Power Grid

2004 · Industry / Manufacturing

Power Grid

Players build and expand an electrical network across a map by connecting cities and buying power plants through auctions. Each turn players bid for plants, then purchase fuel from a changing market to operate those plants and supply power to connected cities. Newer plants enter the market as older ones are bought, offering more efficient options that influence bidding and long-term strategy. Players balance spending on plant upgrades, fuel acquisition (coal, oil, garbage, uranium), and network expansion to increase the number of cities they can power before the game end triggers.

Players
2–6 best 5
Playing time
120 min
Age
12+
Complexity
3.2 / 5
7.7 on Ludoyafrom $35.74EconomicMarketVariable Set-upNetwork and Route Building

About the game

Photos from Ludoya tables

All photos in Ludoya
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Víctor N
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Josele
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Eric
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by neogeneration
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by neogeneration
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by neogeneration
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Chrno
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Chrno
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by neogeneration
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by neogeneration
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Dídac
  • Power Grid on the table, photo by Giannis

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
928
Plays logged
1,288
Players
2h 7m
Average play
382
In collections
33
On wishlists

7.7/10

from 208 Ludoya reviews

  • Mestremuten9.0

    Rating: 4/5 Production value: 4/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 1/1

    Played it 9 times

  • Toni Cutillas7.0

    - Base -

    First impressions · 1 play

  • Tomol8.0

    A great game of connections with a great economy system

    No plays logged

Read the reviews and rate it

Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

How is player order determined each round?

The player with the most cities is first; ties are broken by who owns the largest‑numbered power plant — place that player in first and continue likewise (Phase 1). (See page 3.)

How many power plants can I own — what if I buy a fourth?

Normally a player may own only 3 power plants; if you buy a fourth you must immediately discard one of your other plants and may move matching resources to your remaining plants, otherwise returned to the resource supply (not the market). (See page 3; 2‑player exception listed on page 7.)

How much resource can each power plant store — can I stockpile?

Each power plant can store up to twice the number of resources it consumes when producing (but it still only produces the stated number of cities); hybrids may store either resource they use, ecological plants store none. (See page 4.)

When do we buy resources and who buys first?

Resource buying is Phase 3 and is done in reverse player order (the last player in turn order buys first); you may only buy resources for plants you own and only up to each plant’s storage limit. (See page 4.)

How many cities can I build in one turn and do they have to connect?

You may add any number of cities in a round as long as you can pay the connection and building costs, but every new city must connect to your existing network (you cannot start a second network); place your house on the lowest available price slot in the city. (See pages 4–5.)

What if there aren’t enough resource tokens to re‑supply the market?

If the supply lacks enough tokens you only place what remains (resources in the game are limited); uranium is refilled one token per specified high spaces and is never placed more than once per space. (See page 6.)

Opens Ludoya's rules assistant, which reads this game's rulebook.

Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.