When comparing Dixit vs Snake Oil, the Slant community recommends Dixit for most people. In the question“What are the best party card games?” Dixit is ranked 1st while Snake Oil is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Dixit is:
The game mechanics are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, even to young children and people who usually don't play board games and the like. This saves everyone the headache of spending half an hour listening to someone explain the rules and still not understanding exactly what's going on when you actually start playing. Experienced players and newbies are practically on the same level when playing a game of Dixit. The basics are easy - the "storyteller" makes up a sentence from one of the cards in hand, each player gives a card that best matches that sentence to the storyteller, and the storyteller shuffles all of the cards and places them face-up. After this the players have to guess which card was the storyteller's. Points are given based on the outcome - if nobody or everybody guessed the card correctly, all players except for the storyteller get 2 points. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever chose the right card score 3. The game ends either when the deck is empty or when a player reaches 30 points.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Game mechanics are simple to explain and easy to learn
The game mechanics are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, even to young children and people who usually don't play board games and the like. This saves everyone the headache of spending half an hour listening to someone explain the rules and still not understanding exactly what's going on when you actually start playing. Experienced players and newbies are practically on the same level when playing a game of Dixit.
The basics are easy - the "storyteller" makes up a sentence from one of the cards in hand, each player gives a card that best matches that sentence to the storyteller, and the storyteller shuffles all of the cards and places them face-up. After this the players have to guess which card was the storyteller's. Points are given based on the outcome - if nobody or everybody guessed the card correctly, all players except for the storyteller get 2 points. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever chose the right card score 3. The game ends either when the deck is empty or when a player reaches 30 points.
Pro Amazing illustrations
For many people, this is the main attraction of this game. The cards are simply beautifully illustrated and going through the deck of cards, even if not playing, is a pleasure. The french illustrator Marie Cardouat deserves all the credit for her work creating these dream-like works of art.
Pro The way it requires you to read people’s minds through subtle communication cues is thoroughly enticing and completely unique
Unlike many card and board games, the strategy and competitive component in Dixit is almost nonexistent. In fact, the main focus of the game is in being creative and original and in trying to figure out how the other players connect images, ideas and concepts in their minds: this makes the game much more interesting to play with people that you know well or are in the process of getting close with.
Pro Excellent replacement for Apples to Apples for those bored with it
Pro Creating convincing pitches for ridiculous products rewards creative thinking and often leads to surreal, yet hilarious, situations
Whether they're selling Story Pajamas to the Teacher, a Pocket Toilet to a Couch Potato, or the ever-handy Baby Shield to some Aliens, it is the sales pitches of the players that elevate Snake Oil above similar games like Cards Against Humanity or Apples to Apples. Being able to sell their products gives players ownership of what cards they play and it rewards those who commit to trying to actually match the product to the customer.
Pro Tons of replayability
With 56 possible customer roles and 336 product cards, there's already a large amount of variety built into the game, but the 30 second pitches allow everyone's creativity to keep each game fresh and new.
Cons
Con Can feel unchallenging and monotonous after some games
Given the simple game mechanics, each game after the first doesn't bring an overwhelmingly new experience, specially after you get to know the cards and/or tend to always play with the same group of people. For this reason, some people start getting bored with the game after a while. However, there are several expansions with new illustrated cards than can be added to the new game, giving it a new face, at least for some time.
Con It's not uncommon for some players to have an unfair disadvantage or feel left out
Given that Dixit relies heavily on how well you know the other players and on experiences and knowledge you share with them, it's fairly common that, in a group of players where there are people that share a close relationship (couples, flatmates, childhood friends... ), those that aren't part of this relation will feel left out and will also be at a disadvantage.
Con Players need to commit to the concept of making short sales pitches for the game to really shine
If players aren't willing to really try and sell their products the game can quickly grow stale as people simply play cards and hope to get picked. Now use that silver tongue to get out there and sell some Snake Oil!