Power Grid

2004 | Business / Industrial | Economic

Power Grid is the updated release of the Friedemann Friese crayon game Funkenschlag. The latest cooperative publishing effort from Friedemann Friese and Rio Grande Games,removes the crayon aspect from network building in the original editionwhile retaining the fluctuating commodities market like McMulti and an auction round intensity reminiscent of The Princes of Florence. The object of Power Grid is to supply the mostcities with power when someone’s network gains a predetermined size. Inthis new edition, players mark pre-existing routes between cities forconnection, and then vie against other players to purchase the powerplants that you use to supply the power. However, as plants arepurchased, newer more efficient plants become available so you’repotentially allowing others to access to superior equipment merely bypurchasing at all. Additionally, players must acquire the rawmaterials, like coal, oil, garbage, or uranium, to power said plants(except for the highly valuable ’renewable energy’ wind/solar plants),making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximumefficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand yournetwork to get the cheapest routes.