Power Grid

Each round proceeds through player order, power plant auctions, fuel purchases, building, and bureaucracy. More connected cities put a player earlier in the order; ties are broken by the highest-numbered plant owned. The first round starts in random order, then order is determined again after the first auction phase using the plants purchased.

Each player may buy at most 1 plant per round and must buy one in the first round. Normally, only the 4 lower-numbered plants in the current market can be auctioned, with an opening bid at least equal to the plant number; refill and reorder the market after a sale. In Step 3, all 6 market plants are available. The usual ownership limit is 3 plants, or 4 in a two-player game; buying beyond the limit requires discarding an older plant.

Fuel purchases and building both use reverse player order. Buy only fuel that your plants can store, normally up to twice each plant's operating requirement. A hybrid plant shares this capacity between coal and oil rather than having a separate allowance for each. Compatible plants may exchange stored fuel; an empty market does not permit unlimited purchases from the bank.

Pay a connection fee for the first city. Later cities extend your existing network: pay the cheapest available route cost plus the fee for the lowest empty space in the destination city. Each player may have only 1 house per city. You may pay to route through cities you do not want to connect or that are already full, and may connect several cities during your building turn.

During bureaucracy, choose which plants to operate. Each requires its full printed fuel requirement and can run only once per round; burning extra fuel cannot double its output. Receive income for cities actually powered, with excess electricity wasted. Used fuel returns to the reserve, then replenish resources for the player count and current Step and update the plant market.

Step 1 permits 1 company per city. Once someone reaches the Step 2 threshold, Step 2 begins after the entire building phase and before bureaucracy, allowing 2 companies per city. For 2/3/4/5/6 players, the thresholds are 10/7/7/7/6 cities respectively. Resolve the Step 3 card according to the phase in which it appears; Step 3 allows 3 companies per city. City spaces have connection fees of 10, 15, and 20.

For 2/3/4/5/6 players, the game-end thresholds are 21/17/17/15/14 connected cities respectively. Finish the building phase after a threshold is reached, then compare how many of their own cities players can actually power this round. The highest total wins, with remaining cash breaking a tie. Triggering the end does not guarantee victory, and connected cities without power do not count toward that winning total.