Board Games
How to play Power Grid
Buy plants, fuel them and connect cities. Most cities actually powered at the finish wins; the largest network alone is insufficient.
What you need
Recharged board, plant deck, houses, resources, Elektro and reference cards
Set up the game
- Choose Germany and the player-count contiguous areas. Give 50 Elektro and houses each. Populate resources and prepare the plant deck/current/future markets from Recharged setup tables; preparation differs from the original. Set Step 2 and ending markers.
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Playing Power Grid
- Determine order by connected cities, then highest-numbered plant for ties. Initial order is random.
- Auction in player order, one plant bought per player per round. Usually only four current plants are available. The lowest receives Recharged’s one-Elektro minimum-bid discount.
- Buy resources in reverse order at available market prices. Store up to twice a plant’s operating requirement in legal fuels; ecological plants use none.
- Build in reverse order. Pay the available city-slot price plus cheapest connection cost from your network; occupying intermediate cities is unnecessary.
- Bureaucracy: run chosen plants once, spending full fuel requirements, and receive income for supplied cities. Refill resources and update the market as instructed.
The larger network can lose
A four-player game ends when one player connects seventeen houses but can fuel and supply only fourteen. Another has sixteen connected and fueled capacity for fifteen. The second wins fifteen to fourteen; the first player’s three unpowered houses add nothing to the final supply count.
Step transitions
Step 1 allows one house/city at 10. Step 2 starts at Bureaucracy after seven connected cities, or six with six players; second slots cost 15. Drawing Step 3 changes at its specified next phase: third slots cost 20 and a six-plant market becomes fully available. Follow timing/removal instructions, not a round reset.
Final supply test
End after building when someone reaches 17 cities with three/four players, 15 with five, 14 with six. Check fueled generation against connected cities, without another income payment. Most supplied wins, then cash. Two-player rules use the Trust and an 18-city threshold.
Beginner decisions
- Budget auction, fuel and connections together. An affordable plant can still leave insufficient money to run it.
- Compare increased capacity with replacement cost. A plant’s number is not how many cities it powers.
Common rule mix-ups
- Paying income for every house despite insufficient generation.
- Using auction order for fuel buying.
Questions about this game
How many plants may I keep?
Normally three. A fourth requires discarding one and legally redistributing fuel.
Does the richest player win?
Cash breaks a tie only after final powered-city count.
Sources and edition notes
Power Grid Recharged, base Germany map, three-to-six-player procedure. Two-player Against the Trust and USA exceptions use dedicated sections.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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