Power Grid
Our family has been playing a new board game called Power Grid.
At first we were a little intimidated because it seemed complicated. So we played the first few games with some scaled back adoption of the complete rules. I've played Avalon Hill board games since I was a teenager. That was a really long time ago. So complex board games are fun for me, but as for the rest of the family, it has to be very compelling to play if there's a lot of rules. After about two "beginner's games" we were playing with all the rules active.
Power Grid has become a new favorite in our home. Let me share a bit about it. First off, I purchased the game from Thought Hammer. They've become a great resource for engaging fun games for our family. Power Grid can best be described as a business building game. Each player purchases power plants of varying designs, resources to operate those power plants and then connects up a network of cities for delivery of power. The winner of the game is the player that can power the most of his or her own cities at the end of the game.
The overall quality of the game is first rate. It comes in a sturdy box and has many wooden colored pieces and colorful cards. The board is beautiful.
We've grown to enjoy the tactile feel of picking up the resources and putting them on our power plants. The game provides opportunity for interesting strategy too. We've noticed that you often do not know who will actually win the game until the last turn. It's often that close. The only complaint about the game is that we hate using the paper money. So I went out to Nobbie's (a party supplies store here in Omaha) and purchased a very nice set of plastic poker chips. Using the chips for money makes the game play better.
Our 11-year old plays the game very well and it's still challenging enough for the parents. It plays well with 2 players and 3. Melissa and I play it after our little one goes off to bed.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
