So I just ordered Power Grid

Lusankya

It arrives Wednesday. I'm pumped. Anything I should know to get started? I want to get a grip on the game mechanics with a few of my friends (we're starting to expand our geek umbrella to board games as well) before I introduce it to the rest of our group.

Also, should I have grabbed the expansions right away to take advantage of the shipping discount? I didn't want to sink money into expansions on a game I don't own yet, but I'm starting to wonder if that was a smart move.

Schnevets

I didn't buy the expansions when I picked it up, and I really don't have any regrets. The map packs don't add anything to the gameplay, it just provides a little variety (in fact, there are some custom maps on Board Game Geek I haven't tried yet). I can see how the card pack may be tempting, but it's not a big deal.

As for the actual game, you will want to play a few 1 round games before diving into a complete game, because there are plenty of opportunities for newbie mistakes. I was fortunate that I brought the game to a Game Club meeting, so every game (we played 3 quick games over 4 hours) had a mix of new people and some people who already learned the rules.
One rule which threw us off, though: Your cities do not need to be next to each other. You can leap over some occupied cities if you pay all of the connection costs.

phurballdj

Congrats on picking up this awesome game. To answer your questions:

- I wouldn't worry about the expansions right away -- the game comes with two maps (Germany and U.S.), which will provide plenty of game variety for the time being. I would start with the German map; the U.S. map can be frustrating if you are new and are starting out West, due to the high connection costs between cities. But then again, if you already bought the expansions, that's cool too.

- Depending on your level of gaming experience, your first game may take some time (2-3 hours) as you try to grasp the rules. There are several things going on (auctions, changes in turn order, purchasing resources, buying city connections, income) which, while not difficult to grasp separately, can be a bit overwhelming as a whole if you aren't used to it. Keep your instructions and reference cards handy to get the order of things down.

- I agree with Socha about starting with a 1-round or 2-round game to get a feel for what's going on.

- Try not to spend too much time figuring out how much you can spend during the auction, how much to spend on resources, etc., as it can potentially slow the game down big-time.

Have fun!

JoeLamer

You can expect the first game to be just learning. Once that is over you should have some kind of an idea how the game really works and what you should be doing. The next game will be just pure fun. And that come from a person that really hates to do any math when playing board games :-)

There was a long time I did not own Power Grid but once I bought it I also got all the expansions on one go from a web shop in France (I live in Europe). The only expansion we have played so far is China/Korea and that pretty good.

If you have lots of time there's also a free expansion in BGG (www. boardgamegeek.com) called Atolla Modulis. I've played that once and it was lots of fun (with the islands named after board game designs/designers).

Lusankya

Thanks for all the input. I'm falling in love with this game the more I play it, but there's one thing that has me a bit confused. I don't have the rule sheet handy, but there's a line about how you're supposed to remove the lowest number power plant from the game when you enter step 3. There's no clarification as to whether this applies to all power plants, or just the ones in the market. All the other rules are very specific and make a point of clarifying whether they apply to just the market or the entire power plant pool. I'll quote it once I get home and I have the rules in my hand... Does anyone know what I'm talking about from my vague description? ^_~

Apreche

Thanks for all the input. I'm falling in love with this game the more I play it, but there's one thing that has me a bit confused. I don't have the rule sheet handy, but there's a line about how you're supposed to remove the lowest number power plant from the game when you enter step 3. There's no clarification as to whether this applies to all power plants, or just the ones in the market. All the other rules are very specific and make a point of clarifying whether they apply to just the market or the entire power plant pool. I'll quote it once I get home and I have the rules in my hand... Does anyone know what I'm talking about from my vague description? ^_~

You remove the lowest power plant from the market.