Stella - Dixit Universe - First Play!

13th March 2022

It's a Sunday evening and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming fun.

As the title implies, Stella - Dixit Universe is a offshoot of the game Dixit and while it is different, it does share some elements with its predecessor, mostly notably having artwork on cards which share the same almost abstract, dreamlike quality.
​In fact in the physical version, both games share the same backings for these cards, meaning they're interchangeable between the two.

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Caveat: We've only played Stella - Dixit Universe digitally.

What's in a game?

• Dixit cards: Stella - Dixit Universe comes with 84 cards. As anyone familiar with Dixit will know, they all feature distinct, eye-catching and quirky artwork.
• Word cards: There are 96 'word' cards in the game, each card has 2 words for a grand total of 192 words.
• Game board: The game features a tall, narrow board with spaces numbered 1-10, it's not really a game board in the conventional sense though as it's used only to track some numbers.
• Personal boards: Each player will have a board displaying a 5x3 grid that matches the game's card layout (More on this later.), there are 3 'stars' adjacent to each space in the grid which a re used to track scoring.
• Tokens: Various types of tokens are used throughout the game.
  Round tokens: Stella - Dixit Universe is played over 4 rounds, not only do these double-sided tokens track the rounds, they determine which line of cards are replaced at the end of each round.
  Player tokens: Each player has a token, also double-sided, one side is 'light' and displays 2 stars, while the other is 'dark' and only shows 1 star.
• Markers and cloths: While this is not a 'write' style game per se, the physical game does make use of dry-erase markers and wipe-cloths to track player decisions and scores.

As with all Dixit games, artwork on the cards is colourful and fantastic, a wide variety of images and themes filled with lots of weird and wonderful details that allow for multiple interpretations and meanings.
There's minimal art elsewhere.

The game's iconography is also minimal to the point of being almost non-existent.

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Some examples of Stella - Dixit Universe's distinctive Dixit cards.

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How's it play?
Setup

• ​Players: Give each player a token and player board in their colour.
• Game board: Put out the game board with the long edge vertical, the numbered spaces increasing as they go up. Put the round tokens on the board.
• Dixit cards: Shuffle the Dixit cards into a face-down deck. Deal 15 cards into a 5x3 face-up grid along the right-side of the game board.
• First player: Determine a first player and give them the first player token.
• Word card: Shuffle the word cards into a face-down deck. Deal 1 face-up and choose which of the 2 words to use.
  This is the word that will be 'used' during this round.

On to play
Similar to its predecessor, Stella Dixit Universe is word association game, but here, the word is chosen by the game.
4 rounds are played during the game and each round has 3 phases. The first 2 phases are essentially performed simultaneously, with the 3rd phases occurring in turn order.

• Word association: Each player now looks at the 15 available Dixit cards and should determine which cards, in their opinion can be associated with the word for the round, players can associate 1-10 cards with the word.
  Then secretly, each player marks their choices down on their player board.
  Once this is done, the game goes to the next phase.
• Count associations: All players declare how many associations they made (But not what they are.).
  Then everybody puts their player token on the matching numbered space on the game board with the light side face-up. If a single player has chosen more cards than anyone else, they should flip their player token to the dark side and they are now considered to be in the dark. This may effect scoring in the next phase.
• Reveal associations: This phase is played out in turn order, starting with the first player.
  The active player must reveal one of the cards they chose by pointing to it in the central playing area. This will have 1 of 3 outcomes.
  Spark: If 2 or more other players also chose the card indicated by the active player then they all score 2 points, all matching players should mark off 2 stars on their player boards adjacent to the card revealed.
  Super-spark: If only 1 other player has also chosen that card - even better! Both players score 3 stars.
  Fall: If no other players also chose the indicated card, then the active player has fallen. This means that they can not score this card or any further cards later in this round, nor can they reveal anymore cards this round. Although other players may still score off their cards.
  In the dark: If the player who is in the dark also falls, then any cards they have already scored this round have their values reduced by 1. Thus their scored cards will only be worth 1-2 points instead of 2-3.
• Next Player: Once the revealed card has been dealt with, the player on the left becomes active and reveals a card.
• Next round: Once players have revealed all their cards or have all fallen, play progresses to the next round and the following occurs.
  Score: Players should record their scores for the round and wipe their personal board cleans in preparation for the next round.
  New Dixit cards: As determined by the current round token, 1 row of 5 cards is discarded and replaced by a new randomly drawn cards.
  New word card: The current word card is discarded and new one is randomly drawn in its place.
  New first player: The first player token moves to the player on the left.
  A new round begins with choosing associations again.

Endgame
Once the 4th round has been completed, players should total their scores from across all 4 rounds.

Points are tallied, highest score wins.

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Overall
Like it's earlier iterations, Stella - Dixit Universe can be a divisive game, its core mechanic is acutely subjective in nature and it can be a real love/hate thing! Certain types of gamers; those who enjoy the heavier, analytically and mathematically driven games may well be frustrated with a game about trying to guess what other players might think of a particular word. Social skills are important here, it's more about playing the player than playing the game, understanding how they think and what they'll pick.

As with its predecessor, Stella - Dixit Universe uses a mechanism to score more VPs when making a slightly more obscure choice which can trigger a super-spark. I feel the game has the same quirk with the rule as well; players who know each other well will be at a advantage here.

Other than trying to predict what other players will do, there's also a balance between how many associations to make with a word.
Too few and players risk scoring less, while too many could end up costing points, generally it's prudent to err slightly on the cautious side and avoid being the player In The Dark.
It obvious why the rule exists, it's to stop players haphazardly selecting too many words but it's still a little frustrating and also a bit of a finicky rule.

That brings me to the one real bugbear I have with the game and that's the rule with Falling.
If a player Falls, they immediately stop scoring, so if a player falls at their 1st reveal, they score nothing for that round - and worse, other players can still score off them! Conversely, if they fall with their last choice, the damage is minimised.
I know that choices on the order to reveal cards are part of the game and cards which are seen as less risky should be selected fist and the rule offers a genuinely meaningful decision but even so, I found it immensely irritating.

Although perhaps I'm not the best judge, I can be ambivalent with this type of game, it generally doesn't suit my style of play and and maybe I'm a bit too harsh. When I remember to adopt a particular mindset to playing it, there's definitely fun to be had.

Stella - Dixit Universe plays with 6 and veers into party game territory, it's a light crossover game that's pretty easy to pick up and play and will allow non-gamers to get stuck in and enjoy themselves
Treat it as a fun diversion more than a serious game and Stella - Dixit Universe is an enjoyable experience.