How to Play

Power Grid

2-6 players 120-120 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

Players build electrical networks by connecting cities and purchasing power plants through auctions. As better plants become available, buying early may help opponents access superior technology. Players must also secure fuel resources like coal and oil. Victory goes to whoever powers the most cities when networks reach a predetermined size, balancing plant efficiency, network expansion, and resource management.

Published 2004

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Prepare the initial power plant market

Take out power plant cards 3–15 (or 1–13 with The New Power Plants expansion) and shuffle these cards

Create the market display

Draw the top 8 cards, sort in ascending order by number, place the 4 smallest in the current market (top row) left to right, and the remaining 4 in the future market (bottom row) left to right

Set aside reserve cards

From the remaining 5 power plant cards, set one aside face down and remove one from the game without looking at it

Prepare the main power plant stack

Set aside the Step 3 card, shuffle the other 29 power plant cards, randomly remove 5 cards face-down to the box without looking

Assemble the final stack

Shuffle all remaining power plant cards, place face-down next to the market, put the Step 3 card face-down under the stack, then place the reserved card face-down on top

Note card strength indicator

The color-coding on the stack's top card shows if it's a stronger plant (light backside) or weaker one (dark backside)

Set up the Trust's area

Create a space next to the board for the Trust's power plants

Give the Trust components

The Trust receives 16 houses of its own color plus one house for player order (no house on scoring track, no money)

Determine starting player

Randomly select the first player and place her house on space 1 of player order

Set Trust player order

Place the Trust's house on space 2 (Trust is ALWAYS second in player order throughout the game)

Place second player's house

Place the other player's house on space 3 of player order

Choose the playing zone

Select a contiguous zone of 3 adjacent areas on the map

Place Trust's initial houses

Place 6 Trust houses on the number 10 spaces of 6 adjacent cities using alternating placement:

Set up Trust's house supply

Place the remaining 10 Trust houses as a supply next to the game board

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Maintain Trust position

The Trust is always second in player order regardless of network size or power plants

Start the auction

The first player chooses a power plant in the current market to auction or opts out

Conduct bidding

Only the two human players bid for power plants; the Trust never participates in auctions

Trust takes its power plant

After one player buys a power plant OR after the first player opts out, the Trust takes the biggest (fourth) power plant in the current market with no auction

Handle Trust's three-plant limit

If the Trust owns 3 power plants, it only takes a new one if the market plant has a bigger number than its smallest owned plant

Handle double pass without Trust acquisition

If both players opt out and the Trust does not take a new power plant, remove the smallest power plant in the current market from the game and draw a replacement, then rearrange the market

Trust acquires resources

The Trust takes all necessary resource tokens for all its power plants for normal production (enough to supply electricity during Phase 5)

Trust storage rule

The Trust never stores resources in its power plants

Handle resource shortages

If not enough tokens are available, the Trust takes as many as possible

Handle hybrid plants

If the Trust owns a hybrid power plant, it alternately takes 1 coal and 1 oil while both are available (always starting with coal)

Respect blocked cities in Step 1

Players cannot connect to the six cities where Trust houses were placed on number 10 spaces during preparation; these become available when Step 2 starts

Trust blocks new cities

As long as the Trust has houses in its supply, each time a player connects a new (empty) city, place a Trust house on the number 15 space of that city

Blocking effect

The first 10 cities connected by players are blocked during Step 2 and can only be connected by the other player during Step 3

Trust does not trigger Step 2

Trust houses only block first or second spaces and do not count toward triggering Step 2

Trust returns resources

The Trust places all resource tokens from its power plants back into the supply next to the resource market

Resupply the market

Players re-supply the resource market according to the 3-player table