table. The other players try to find among their cards the one that best matches the slogan said by the author. The player leading the turn collects the placed cards, shuffles them and places them face up. Then all the other people vote for the picture they think belongs to the author.
Players receive points for correctly guessing the card, as does the author for the correct password. However, if no one gets the right picture or everyone points to it, the author receives no point. So you need to come up with a slogan that is neither too difficult nor too easy.
What I was most wondering about was how this expansion would perform compared to the previous ones. I must emphasize that when it comes to painting or early works, I would classify myself as an ignorant group (with a few exceptions). Therefore, the vast majority of cards were unknown to me. And although I don’t like them visually, when mixed with other sets they simply increase the available deck, which is always a plus.
However, the educational value of the supplement cannot be denied. For school trips that are not always interested in exhibits, you can organize games in groups of several people before visiting the National Museum in Krakow to get acquainted with some of the works. Then they can find those that were on their cards, try to remember the author or the date of creation, and thus consolidate their knowledge about the collections of the Krakow museum. It would also be a good idea to take Dixit: MNK to a cultural studies or art class, where students could choose their favorite cards and try to paint them or simply discuss them. In such cases, it is a great way to get kids interested in art. For your convenience, the instructions contain necessary information about the exhibits.
Taking into account the possibilities of using the add-on to gain knowledge, Dixit: MNK is an interesting proposition. However, among adult audiences, the cards themselves may not be that interesting, but they will certainly cause laughter when the author tries to come up with an appropriate slogan for a picture in which he has no idea what is in it.
