Power Grid

Back to Game Rules Index


Setup

  1. Choose 1 region/player (all must be contiguous), except:
    1. 2er game - 3 regions
    2. 6er game - 5 regions
  2. Each player gets 50 Elektros, and their color wooden houses (power stations)
  3. Randomly determine player order
  4. Resources: starting at x cost and continuing through the end of the resource market, place markers as below:
    1. Coal: x=1
    2. Oil: x=3
    3. Garbage: x=7
    4. Uranium: x=14
  5. Plants
    1. Start with 03-10 in ascending order, in groups of 4 (lowest priced four plants are always the Current Market; next four are the Future Market)
    2. Form the draw deck:
      1. Set 13 plant tile aside
      2. Shuffle remaining tiles; for 2er or 3er game, remove 8 random tiles; for 4er, remove 4
      3. Place Stage 3 tile on bottom, and 13-plant tile on top

Phases

  1. Determine Player Order
    1. Based on #cities; highest = first
    2. Tie-breaker: bigger power station is first
  2. Auction Plants
    1. In player order, choose a plant from the Current Market to auction (min bid = # on tile); if choosing player elects not to choose, he is out of bidding for the rest of the round
    2. Then, all bid or pass; once you pass, you're out of the bidding for this plant.
    3. Highest bid wins. Each player may have 3 plants (4 in 2er game); demolished plants are removed from game. May transfer resources of appropriate type from demolished plant to new one (or between plants).
    4. Draw replacement plant. Again, sort into ascending order; lowest 4 form the Current Market (until Stage 3).
    5. If no plants were bought, lowest # plant is removed from game
    6. Turn #1 ONLY: everyone must purchase 1 plant. Then, determine player order again (as in Phase 1) before continuing to Phase 3.
  3. Buy Resources
    1. In reverse player order
    2. Each plant can hold up to 2 turns of fuel
  4. Build
    1. Extend network to new cities (build stations). Cost = route cost + city cost route cost = sum of costs (printed on board) along path from one house to current location (0 for first house built in game) city cost = 10 for first house in city, 15 for second (stage 2 only), 20 for third (stage 3 only). note: each player may only have one house/city
    2. Note: if Current Market contains plant with number <= #cities of Player 1, remove plant from game and draw new tile
  5. Bureaucracy
    1. Fire plants: In player order, use fuel and fire plants - get paid for each of your cities you can supply with power:
      0-10 1-22 2-33
      3-44 4-54 5-64
      6-73 7-82 8-90
      9-98 10-105 11-112
      12-118 13-124 14-129
      15-134 16-138 17-142
      18-145 19-148 20,21-150
    2. Replenish fuel in Resource Market from right to left, according to # players: 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
      1. 2er
        Stage: 1 2 3
        Coal 3 2 3
        Oil 2 2 4
        Garbage 1 2 3
        Uranium 1 1 1
      2. 3er
        Stage: 1 2 3
        Coal 4 5 3
        Oil 2 3 4
        Garbage 1 2 3
        Uranium 1 1 1
      3. 4er
        Stage: 1 2 3
        Coal 5 6 4
        Oil 3 4 5
        Garbage 2 3 4
        Uranium 1 2 2
      4. 5er
        Stage: 1 2 3
        Coal 5 7 5
        Oil 4 5 6
        Garbage 3
        		 3 5
        Uranium 2 3 2
      5. 6er
        Stage: 1 2 3
        Coal 7 9 6
        Oil 5 6 7
        Garbage 3 5 6
        Uranium 2 3 3
    3. Change Plants
      1. Stage 1 or 2: Place highest plant (Future Market) face down under draw pile, draw new plant tile
      2. Stage 3: remove the smallest plant from the game; draw replacement. Continue playing even if draw pile exhausted.

Stages

  1. Start of game; up to 1 player/city.
  2. Starts when anyone builds their 7th house (10th in 2er game, 6th in 6er game)
    1. When first entering stage 2, discard lowest plant from Current Market and replace it
    2. May have up to 2 players/city
  3. Starts in the phase after the "Stage 3" tile is revealed.
    1. If revealed during...
      1. Phase 2: place tile at end of Future Market. When phase over, discard lowest plant and "Stage 3" tiles; do not draw replacements..
      2. Phase 4 or 5: remove lowest plant and "Stage 3" tiles from game; do not draw replacements.
    2. Current Market now has 6 plants, and there is no Future Market
    3. May have up to 3 players/city
    4. Change phase 5: remove smallest plant from game, draw replacement (it is possible to exhaust draw pile; keep playing)

End of Game