Power Grid is the updated release of the Friedemann Friese crayon game Funkenschlag. It removes the crayon aspect from network building in the original edition, while retaining the fluctuating commodities market like Crude: The Oil Game and an auction round intensity reminiscent of The Princes of Florence.
The object of Power Grid is to supply the most cities with power when someone's network gains a predetermined size. In this new edition, players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then bid against each other to purchase the power plants that they use to power their cities.
However, as plants are purchased, newer, more efficient plants become available, so by merely purchasing, you're potentially allowing others access to superior equipment.
Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials (coal, oil, garbage, and uranium) needed to power said plants (except for the 'renewable' windfarm/ solar plants, which require no fuel), making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand your network to get the cheapest routes.
Power Grid FAQ:
Power Grid FAQ - Please read this before posting a rules question! Many questions are asked over and over in the forums.
Power Grid: Theme Park – exclusive to the BGG Promo Set (and includes the Essen 2008, 2009 and 2010 promo cards)
Notes:
The expansions France/Italy, Benelux/Central Europe, China/Korea, Brazil/Spain & Portugal and Russia/Japan include new double-sided game boards. These change the game by not only changing the characteristics of the geography, but also by changing the rules for power plant availability, resource availability, tying plant ownership and/or resource availability and/or price to geographic regions on the map, etc.
The EnBW and Mégawatts editions are the standard base game bundled with different boards (Baden-Württemberg/Germany and Québec/France respectively.) The Baden-Württemberg and Québec maps are available separately in a limited expansion Québec/Baden-Wuerttemberg. The USA/Germany map (provided as part of the standard base game) is not available separately to owners of those editions.
A quick and short reference of Initial resources, Resource supply rate, and rules changes of all the Map expansions, as well as a summary of The Robots expansion.
A set of money counters to use with Power Grid (1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 denominations). There are two pages; the first page is for non-hidden money (the denomination is printed on both sides) and the second page is for hidden money (all counters have a common back).
Print (3 copies of a page is more than enough money) and mount to illustrator board or cardboard.
Map is based on the official Powewr Grid and used authentic power station names.
Includes rules in Polish and English.
Mapa oparta na oficjalnej mapie sieci najwyższych napięć i autentycznych nazwach stacji energetycznych.
Zawiera zasady po polsku i angielsku.