The Ludarium Academy · Full course · Free

Bid, Burn, Build

An unofficial Power Grid course

Learn Power Grid Recharged, teach it in ten minutes, and win the auctions, fuel fights, and city races that decide who keeps the lights on.

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Power Grid Recharged setup: the board with four connected regions in play for four players, every house on 0 of the cities track, a random turn order, the resource market stocked with coal, oil, garbage, and uranium, the power plant market with four current and four future plants, the draw pile, the discount token and auction hammer, the refill card, and each player's 22 houses, 50 Elektro, and payout card.Free printable teach sheetSetup, a turn, scoring, and three tips on one page.

Six levels, 21 lessons

Start with lesson one

  1. Level 0 · Learn to play

    Lineworker

    After this level: Set up, teach, and run a full game of Power Grid Recharged, bureaucracy and fuel refills included, without opening the rulebook.

    1. 01How to Play Power Grid
    2. 02How to Teach Power Grid
    3. 03How to Run Bureaucracy in Power Grid

  2. Level 1 · Beginner

    Operator

    After this level: Avoid the beginner traps, price any build in the right order, open with a plan, and keep cities, plants, and fuel in step.

    1. 04Your First Three Games of Power Grid
    2. 05Power Grid Route Math: How to Price Every Build
    3. 06Power Grid Openings: The First Three Rounds
    4. 07Power Grid Money: What the Payout Card Teaches

  3. Level 2 · Intermediate

    Engineer

    After this level: Use turn order on purpose, forecast fuel prices, value plants in the auction, and choose maps and expansions for your group.

    1. 08The Power Grid Midgame: Turn Order, Fuel, and Step 2
    2. 09The Power Grid Resource Market: Supply, Refill, and Scarcity
    3. 10Power Grid Auction Strategy: What Is a Plant Worth?
    4. 11Power Grid Player Counts, Variants, and Expansions

  4. Level 3 · Advanced

    Dispatcher

    After this level: Count the final round, track the plant deck to Step 3, win the two-player game, and read every rival's cash and needs.

    1. 12Power Grid Endgame: Step 3 and the Final Round Math
    2. 13Tracking the Power Grid Plant Deck
    3. 14Two-Player Power Grid: Playing With the Rival Company
    4. 15Reading Your Opponents in Power Grid

  5. Level 4 · Tournament ready

    Director

    After this level: Play the five-player tournament table, read a new map in five minutes, and finish a clean game in under two and a half hours.

    1. 16Five-Player Power Grid: Playing the Tournament Table
    2. 17How to Read a New Power Grid Map
    3. 18Playing Power Grid on a Clock: Count Fast, Count Right

  6. Level 5 · The championship path

    Magnate

    After this level: Know how the WBC event runs, solve final-round puzzles, and follow a six-week plan into your first tournament heat.

    1. 19Competitive Power Grid: WBC and Local Play
    2. 20Power Grid Final-Round Puzzles
    3. 21A Practice Plan for Tournament Power Grid

Every lesson is free to read here, any time. Sign up and they also arrive by email, one at a time, so the course keeps you learning between game nights.

Who it is for

  • New players who want the five phases clear before the first auction.
  • Hosts who teach Power Grid to a group that has never seen it.
  • Players who keep finishing one Elektro short and want to know why.
  • Anyone curious about expansion maps, two-player rules, and tournament play.
Players
2 to 6
Play time
About 120 minutes
Ages
Ages 12 and up
Rules as of
Power Grid Recharged (Funkenschlag Recharged Version), the current edition: 2F-Spiele rulebook, rules copyright 2018, plus 2F-Spiele's 2020 errata for older expansions. Rio Grande Games publishes the English edition.

Questions

What is the phase order in Power Grid?

Every round has five phases: determine player order, auction power plants, buy resources, build, and bureaucracy. The leader goes first in the auction, but last when buying resources and building. That is the game's built-in catch-up.

Who wins Power Grid?

The game ends after the build phase in which someone reaches the end trigger, such as 17 cities with 3 or 4 players. The winner is whoever powers the most cities in that final bureaucracy, not whoever has the most cities. Ties go to the player with the most money left.

How does the resource market refill in Power Grid?

In bureaucracy, you add markers from the supply as the refill card for your player count and step shows. You fill the most expensive empty spaces first. Fuel that players burn goes back to the supply, not straight onto the market.

How much does it cost to build a city in Power Grid?

You pay the city space, 10, 15, or 20 Elektro, plus the cheapest route of connections from a city already in your network. In Step 1 each city holds one house, two in Step 2, and three in Step 3, and you always take the cheapest open space.

What changed in Power Grid Recharged?

Compared with the classic edition, Recharged starts with a random market of plants 03 to 15, puts a discount token on the smallest plant every auction phase, and adds two-player rules with a rival company. Plants also no longer leave the market when a player's city count reaches their number.

Teach sheet · PDF · Rules as described in the Power Grid Recharged (Funkenschlag Recharged Version), the current edition: 2F-Spiele rulebook, rules copyright 2018, plus 2F-Spiele's 2020 errata for older expansions. Rio Grande Games publishes the English edition.; official rules.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with 2F-Spiele or Rio Grande Games. Power Grid and Funkenschlag are trademarks of their respective owners.