Overview

Welcome to the energy business! In this game, the players control power corporations charged with electrifying a nation. The players commission power plants, purchase fuel for those plants, build transmission networks and deliver power, earning payment in million of Electros (read: Euros or US Dollars) from the government. How the United States or Germany ended up without power is never told, but it could be that this is a post-holocaust world. You can make up your own stories about how the US or Deutschland ended up without power!

The Bits

Power Grid is published by designer Friedemann Friese’s 2F Spiele in Germany, and by Rio Grande Games in the US. Friese’s humorous hand is in evidence just by looking at the box, which sports a decidedly retro look in terms of cover art. The standard box information for number of players, ages and play time provide even more humor. Even the Rio Grande logo is not spared from the thematic alterations. The box is sturdy, and is longer and flatter than the standard RGG “big box” games licensed from Alea and Hans im Gluck.

The insert is … well, very ordinary. It’s just there to hold the board up near the top of the box. The well underneath it holds the game’s bits. This thing will probably get thrown out once an expansion mapboard is released for the game, and we’ll be keeping the maps at the bottom of the box instead of at the top. The well is spacious enough to hold the game’s bits, plus a bunch of money chips should you desire to add those (see below).

Inside the box is a large double-sided board folded in four. On one side is the map of Germany; on the other side is a map of the United States of America. The maps are colorful, each with regions in six different colors, but the shades are drab, giving an old industrial feel to the game. It’s as if someone mixed some oil or grease into the pigments, making them darker and somewhat “dirtier”. Also provided are wooden houses in six colors – the manual states that one of the colors is black, which would have fit the theme, but my game came with one set of uncolored beige houses, which is a bit close to yellow and much less thematic. Yes, that’s a small quibble. In addition, you get a bunch of wooden markers in four different shapes and colors, representing the fuels used by the power plants. The red radioactive fuel markers are a bit thin and are prone to falling over, which the black oil barrels tend to roll when placed on their sides. More small quibbles. You also get a pack of cards, depicting power plants with their game information. The oil and coal-fired plants are appropriately smoky and depressing, while the eco-friendly no-fuel plants sport bright green and blue colors. Nice touch. There are also five turn summary cards (the sixth player is shafted, or it’s assumed that the guy who owns the game knows how to play and doesn’t need it) and the strangely-named “Step 3” card.



Finally, the most dismal bit – a wad of smallish paper money. I never even bothered with this item – the paper is still snug in its wrapper, untouched. Find some chips to use with the game. Three colors works fine. Ensure that you have enough to give each player $200 in tens or twenties, plus some change in 5s and 1s. You’ll thank me when you have to be the banker. Shades of St. Pete and Goa, publishers should stick to chips for money in auction or purchase games. Or even smallish cards like in Amun-Re. But please, no more paper money. It’s hard to hide, flies around in a breeze, gets crumpled, worn and torn, and is generally really annoying for the banker (i.e., me).

The Game

The game progresses through five “Phases”.

Phase 1: Power Plant Auction

In this phase, players select power plants to be put up for bid. Bidding is open and sequential. The minimum bid is equal to the power plant’s number (plants go from 3 to 50). Players can only purchase one power plant each turn, or none if they choose to pass. Players can own three or four (2P game only) power plants at the most; additional purchases require the destruction of an existing plant. The market is made up of the “current market” (the four lowest-numbered plants) and the “future market” (the four highest-numbered plants). Players can only buy from the “current market”. The “future market” represents plants in development, which only become available once one of the current plants is purchased. A new plant is drawn after each purchase, and the cards rearranged again from lowest to highest.

Phase 2: Fuel Purchase

The “fuel market” is printed on the board. Specific units of each fuel type are available for purchase, at increasing prices. Thus, the more demand there is for a fuel, the higher its price progressively becomes. Economics in a box! Each plant can only store a number of units of fuel equal to double its usage. Filling up your plants with cheap fuel to make the item more expensive for subsequent purchasers is fun and exciting!

Phase 3: Connect Cities

Now we bring our attention to the map. Each map has six “regions” (denoted by color), with each region containing seven cities. Between cities is a pipeline with a connection cost of as low as zero to the high teens (and maybe more in expansion maps). Players establish connections in cities by paying $10 to plunk one of their wooden houses if they’re the first player there. When the game gets to later “Steps” (talk about that later), a second and third player can come in for $15 and $20 respectively. After players first plunk down their first houses, players must connect from that first city, paying the connection fees in between cities. It’s not possible to completely block a player, as “playing through” is possible (though really expensive) by paying all the connection fees between non-adjacent cities.



Phase 4: Fire ‘Em Up!

Now players choose which of their connected cities they want to deliver from the darkness. They’re limited by their power plant capacity, and by the amount of fuel they have. Each plant can only be fired once, cannot be partially fired, and burns up its full cost in fuel. The powered cities can now microwave their TV dinners, watch Survivor, and surf for objectionable material on the internet. The government pays the players for the total cities they power, based on a payout schedule.

Phase 5: Fiddly Stuff

The most expensive plant in the market is now taken stuffed under the bottom of the plant deck, “delayed” by development glitches in irrelevant things like safety and environmental-friendliness. A replacement plant is drawn from the deck and added to the market.

Also, the fuel market is replenished according to a schedule. This schedule isn’t readily visible (it’s not on the turn summary card, it’s on the back of the manual) but it’s important, so check it out and pay attention. Once that’s all done, it’s back to Phase 1 and a new auction.

Steps, Turn Order and More Fiddly Stuff

Did I mention this game is fiddly? The game begins in Step One. That’s what I’ve described above. Step Two happens when someone connects a certain number of cities (varies from 6 to 10 depending on number of players). When this happens, the lowest-numbered plant is ditched, and replaced by a plant from the deck. Also, cities can now take a second player at $15 as described above. The fuel replenishment rates also change.

Step Three occurs when the (surprise) “Step 3” card is drawn from the power plant deck. When this happens, the lowest-numbered plant is ditched, the Step 3 card is ditched, and the future market disappears. In this new age of reason and science, six plants are all available, and the lowest-numbered plant disappears at the end of every phase 5, replaced by a new plant (if there are any left to draw). Remember all those “delayed” plants? They’ll all be appearing now. Also, with Step Three comes deregulation, and the government now allows three companies into each city, with the third occupant paying $20 as described above. The fuel replenishment rate changes yet again.

Player turns proceed with the person having the most cities in their network playing first. If there is a tie for any place, it is broken by the person with the highest-numbered power plant going first. However, phases are played in different directions. In the auction phase, it’s played in standard (player with most cities connected starts) order. However, when purchasing fuels and connecting cities, it’s played in reverse order (player with least cities connected starts). See the strategy section below for commentary on this mechanism.

I Have the POWER! (Victory conditions)

The game ends on the turn that any player connects a target number of cities (varies from 14 to 21 depending on number of players). However, that player does NOT necessarily win the game. The winner is the player who POWERS the most cities on that final turn. That should be the player that connected the last city, unless something kingmakerey just happened. Or someone just goofed big time. The tiebreaker (this is needed a LOT) is who’s got the most cash in his bank account. The next tiebreaker is whoever has the most cities in his network.



Strategy

This game is a bit like Frankenstein’s Monster (or dare I say – the Furunkulus), and not just due to the electric-powered theme. It’s got three major mechanisms, plus two sub-mechanisms that drive the game. None of the mechanisms mesh comfortably or elegantly. I’ve heard players describe them as “confusing”, “jarring” and “out of whack”. Despite that, the game works, sort of like a steam-powered robot with really stiff joints that shambles along awkwardly, but gets to where it’s going. It’s not pretty (mechanism-wise, not visually - I like the look of the game a lot), but it works.

The power plant auction, fuel market and city connection elements are familiar mechanisms. It’s the “Step” mechanism and the play order manipulation that are less familiar, the undercurrents that keep this monstrosity strangely appealing. They’re not phases in themselves, and yet they influence the whole game and understanding how they work is very important in doing well in the game.

The “Stepping” of Power Grid is an artificial game throttle. It controls the pacing of the game, ensuring that things develop relatively smoothly, and dampens the power of money. It’s entirely possible to trigger Step 3 without going through Step 2, if the players stall on connecting cities and concentrate on building up capacity. That will make for a longer game (takes time to accumulate money when supplying just a few cities), but hitting Step 3 will accelerate things due to the high-tech plants and three connections available. There’s a “downhill run” thing going on here, and the game will eventually take you to the end whether you like it or not.

The player order is also artificial, and is easily recognizable as the reins that keep the “leader” in check. I use quotes on “leader” because it’s misleading – leadership in Power Grid is based on potential and position, not on cities connected or the most expensive single plant you own. The little subgames here - of having more plant capacity than anyone else, and yet not possessing the highest-tech plant; and of having a war chest capable of financing connections to several cities and yet biding your time until the last moment before you’re shut out of the connection (noting that the more cities you connect and power, the more money you get) – are the gems in Power Grid’s strategy.

Reviewer’s Tilt

Well, you’re never going to mistake this game for a Knizia or a Kramer/(insert partner here). As mentioned, it’s clunky and unintuitive, it’s fiddly to the extreme, and it’s got that “engineered”, patched and bug-fixed feel to it.

However, just like a Veritech or Battlemech that’s been jury-rigged on the field, it works, and it scales from 2-5 like a champ (haven’t tried it with 6 – I suspect that game length limits will be pushed here, but I’m pretty certain that it will work). Even when playing with the same number of players, the removal of at least one region in each game and the order in which the power plants appear (influencing the fuels bought at market) change the game enough to make each game different. If the players adapt varying strategies, it becomes even more different.

I don’t consider Power Grid to be a great game. It lacks the “it” factor – the elegance, the eloquence, the rush of adrenalin, and most importantly the lasting impression from each hotly-contested victory that truly great games provide. However, it is a very good game that delivers a solid couple of hours of entertainment, many interesting decisions, and a completely different feel from most other games. Each phase is inherently competitive, and those gamers who shy away from the more subtle wiles of the Puerto Ricos and Princes of Florences of the German game scene will find much to like in the screwage to be had. I wouldn’t be surprised if some players will get a vaguely unsettling feeling when playing this game, as if something just isn’t right. That’s how I feel, as if I’m waiting for the game to deliver something that never really does come. Maybe that’s just me.

Fawkes, 10/09/2004