Rogue Review – Powergrid

“Unlimited power!”- Chancellor Palpatine

Powergrid is very much the opposite of a Sith Lord. The entire purpose of the game revolves around managing a very finite amount of power. You’re playing the role of a power plant magnate, working to bring power to the masses. You want to be known as the master of power by being the one who can supply power to the most cities. Whoever can power the most, wins the game.

In order to power a city, you need to build infrastructure there, have power plants capable of generating enough power for each city, and the fuel resources in order to run them. At the end of the game, you could be deficient in any one of these areas. Having infrastructure to 20 cities doesn’t matter if you lack the fuel or power plants to power them. The whole game then works as a balancing act between what you can power, what you want to power in the future and saving money for that future.

Production- A

The game comes with lots of little wooden pieces. Most of these serve as the fuel for your power plants. But unlike many games they’re not just different colored cubes. Each piece is a different size and they come in multiple shapes. This helps to make the resources feel distinct. Additionally, each player’s infrastructure pieces are unique colors and shaped like houses, representing you powering all the homes of a city.

The art for the power plant cards is well done.  The ones powered by coal and oil are dark and dingy looking. The green energy plants are lighter and more pleasant.

The base game comes with two different maps, allowing you some replayability and variety.

Theme- B+

Having each of the resources a different color helps each power plant feel distinct. It would be very easy for everything to feel very samey. The different resources also come in different prices and amounts. This helps to simulate a real commodities market. Common resources, like coal, are abundant and cheap while uranium is rare and slow to replenish. But if you’re the only one using uranium or trash, the more expensive resources, it can end up being cheaper due to the lack of competition.

Each turn there is a bidding phase for new power plants and resources. This further grows on the theme of power magnates competing against each other for the ultimate edge. Bidding can get pretty intense when the next most efficient style of power plant comes along.

Gameplay- B

Gameplay starts out feeling kind of complicated. The rule book looks a little daunting, especially given how simple it ends up being. It feels like there are a lot of little rules you have to remember. In reality, the only really complicated bit is set up and recognizing when the three distinct phases occur. Most of this stems from the rule book. It can take some work to find rules as some are placed all around in places you wouldn’t expect.

For example, if you’re not playing with the maximum number of players, you’re supposed to remove some of the power plants from the deck. But in the set-up section, it makes no mention of this. We probably played two or three games before we spotted that rule all the way in the back. Playing with it fixed the one early complaint, that it dragged in the middle. In the end, turn to turn, the game flows pretty well.

Each round you’ll do the same thing and this helps the rules set in and everyone get the groove. First, everyone has a chance to bid on new power plants. How this occurs is one of the game’s most important components. The person in the lead, by how many cities they have infrastructure built in, has to bid first. Each round there are eight plants visible, four you can bid on and four that will be coming up next. When player one bids, everyone else then has a chance to outbid them. This continues until there’s a high bidder. Then, if the first player did not win, they choose the next plant.

Following this route, the last player actually has the best position as they get to select a power plant and no one is left to bid against them (you can only buy one power plant a turn). Next, the last player will get the first opportunity to buy resources. This allows them to buy up all the cheap resources, leaving more expensive ones for the others. Going last has a lot of advantages during the round to round phases of the game.

However, going last runs a risk. The game ends when any person builds into the 17th city. If you were playing the last game, it can be difficult to then try and catch up in the last round of the game. Especially since you build first. If you’re in last place with 14 cities, you play and remain at 14, if the person in the lead then builds their 17th city, game ends that round. You’ll only be able to power a maximum of 14. If the person in the lead can only power 15, even though they have 17, that still beats you.

Expansions- TBD

There are several expansions out there for Powergrid. Some add new maps and I assume new power plants. I have not played them so I can’t really comment.

Conclusion- B

Powergrid does encourage some cutthroat tendencies though so be cautious who you play it with. Some people like that kind of game play, but others do not. There are a lot of ways to screw other players over. During the first phase of the game, only one player can build in each city. You can use this to cut people off, making it really expensive for them to expand. You can also buy resources you don’t really need just to force people to pay more for their resources. Or bid up a powerplant unnecessarily high just to drive the price up. That carries a risk but most actions do.

Overall, its a fun game and worth a few play throughs.