Power Grid

Power Grid is the English-language edition of the multiplayer German-style board game Funkenschlag (in its second incarnation) designed by Friedemann Friese. Power Grid is published by Rio Grande Games.

In the game, each player represents a company that owns power plants and tries to supply electricity to cities. Over the course of the game, the players will bid on power plants and buy resources to produce electricity to provide power to the growing number of cities in their expanding network.

Game play

The game comes with a double-sided board with a map of the United States of America and Germany on either side.

In each round, players buy power plants in an auction, buy resources to power their plants, build new cities to power, and collect income.

The game ends after one player builds a fixed number of cities. The winner is the player who can supply electricity to the most cities with his network. Tie breakers first look at who has the most money, then the most cities.

Funkenschlag

The original game of Funkenschlag had players draw their networks using crayons instead of playing on a fixed map. This feature (along with other changes) was removed when Friedemann Friese reworked the game. The new game is also called Funkenschlag in the German market, but is sold under various names elsewhere.

Editions

The game is currently available under various names for different markets, most featuring the same game play. A few editions, however, offer a slightly different play...
Read More