When comparing Dixit vs Munchkin, the Slant community recommends Dixit for most people. In the question“What are the best board games for beginners?” Dixit is ranked 6th while Munchkin is ranked 13th. 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 Encourages both cutthroat and cooperative play
On top of casual banter, you’ll be actively talking with the other players throughout the whole game. You'll want to gang up in earlier rounds to defeat monsters, but tensions are bound to rise nearing the end of the game.
At the start players are too weak to take on most monsters so it’s best to band together, but, obviously, not everyone wants to help you for free. You will haggle for the price of assistance – a share of the treasure, an equipment item from the player, or anything else. It’s up to you, you can even, say, make a player complete a dare you just made up.
The end of the game can get loud -- even the game’s box states that it revolves around backstabbing your friends. Some comments are bound to fly around as players announce what cards they’re using to flip the round in the monsters’ favor and take away that sweet victory that was just about to be achieved.
Pro Amazing replay value
The game offers a lot of variety because of the big card count, which ensures that every game will be different. There are 168 cards in total, which include monsters, player classes and races, equipment items, special cards, spells, and much more.
Furthermore, Munchkin has a lot of expansions. Each of these offers even more cards with all kinds of different mechanics.
Pro Hilarious theme
The game is a parody of fantasy role-playing board games in its purest form, and the art on the cards reflects that. The game is filled with all kinds of funny characters and references that parody the board gaming culture. For example, there’s a card called “Whine at the GM” which makes you go up a level. Also, every expansion comes with a brand-new theme filled with more humorous content to bring to the table - the wild west, holiday-themed stuff, and yes, even hipsters. All the cards are illustrated by the popular cartoonist John Kovalic.
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 Very long play time
Munchkin is not really a game you can quickly play out before doing something else. A normal match takes anywhere between one and two hours, but some people have reported playing for up to 5 hours. This is mostly due to the social factor – almost every action in the game is impacted by whether the other players choose to help you or undermine you. This is especially true for the end-game where each player is looking for the lucky draw to win and everyone else is trying to deny the win by enhancing the monsters.
Con Highly luck-based
Whatever you draw will directly impact the game, as is typical for a card game. Some games will just not go well for you, be it not getting good equipment cards, tackling monsters too strong for you, or other players drawing the right cards either to win or mess up your game.
Con Not very accessible
Munchkin isn’t something that people would call a great gateway game. The basics are not too difficult, and the mechanics of the cards are purposely simple, but there is simply too much to take in for a complete beginner.
If the player happens to be playing with more experienced players, then he’s at a huge disadvantage. There’s quite a lot to explain – levelling up, equipment, combat, and, most importantly, cooperation to defeat monsters. There are many variables to everything. For example, almost every equipment piece has some conditions and exceptions tied to it.
The beginner is probably unsure of the value of the cards in his hand either, which is very crucial in a game where every card matters. There’s a lot of reading to be done to find out what each card does, and this gets worse if you’re playing with expansions.
Con No easy way to keep track of levels in non-deluxe versions
Though the deluxe version comes with a handy gameboard and character figures, the regular game really lacks a universal and convenient way of following progression. The game can get intense at times, which can make some players mistake their level and miscalculate attacks. Most players end up using a piece of paper to mark the levels, others use coins or poker chips.
There’s an official mobile app that resolves this problem and, on top of that, helps track attack values, but it comes for an extra $5.00.