So enough of my long love history of Power Grid. Let's move on with the review.......
The Rules:
As with most of my "Shockers" Reviews, I won't delve much into the rules as I'm hoping most of you know how to play or have visited a much deeper review that included all aspects on how to play. Call me lazy, that's a lot to type. Anyways, the object of the game is to be the person to be able to POWER the most cities. Power meaning, having the right power plants to power the cities you have purchased. Certain power plants require certain resources like coal, uranium etc. Those power plants can also only power a certain number of cities. Some plants can power 1,2,3,4 or more cities. The catch is you are only allowed three power plants and there are only so many resources available to all the players. You also are only allowed to keep so many resources on hand.
You take turns purchasing cities, purchasing resources, bidding on power plants based on how far you are in the game. This is all based on how many cities you have purchased.
So that's the basic gist of it. There's more to the rules but that's a good dose of what you need to know.
The Gameplay/Mechanics.
The gameplay is not as hard as one would think it'd be. It may take a few games to realize what you need to do. For some people, they'll get it after one game and for others a few. Just depends on how each persons mind works.
There is no dice involve which I love the most. I am not a big fan of dice games. Probably one of the dislikes I've heard most from the people I play with is that the leader is at the biggest disadvantage. What I mean by this is the person with the most cities is 1.) first to bid on power plants so he can't get in on the good power plants that may come up for auction later 2.) He is the last person to buy resources so he could get trapped and 3.) He is the last person to buy cities which sucks as well. (And when I say "He" I also mean she cause I do play with girls too
) So when you play you kind of want to be in the middle of things, I'd say. Don't want to get off to a big head start cause that may hinder you.Most of the people I play with all tend to move really slow and try to stay at the tail end and then sneak up for the victory. That's what I do nearly all the time. People hate it.
What I love about the game is the mechanics, There isn't much luck involved. Probably the biggest "luck" aspect are the power plants. Its very possible for some bad power plants to come up that are similar to what everybody has or ones that people don't even need. So you're stuck for a couple rounds.
The pace of the game is kind of slow for the first couple of rounds. Just everybody buying one city or two at a time. Once Step 2 and especially Step 3 hits, then you really have to be on your toes trying to guess what your opponents are doing to counteract it. The game length will easily run you over an hour but you almost don't realize it which is best.
There's really no set strategy to win the game. Maybe a best....well for me at least. As I stated earlier, I stay behind the pack and save up money, make sure i'm stocked on resources and then try to end the game in one quick round buying up as much as I can. Sometimes it doesn't work cause I don't raise enough money since I'm pretty far behind and other times it does. Its certainly not fool proof.
Final Thoughts:
This is my first Eurogame i've ever owned so it has its sentimental value to me. Its the one that got me hooked to the games and to BGG. I've introduced this game to about eight other people, two of whom have purchased the game. All of whom have loved it though.
The game is still in perfect condition as it is made with very sturdy material. There are new maps and even power plant cards to add to the replayability.
I thoroughly recommend this game to everyone who doesn't have it in their collection yet. HOpefully what you've read here can sway you to that position.
Final Verdict: My Favorite Game.
Posted Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:19 am
