The Basics
Power Grid is a medium-heavy economic game, with a strong network-building aspect. Players will bid on power plants, buy fuel for them, and connect cities on a map of either the US or Germany. The game will favor those who are able to use the ebb and flow of the power plant and resource markets, and those who are able to be the most cost-effective with their network. The winner is the one who is able to power the most cities at the end of the game.

The Bits
As is common with all of Friese's designs, there is a copious amount of green in the graphic design. It actually looks pretty good. Many have griped about the cover, but it has a fun kind of 1950's look, and I find it appealing.

Considering that the theme sounds spectacularly dull, the game looks really good. The board is double-sided, one side having a map of Germany, and the other with a map of the USA. Both are clear in their connection costs between cities. They only get a little hard to read when the cities get close together, but this is more a problem on the expansion maps (I'm thinking of Italy and Korea particularly). It's nothing that can't be dealt with however.

The power-plant cards are of an irritating square size that makes them hard to shuffle, but they are well-illustrated and clear in their information. I especially like the little details, like the smoke belching into the air on the coal and oil plants. The conversion rate for each plant cannot be misinterpreted. It is very clear how much of which resource powers however many cities. The card stock is good, though I always prefer lenin-textured cards.

There is a pile of little wooden pieces. These are all of typical German quality. Each player color (six in total) comes with 22 houses, two of which are used for markers for number of cities and player order. That leaves 20 houses, which is silly when you think that each person needs 21 if they are playing a two-player game. I'm not sure if it would have been that much trouble to make one more in each color, but what do I know? The resources are also wooden pieces. There are four different types (coal, oil, garbage, and uranium). Considering three of them are the same color as a player color, they aren't very confusing at all, since the shapes are fairly distinctive. The only complaint here is the oil are little round cylinders. They have a tendency to roll around, and are hard for my big hands to pick up.

The game also comes with paper money, which is no-ones first choice. Poker chips are always nicer when you have them, but paper money is fine when you don't want to lug a case of chips around.

All in all, the game looks good. My biggest complaints are the card-size, and the paper money, but those are more nit-picks. The game has a lot of character in its pieces, and that helps bring the theme through.

The Gameplay
Power Grid is a fairly linear game, where each turn is divided into phases, and where each player takes turns in each phase. That makes downtime a little more tolerable. In general, threaded turns are one of my favorite game-play mechanics, and this game is a great example of that. This is combined with a larger stage system, where the game goes through three large sections. After a change over into the next stage, the game escalates somewhat. That provides some extra tension.

The auction is surprisingly tense. It is usually easy to tell who will need to buy a plant in any turn, and since you can see what's coming up, you can try and bid on a plant to make someone else take it, and it will move another plant up. Be careful with that though; buying a plant you don't really want or need is a waste of money. This is the one part of the game where being in first is an advantage, since you can dictate the flow of the auctions.

Buying fuel is also tense, especially with more players. The player in last place goes first, and buys whatever they want. The problem is, the more in demand a fuel is, the more people will end up paying for it. This is one of the best mechanics in the game, where players can buy up a resource when its cheap, making players down the line pay an arm and a leg for it. It's a great way to screw others, and it makes the game just that much more tense.

Adding cities to your network is the most costly thing in the game, unless you get bid up on a plant you need. Again, the player in last place goes first. You can connect to any city on the board for a price (although there is always at least one section that is off-limits, depending on the number of players). That means you are rarely stuck, but it makes for another layer of tension.

As you can read from these descriptions, this is a tense game. A good bit of planning is necessary, particularly when deciding what plant to buy and where to connect. Still long-term plans are almost always fouled up, and that means you will need to adjust them on the fly. Many have complained about the math element, and its definitely there, but it is not nearly as strong as others will lead you to believe. I am the type of player who plays from the gut, and I still enjoy this game tons. Player interaction is pretty strong, and this is the sort of game where you are competing amongst other players for limited resources (like Ticket to Ride, though with more strategy), rather than competing against the game, while other players try to beat the game better than you (like Agricola).

Is It Suitable for Non-Gamers?
More than you think. The strategy of the game won't be evident right away, so it might be frustrating for gaming neophytes, but it is not that hard to teach, as long as one player knows how to play. The rules flow well, and the theme helps a lot. The one caveat is that new players will not have memorized the myriad adjustments that need to be done to the game throughout gameplay.

The Downside
The game is quite fiddly. By that, I mean that there are tons of tiny rules that need to be adjusted, depending on different circumstances. This is especially bad with the plant market, where you need to toss a plant card out for about five different reasons, and the transition between stages, where a couple things change each time. These are easy to forget, but missing one can throw the game somewhat. That's a irritating design aspect, but something of a necessary one.

The math element will not appeal to some, but I don't think it's as strong as others say.

There are a couple endgame issues. The final auction is incredibly important, and you can often call who's going to win after that last auction, without playing until the end. You want to play to the end, to see if you can win on the tie-breaker, but you can still usually call it. This hasn't been a problem in every game, but its there.

Finally, the game is only REALLY good with four or more. It scales well, but it's meant for more people. A three-player game is fine, but it removes the tension of getting shut out of a city. A two-player game is only alright, since the auction lacks some tension and you can get to whatever city you like earlier in the game. Four or five is the sweet spot, and six is fun too, although it can run a little long.

The Bottom Line
Power Grid is one of my very favorite games, second only to Ticket To Ride. It would pass that one up too, if it could be played as often. It is a game that rewards long-term planning, but someone with a keen sense of tactics will do well as well. It stays tense, and is surprisingly accessible. Every gamer should have a copy of this in their collection.