Boardgame for Energy Nerds: Power Grid review
Renowned for trouncing my family at Catan, though rarely skilful enough to defeat my most fearsome rivals [1], I was especially excited to learn about the upcoming release of Catan New Energies. This version focuses on climate change, and without my knowledge, my brother and sister-in-law had even already pre-ordered it for me. Yet in Bloomberg’s coverage of similar climate games, they left out my favourite energy-nerd boardgame: “Power Grid.”
The premise is to build an electricity empire. Released in 2004 as an English version of an originally German game (of course it was German…), Power Grid is grounded in real-world engineering and economics. Players are given a map of their country’s grid, for example the USA or Germany, and some start-up cash. They then purchase power stations, build connections to cities, and power them at the end of each turn to earn cash. Profits are reinvested until a player builds a certain number of cities. The person who can supply the most cities with electricity at the end of the game wins.
The first challenge Power Grid deals with is producing electricity. Players can invest in a mix of options, including coal, oil, waste, nuclear and renewables. The capital expense grows with the size of the plant, though they become more efficient. Renewable power plants are more expensive to build, but are free to operate.
Players then buy fuel for their power stations during the game, which is in limited supply. To protect against shortages or price increases, players can stockpile twice as much as the capacity of their plants. Fuel becomes more expensive as the game progresses, exacerbated if every player is competing for the same resources, instead of diversifying their energy supply.
Power Grid illuminates a second difficulty about managing electricity: the grid infrastructure. Players can choose where they build their grids, with obvious starting points that connect to a lot of cities and allow for expansion opportunities later in the game. The cost of expanding to the next city reflects how far away that city is, and its population. Longer power lines cost more money, as do larger power lines to meet demand. Players can also block off access routes to other cities. This creates somewhat of a monopoly, reducing the incentive to connect to cities that are isolated, in favour of focusing on more competitive areas in the short term.
What is so powerful about Power Grid (pardon the pun) is how it feels grounded in real places. Players from the countries featured on the boards will delight at the nuances. In Australia, where I am from, the grid is broken up into isolated sections, which makes gameplay very difficult. Cities are also very far apart, which makes expansion an expensive strategic decision. Australia also has large uranium deposits but does not have any nuclear power. In this version of the game, players can instead earn money from uranium exports. The Middle East edition has a scenario where oil is abundant at first but later runs out. The South African version heavily features coal, while India’s considers the impact of power outages.
Power Grid won’t be for everyone. Gameplay takes several hours, especially the first go around, and its engineering focus may be too niche for most game enthusiasts. However, it is an effective tool for teaching basic principles about our energy systems and the trade-offs of different power sources and network decisions. It’s also incredibly fun.
[1] Until we meet again, Shannon… 😊