Power Grid
By KindaGamey On February 29th, 2008I have been obsessed with board games lately. In fact, I look over at my xbox 360 and just shrug sometimes because it doesn’t offer me the same brain-bending kind of interaction and tight, interesting gameplay decisions. The problem is, I don’t have enough readily available nerds willing to play. Or perhaps, I’m too embarrassed to ask them.
The quintessential place to go for board game knowledge:
boardgamegeek.com —— Top Games List
Here’s my latest additions:
#1. Puerto Rico (2-5 Players, 1-2 Hours)
Of all my slave trading games, this is my absolute fave. It has a very interesting dynamic whereby you don’t really directly compete. You are working on your own little plantation and producing products to sell or ship and the gameplay flow is very engaging because everyone participates in each phase of the game and you always have a little project you are working on. For me, the ending score is more of a toss-up and I’m mostly just having a good time. I really like the theme – it makes me want to put on a straw hat and a flowery shirt and drink rum.
#2. Arkham Horror (1-8 Players, 2-3 Hours)
This one is more of an adventure-type game. In a HP Lovecraftian Call of Cthulhuian world there is a city called Arkham that gets overrun by portals to other dimensions out of which beasties of all sorts are pouring out. This is a “roll a dice to attack the monster with your +3 Tommy Gun” sort of game. It has little markers for everything including your health and sanity and I just love little markers. This one was not listed in the ‘best of’ of boardgamegeek’s top games list (actually, neither is Carcassonne), but I bought it because the players cooperate rather than compete. I also appreciate quality and the components are very well crafted. I’ve played one game by myself, which was ok I guess, but I’d be curious to take on a new demon with some other people along. I think 4 players is probably a good number for this game and the atmosphere is fantastically rich if you have an imagination and aren’t a curmudgeonly stick-in-the-mud.
#3. Power Grid (2-6 Players, 2-3 Hours?)
This is the one I want to play next. Bidding for power plants, connecting cities, getting paid. The resources that power those cities are more expensive if more people are buying them (interesting, like the law of supply/demand) and the fight over spreading your territory to power more cities is one which I would like to see with more people in the mix. All of these games are such different experiences depending on the number of people.
Do you love board games? Do you love Scotsmen in kilts? Do you love gay?
If so, you are going to love this video. It actually features a guest star, the guy that made the game (Friedemann Friese) which is pretty cool. For our Spanish-speaking readers I have added the translations at the bottom. (No I didn’t.) I wish I had watched this before trying to slog through the manual with my girl. Those silly Germans called the steps Phases and the phases Steps. That’s ridiculous! Obviously a phase is a container and a step is a mechanism within it, not the other way around. Are you with me on this?
p.s. Anyone up for Happy Hour tonight? Maybe some Power Grid?
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