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How to Win at Power Grid

Power Grid, better known in Germany as Funkenschlag, is a highly popular board game produced by Rio Grande Games. A perennial favorite and often seen in the Top 10 on the Board Game Geek website, Power Grid has simple rules but complicated strategy. You need to balance expansion on the map with acquisition of good power plants, as well as watching the resource market carefully.

Instructions

- 1
  Buy a good starting plant. The 04 plant is very popular among experts, although the 07 and 08 plants are also decent choices since they will allow you to power two cities from your very first turn.
- 2
  Place cities to avoid getting boxed in. You'll want to avoid placing on the edge of the board unless you are the last player to place and nobody else is nearby.
- 3
  Buy resources while they are cheap. Especially if you bought the 04 plant in step 1, you should buy all the coal you can hold.
- 4
  Bid on plants with ever-increasing capacity. Once you have a plant that powers one city, make sure your next plant can power two cities, your next plant three cities, and so forth.
- 5
  Pay attention to what resources other players need for their power plants. Try not to be dependent on the same resources, or your prices will be very high.
- 6
  Build stations in cities where other players already have stations. If your opponents all share the same cities, you may end up shut out.
- 7
  Buy high-capacity (5 or higher) power plants as soon as you can, even if it means bidding twenty dollars above face value.

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