Power Grid
Power Grid is a highly acclaimed and popular game, second only to Puerto Rico in BoardGameGeek ranking. Despite its dry theme - administering a national power grid - and emphasis on arithmetic, it is an engaging experience that most players enjoy thoroughly regardless of whether they win or lose.
The components that come with the basic game include a deck of cards representing the power plants consuming different resources (oil, coal, garbage, uranium or renewable energy), painted wooden pieces to represent these resources, and a double-sided mounted map board with the option of playing in the USA or Germany. Official expansion maps are available, as is an alternative power plant deck; unlike expansions for many other games, the prices for these are very reasonable. Many unofficial expansion maps are also available freely on the internet.
Each turn consists of: a round of auctions to purchase new power plants, purchasing resources to fuel those plants, expanding the power grid, and firing up plants to collect income. For each of these phases, players act in an order designed to disadvantage the game leader and help the game loser ... er, lagger ... and thus keep the game competitive from beginning to end. Each phase represents a game-within-the-game, with many decisions likely to impact at least minimally on other players. Officially, each player's bankroll is kept secret; while this may have an impact on serious or competitive play, most casual games can be played with open money.
The representation of the resource market follows a simple but effective supply-and-demand economic model. Resources in abundance may be purchased cheaply, while a resource that is scarce is more expensive. The demand for resources depends on which power plants players have purchased. If all players are competing for fossil fuels, the price will escalate like today's oil prices. The worst-case scenario is that another player may buy the last of a resource that you need, leaving you unable to power your cities.
As the game progresses, players can improve the efficiency of their power grid by taking on new and more expensive power plants capable of powering more cities with fewer resources; this also enables one's resource focus to be changed, for example, from fossil fuels to uranium or renewable.
The game ends when a player builds a certain number of cities, depending on the number of players. The winner is whoever can power the most cities that turn. Ties are won by the player with most cash, hence the saying, "Money isn't everything, but it is a tie-breaker in Power Grid."
The designer, Friedemann Friese, insists that the game is more fun when players don't plan ahead in copious detail and budget right down to the last Elektro (i.e., dollar). I agree that Power Grid should be played as a light game and not a brain-buster. While it is occasionally frustrating to fall a couple of Elektros short of what you need that turn, it's rarely a game-breaker. This is definitely a game you'll play more than once.
My rating: 9 out of 10 Elektros.