Rio Grande Games Power Grid Deluxe

I knew I wanted to add Power Grid to my board game collection so I opted for this updated 10th anniversary version rather than the ever-popular original because of the new artwork, power plants, money tokens, and natural gas resources. I also was attracted to the idea of the new Trust 2-player game, which I will discuss momentarily.The components are all very sturdy feeling, and thankfully the money comes in quarter-sized chips rather than paper. The main problem I have with the money tokens are their denominations, which include 1s, 5s, 10s, and 50s. I would like to have 20s or 30s since breaking 50s introduces more room for mathematical error, but this is not a big issue. I like that the two sides of the game board are different than the original. One side is North America and the other is Europe. The new board is big enough to house the auction tracks on its pre-designed spaces, which are also new, but the game board reaches at least from edge to edge width-wise of our 27.5"x 60" card table. This means there is no player room along the edges, so we have been keeping our power plants on the board itself in areas that are blocked off from use.After two two-player games, I can honestly say that I really dislike the Trust variant, and I will probably never play with it again. It bothered me that the Trust never actually has any money. It simply gets all of its power plants, resources, and generator/cities for free. It just didn't feel thematic or smooth at all. The way the Trust player works is that until he runs out of generators in his supply, he gets a free generator every time a player buys and connects a new generator to their power grid. Because he only "buys" the 4th (and 6th in step 3) smallest power plants, they NEVER actually power all or even very many of his cities, but he still always occupies the 2nd place player position, which determines player order. He is only there to clear out the small power plants, occupy spaces, and drive the resource market up.Altogether, I like this game a lot, and I don't think the Trust variant or the money denominations should impact my rating since they are actually notable improvements over the original's 2-player game and paper money.I plan on trying out The Robots expansion with this version and comparing that experience with the way the Trust played out in our previous games. I will post an update with my thoughts.-----Update 1/19/2015-----While I hear the other Power Grid expansions are not supposed to be compatible with the Deluxe version, the Robots expansion does not have any version-specific elements, and it worked great during our games. My husband and I recently played a couple of two-player games that each had two robots. It is my opinion that I will never be using the Trust two-player variant ever again, and instead I will be incorporating the robots into our games as they offer a superior two-player experience. It adds a little more work on the human players' parts, but since we each had a robot to control, we found that everything went along pretty smoothly.Though we slightly lost both games to one robot or the other, it was challenging and fun. The second game was a three-way tie (human-human-robot) that came down to mere dollars, and had us retracing our final steps to defeat.Therefore, if you are looking to buy Power Grid Deluxe because you have heard the two-player variant is better than the original, I would still have to suggest you reconsider. There are a lot of reasons to buy this version over the other, and I don't regret my decision whatsoever, but I think my husband and I will consistently invite a robot to join our two-player games from now on (Besides, the expansion is only $10 and it fits in the Power Grid box).

Our friends recently taught my husband and I how to play the original Power Grid and we quickly became obsessed. We're used to playing strategy games like Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Pandemic etc but I feel that Power Grid is slightly more challenging. It could be that I'm still figuring out the best strategy to win -- but either way it's keeping my interest! We ordered the Power Grid deluxe for a slightly better challenge and to have the option to play it two player. It's similar enough to the original version that it was easy to learn with reading the instructions once. The game board is bigger than the original -- so if you order this make sure you have a big table. I had to stand up to reach across the board. It comes with plastic money pieces instead of paper which is really nice. The two player version was fun and challenging and we'll definitely play again soon (especially since my husband won and I have to get even!)

This set is nice but it could have been better. If you own the original version, you don't need to get this "deluxe" update because it isn't really that much of an upgrade. The map of North America and Europe is larger and more brightly colored. It is somewhat better balanced in that players going first or second don't get an overwhelming advantage with the connection costs, but it's subtle more than eye popping. The power plants use natural gas instead of trash for a fuel but that is hardly a huge change. There are a few rules changes regarding power plant bidding and resource replenishment, but they do not amount to anything huge. The biggest downgrade is the money. Instead of using paper Monopoly style money, they use disks which are hard to handle and hard to read. We actually used the old paper money from the original set rather than the new disks. If you don't own Power Grid, then by all means this is a nice set to own. But you don't need to replace the original game with this new version. The subtle tweaks don't merit the investment.

Heard this was a must have game. We play others like castles of burgundy far more than this one

Ok, so I love board games and HATE learning how to play them. Too little attention, I guess. This game is complicated at first, I won't lie. It will take some time to understand and to set up. However, once you learn how to play the game, you will actually enjoy it a lot. It is fun and challenging and sticks very well to the 2 hour expected play time. Our friends enjoy it too and it was well worth the money. Many other board games have gotten boring over time, but this one has remained fun since we started playing.I don't recommend this to anyone under the age of 14. I think the set up and learning the rules would be too slow for a younger teen or kid.

For reference, we play ALL games, from basic party games to word games to complex strategy games.We liked the idea of the game and bought it based off a recommendation by a friend, but we saw many issues. For example, we would get to a point where it was clear who the winner was, but we had to keep playing. I think this could be improved with some changes in rules and gameplay, but as it is, it's one of our least favorite in our large collection of games.

Great game. The deluxe version is very cool. Bigger board with some thoughtful changes. Worth your time if you enjoy strategy and board games! Only recommendation to the manufacturer - start including something that will help players organize their money coins. They're hard to keep track of.

A lot of instructions. You need some one who knows how to set up board and play. Or you need several hours and a lot of patience to figure it out