‘Powergrid’ by Friedemann Friese.
Gamesnight 24th January
Dicken is momentarily confused by the arrival of Paul B and Kendall. ‘You look like twins…’ he expostulates. A brief check in the mirror reveals this to be utter nonsense, despite sporting vaguely similar glasses and hairstyles. Some time later Paul H arrives; without confusion, despite sharing the same first name as Paul B. Now had Paul H’s friend Adam been able to make it, things could have been more complicated – we will only find out the truth of that if and when he can get along.
Adam’s absence prompts Carol to forgo the joys of working on her lap-top and instead join tonight’s game (‘PowerGrid’) as fifth player. Dicken breaks out copious amounts of nibbles, cans are opened and an explanation of the rules ensues.
The rules for ‘PowerGrid’ are impressively concise, but explaining them takes rather longer than might be anticipated. Some minutes after starting and Carol is wearing a vacant expression, beginning to mutter about ‘having to play a game to understand it…’
And so the game begins.
The first phase is when players have a chance to buy a power plant; coal, oil, refuse, nuclear or wind-power. These are of different values, starting cheap and then randomly more expensive. Paul H is unsure and in the first auction he buys an oil burner for rather more than might have been expected. ‘Is that a good buy?’ is met with polite consideration. Dicken is the final purchaser and gets the cheapest station (coal) for its minimum value – but is that a good buy?
Well that may depend on the fuel available. The more plentiful the supply, the cheaper it costs. Coal is King until too many stations start devouring it. Uranium rods start massively expensive, but as time passes become a more attractive proposition. Wind power costs nothing – Kendall (tight-fisted as ever) quickly develops a ‘farm’.
‘PowerGrid’ is a highly rated game on BGG and not surprisingly. Most decisions are challenging. The next one is critical – which city to start building your power network from. Spiller refused to play on in his first game, having positioned himself between Kendall and Dicken’s network and then been squeezed like a ripe plum. The map itself is deliberately un-balanced, creating jeopardy particularly for first time players.
Dicken places in the Western red province, far and away the cheapest place to build. The map is of Germany; an irrelevance to this gathering, but maybe of interest to others. The much travelled, Paul B queries the position of Hamburg ‘It’s a port!’. ‘Thankyou, Paul’. Mistrusting advice as well as the geography, the two Paul’s slip away to the East, leaving Kendall to challenge Dicken’s potential dominance. Carol holes out in the South. Map play thereafter is fairly predictable; starting relatively uncontested and then as cities are powered up, networks crash into each other with game-determining effect.
Paul H comments that this is not a game for Sarah (his wife). At her last gamesnight Sarah took to flicking counters in between turns; the resources neatly arranged on their track wouldn’t stand a chance.
Not that the game is particularly difficult or that there is excessive down-time. More that ‘Power Grid’ demands game-playing of a certain intensity. Details have to be attended to, not least those pertaining to turn order. The leading player calculation is based on powering most cities and then on highest value power station. So far so good; things complicate when reversing the order (and both calculations are used each round). In this latter instance player’s compare their highest value power station, the lowest of which gets priority. A bit brain twisting, especially when the beer tastes good.
None-the-less the game motors along with all players having the satisfaction of seeing their power stations improving and their network expanding. Paul H keeps asking who we think is winning. It’s not obvious, but the suspicion is that he isn’t.
Confirmation of this comes after the fifth cities are connected. The map is becoming congested, prices are rising and money is getting tight. Another turn and Carol, Dicken and Paul B link to their sixth and penultimate cities. Paul H is struggling to find space for more than five cities and though Kendall’s windmills are merrily spinning, he too is hemmed in and needing two more cities. At least he has opportunity to save his cash and ultimately it is capital that counts.
The final round sees Kendall ploughing his money into jumping Carol’s cities and connecting to and powering up two cities in the vacant South. Carol and Dicken manage to get their seventh cities and power them up. Consequently the winner is determined by how much money (‘Electros’ – am I missing something?) each of the three have left. Kendall has 44, Carol 34 and Dicken 31. The two Paul’s both have six cities powered up and share fourth place.
A much enjoyed game and much inconsequential analysis follows. In summary;
the map layout is contentious, the turn order is confusing, the power stations are consummate, but we enjoyed it and will play again – next time the full game and not just the recommended introductory ‘first step’. Dicken eschews that playing just to the end of the ‘first step’ (read ‘section of the game’ for this interesting turn of the translation) is not very satisfying because there are obviously huge differences between what is possible in the first stage and what ultimately can be achieved in the full game. I suspect he is correct in this, so bring it on!
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