Power Grid

2nd Session, (roughly) 5:15 pm:

Zach will compete with up to Five (5) other power brokers in Power Grid!


Power Grid is one of those rare cross-over games that is actually popular. Heavy gamers like Power Grid. Light gamers like Power Grid. Eurogamers and Ameritrash fans both like Power Grid. And Electrical Engineers love Power Grid because it is a game about generating and distributing electrical power after all and there aren't too many of those.

Each turn flows in a logical pattern: you decide if you want to build a new power plant or not, you buy fuel for your power plants, and you decide how many cities you'll provide power to. Then those cities pay you some lovely money. Hey! Don't spend that on cheap garden equipment and $5 osculating fans! You need to invest that money back into your infrastructure dude! As the game progresses, new types of power plants are available that will power a larger number of cities. Will you be the first to use nuclear power? Perhaps you want to avoid pollution and stick with wind power -- the fuel cost is sure cheap that way.

The game can meander along fairly peacefully but gets more frantic as the end looms. Then usually at the end of the game there's a mad rush to power as many cities as you can with at least one person caught thinking they'd get one more crucial turn.

For those who love playing Power Grid the designer has produced several alternate maps for variety. There is also an alternate power plant deck coming out in the near future.

PS There isn't any real electricity in the game so don't expect powering your cities to look exactly like it does in the photo.