Game Review: Power Grid

So last night we finally opened my copy of Power Grid that, through a dealer's room gift certificate, I won from Bayou Wars a few months ago. I knew what the game was about, but I still kept thinking "Where are the dragons? Where is my sword?" However, we had a very enjoyable evening playing this fun, economy based game.

The objective of Power Grid is to be able to supply power to the most cities by the end of the game. It utilizes several different and engaging game mechanics as players jockey for board position by purchasing cities and routes to power them, bid on power plants, purchase raw materials such as Coal or Oil, generate income, and manage resources. The player who powers the most cities in his network by the predetermined city limit (set by the number of players) wins the game.

Power Grid is not overwhelming in its components. It consists of a game board, several colored tokens to represent the players and resources, power plant tiles, and Monopoly-like colored currency called Electros. It also includes several plastic baggies to hold the various tokens. Game set up is pretty quick and easy. Power Grid is designed for 2-6 players.

Game play breaks down into several phases, and each phase has a few steps. Without going into too much detail, players take turns bidding on the currently available power stations. The power station types are Coal, Oil, Garbage, Oil/Coal hybrid, Nuclear, Wind, and the technologically advanced Fusion Reactor, which we affectionately dubbed "Nemo's House." However, not all of these power plants are available at one time. As power stations are purchased, new ones become available. Power plants use raw material to supply power the player's cities. Some of the power stations are more efficient in using their raw materials than others, and appropriately, cost more. Bidding on the power stations is a very fun and strategic portion of the game.

Once players have their respective power stations, it is time to purchase the raw materials needed to power them. These are Coal, Oil, Garbage, and Uranium. Wind power stations do not require a purchasable raw material to generate power, as they are powered by the wind. Free power! This is a very nice advantage, as it frees up resources for other things. There is a set production of how many of each raw material type becomes available in the market each turn, but the amount of materials that is available is set by the players. For example, if several players are using Coal powered Power stations, the amount of Coal available will decrease as players purchase Coal. Also, as the supply of a material decreases, the cost of the material increases. So if everyone is buying Coal, the last player will be paying more for his Coal than the first player. Again, some "strategery" here as you can see which players need which material and you can drive the cost of materials up. Or even corner the market in a specific material completely. (I'm looking at you, Seth!)

With all stations purchased and fueled, it is time to power some cities. In order to do so, players choose a starting city location during set up on the map portion of the game board. Each city has one or more power lines connected to it and other cities. These power lines form the network of interconnected cities, or "power grid", that players buy into to supply power. Each city has a price and each power line has a price that must be paid in order for a player to move into a city. The cost of the city is dependent on the phase of the game, while the cost of the power line is set by the game board. For example, a player starts in Atlanta. He decides he wants to move into Savannah. He must pay the total of the cost of the power line from Atlanta to Savannah and the cost of building into Savannah. Only so many players are available in a city at a time. As the game goes on , more players can build in a city, but a city can only support three players maximum. Therefore, you can cut other players off from neighboring cities forcing them to branch farther out to supply power, increasing their building expenses.

Lastly, players now "hit the switch" and power up their networks and earn income. The amount of income earned is based on how many cities a player is powering. The more cities, the more income. Sustaining a large network is expensive and a certain amount of diminishing returns is possible if not managed correctly. Once this phase is complete players take the next turn and repeat the process.

In general, that is playing Power Grid. There is lots going on and lots to do! The combination of different strategies, engaging game mechanics, and resource management makes for a very fun game. Decisions, decisions! "Everyone is using Coal or Oil. A nice Garbage Plant just came up for auction and Garbage is cheap and plentiful now. But I need to move into two cities to maximize my income, as I am really low on Electros. Hmmm....what to do?!?!" You really have to pay attention not only to what you are doing, but what the other players are doing as well. They can directly mess up your plans! The base game has maps for the United States and Germany. There are also several expansions to change game play up a bit and add more maps to play on. I think Seth wants to play in Japan. I am looking forward to playing in China! All in all, Power Grid is a game worth checking out.

Power Grid was designed by Freidemann Friese and is published by Rio Grande Games.

Enjoy!

-Wicked