I was inspired to create a retrospective game for agile teams, based on the game Dixit. Dixit is a game that makes use of picture cards. Each of these cards has an unusual drawing on it. The Agile Learning Labs team used it recently in one of our sprint retrospectives and it worked well. Give it a try with your team and leave a comment to let me know how it works for you.

• Dixit Cards
• Dixit Cards Images

Is a brand new way to play classic board game Dixit on iOS and Android. You can play without any time limit for free and buy news cards and items inside the game. Amazon's Choice for 'dixit cards' Asmodee- Dixit 2 Quest Board Game, Italian Edition, Multicoloured, DIX02IT. 4.8 out of 5 stars 867.

Materials required:

A full set of Dixit picture cards is used. The rest of the supplies from the standard Dixit game are not used.
Each team member should have at stack of index cards, at least five.
Each team member will also need a pen.

Game Play

The team sits around a table. The deck of Dixit cards is shuffled and each team member is given six cards (this can be adjusted up or down as desired). The rest of the deck is placed in the center of the table face-down. Players take turns being the leader. The tallest person (or shortest, or what-ever) is the first leader.

The leader looks through their six cards and chooses one that represents something that happened during the sprint. For example, let’s say the team had to create a lot of documentation this sprint and so the leader selects this card from their hand.

The leader places this card face-up in the center of the table.

Each player, including the leader, writes what they think the card represents on an index card, and then the index cards are placed face-down in front of each player. When each player has an index card in front of them, the player to the left of the leader turns their index card over and explains what they believe the Dixit card represents. That player leads a brief discussion of the event on their index card, and the discussion concludes by recording any potential action items for the team to consider.

The next player to the left then reveals their index card and the process repeats until it is the leader’s turn. The leader then reveals what they intended the card to represent. If the topic has already been identified by one or more team members, then each team member that correctly guessed the meaning of the picture gets a point and so does the leader. If no team member guessed the intended meaning of the Dixit card, then the leader facilitates a discussion about the topic and potential action items are recorded; no players receive points in this case. The leader then discards the Dixit card and draws a replacement from the top of the deck. Now the player to the left of the leader becomes the new leader and the process repeats. Continue for as many times around the team as feels productive.

Once the main game play is completed, the team considers the various action items they have collected and selects one or two of these to schedule into the coming sprint as the outcome of the retrospective. Oh, and the player(s) with the most points win a fabulous prize.

Beautiful Dixit cards as a diverse tool for trainers to use in get-to-know, teambuilding, storytelling and many more contexts

Created by a child psychiatrist, Dixit is a communication game with beautiful artistic cards. The goal of the original game is to choose associations for the cards that at least some of your co-players will guess, but the real beauty of the game lies in its versatility, making Dixit cards a great tool for many trainers.

Each pack of Dixit cards includes 84 evocative images and they can be used in many creative ways. Some of the more straightforward ones are in storytelling, presentation skills, self-awareness development and team building. They can also be used for goal setting, personal planning or anything else where the power of visualization and imagination can be beneficial.

Dixit cards are also great for getting-to-know-you and icebreaker activities, encouraging sharing with a visual prompt. Because of their dreamlike artwork, the cards can be inspiring, playful, stimulating and even relaxing.
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Dixit Cards

Story Time

Have participants pull out a random card and tell a story about it. You can set a time limit for the story (e.g. 3 or 5 minutes) or give complete freedom to the storyteller.
To make it more challenging or encourage more creativity, the same can be done with 3 random cards.
If you prefer to make it a team effort, have each participant in a group of 3 or 4 pull out a random card. Their group goal is to collectively build a story using their cards. For an additional challenge, they can do it in silence, using only non-verbal communication. After a certain time (set by you) or once they have agreed on a story, they line up according to their story order and tell their part of the story one after another.
good for: storytelling, icebreaker activities, teamwork

Answer a Question

Each participant chooses one card and shares why they chose it as an answer to one of the following questions (depending on your goals, training topic and timing of the exercise):
“How am I feeling at this very moment?”
“What would I like to be?”
“What do I fear the most?”
“How was/is this event for me?”
“Which card do I relate to the most?”
good for: icebreaker activities, getting feedback, sharing

Prompt a Solution

When faced with an issue, use one or several of the cards as random stimuli to generate more ideas. You can pull out a card and think of ways it is related to the problem, or think how the card can be presented as a solution.
good for: brainstorming, problem solving, ideation

Storytellers & Artists

Dixit Cards Images

Choose one person who will be the «storyteller», with all the other ones taking the role of «artists». The storyteller chooses or is given a card and has to describe it for the artists to draw the image following the description. You can allow or forbid the artists from asking additional questions. This activity can also be done in pairs, with the storyteller and the artist sitting back to back.
good for: teamwork, communication, challenging assumptions

Action Plans

When used for closure of a training or an event, participants can choose a card representing them or their actions in the future, creating anchors for their action plans.
good for: goal setting, inspiration, visualization

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Agile Dixit

Dixit cards can also be used with agile teams during retrospectives. Each team member chooses a card representing something that happened during the sprint, and other team members write what they think the card represents.
Find more instructions by Chris Sims at the link: http://www.agilelearninglabs.com/2013/07/dixit-sprint-retrospective-game/
good for: creative thinking, goal setting

Many of these games can be done with a set of diverse printed photos or even art personally drawn on cards.

P.S. Not sure which edition to start with?
Our personal favorites are the Odyssey and Origins editions – just beautiful!