Shar-Pei

Power Grid

Notes

We are playing on the Spain and Portugal map and a designer deck. Energy Crisis expansion is not in play (1 in favor, 1 opposed, 3 abstain). Power plants will be noted in the following format: XX Fuel I→O (FF), where XX is the power plant number, “Fuel” is the type of fuel it takes, I is the number of inputs, O is the number of cities it powers, and (FF) is the amount of fuel stored on it, if any.  Power plants 13, 15, and 16 will be placed on top of the deck at the start of Step 2.

Turn 1

Bidding

TRC opens the bidding on power plant 04 at 4 Elektros.  Industria Optimum bids 5.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS passes.  NTO passes.  TRC bids 6.  Industria Optimum passes.  Power plant 11 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 05 to the current market.

Industria Optimum opens the bidding on power plant 03 at 3 Elektros.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS passes.  NTO passes.  Power plant 42 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 06 to the current market.

Power Hungary opens the bidding on power plant 06 at 6 Elektros.  GEGS passes.  NTO passes.  Power plant 26 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 07 to the current market.

GEGS opens the bidding on power plant 05 at 5 Elektros.  NTO bids 6.  GEGS bids 7.  NTO bids 8.  GEGS bids 9.  NTO bids 10.  GEGS bids 11.  NTO passes.  Power plant 57+ is added to the future market, pushing power plant 08 to the current market.

NTO spends 7 Elektros for power plant 07.  Power plant 29 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 11 to the current market.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Industria Optimum connects to Sosnoweic for 10 Elektros (power plant 01 is discarded, power plant 28 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 26 to the current market) and Czȩstochowa for 15 Elektros (power plant 02 is discarded, power plant 09 is added to the current market).

TRC connects to Česke Budĕjovice for 10 Elektros and Wein for 24 Elektros.

GEGS connects to Katowice for 10 Elektros and Ostrava for 14 Elektros.

Power Hungary connects to Bratislava for 10 Elektros and Trmava for 12 Elektros.

NTO connects to Banska Bystrica for 10 Elektros and Budapest for 22 Elektros.

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 2

Bidding

NTO opens the bidding on power plant 20 for 20 Elektros.  Power Hungary bids 21.  GEGS passes.  TRC passes.  Industria Optimum passes.  NTO passes.  Power plant 19 is added to the current market.  NTO opens the bidding on power plant 08 at 8 Elektros.  GEGS bids 9.  TRC passes.  Industria Optimum passes.  NTO passes.  Power plant 23 is added to the current market.  NTO opens the bidding on power plant 11 at 11 Elektros.  TRC bids 12.  Industria Optimum passes.  NTO bids 13.  TRC bids 14.  NTO passes.   Power plant 46+ is added to the future market, pushing power plant 26 down to the current market.  NTO opens the bidding on power plant 09 at 9 Elektros.  Industria Optimum passes.  Power plant 36 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 28 to the current market.

Industria Optimum buys power plant 26 for 26 Elektros.  Power plant 33 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 29 to the current market.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 3

Bidding

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 4

Bidding

NTO opens the bidding on power plant 28 at 28 Elektros.  Industria Optimum must pass.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS passes.  TRC passes.  Power plant 22 is added to the current market.

Industria Optimum opens the bidding on power plant 29 at 29 Elektros.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS passes.  TRC passes.  Power plant 16 is added to the current market.

Power Hungary passes.

GEGS opens the bidding on power plant 17 at 17 Elektros.  TRC passes.  Power plant 34 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 33 to the current market.

TRC passes.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 5

Bidding

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 6

Bidding

Industria Optimum opens the bidding on power plant 22 at 22 Elektros.  NTO passes.  TRC passes.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS passes.  Industria Optimum discards power plant 03.  Power plant 44 added to the future market, pushing power plant 33 to the current market.

NTO opens the bidding on power plant 33 at 33 Elektros.  TRC bids 34.  Power Hungary bids 35.  GEGS passes.  NTO passes.  TRC bids 36.  Power Hungary passes.  TRC discards power plant 04.  Power plant 37 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 34 to the current market.  NTO opens the bidding on power plant 34 at 34 Elektros.  Power Hungary bids 35.  GEGS bids 36.  NTO bids 37.  Power Hungary bids 38.  GEGS bids 39.  NTO passes.  Power Hungary bids 40.  GEGS bids 41.  Power Hungary bids 42.  GEGS passes.  Power plant 40 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 35 to the current market.  NTO bids 35.  GEGS bids 36.  NTO bids 37.  GEGS bids 38.  NTO bids 39.  GEGS bids 40.  NTO passes.  GEGS discards power plant 08.  Power plant 60+ is added to the future market, pushing power plant 36 to the current market.  NTO buys power plant 36 for 36 Elektros, discarding power plant 09.  Power plant 38 is added to the future market, pushing power plant 37 to the current market.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 7

Bidding

Fuel Purchase

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 8

Bidding

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

GEGS connects to Krakow for 19 Elektros, Łódź for 22 Elektros, Banská Bystrica for 21 Elektros, and Warszawa for 22 Elektros.

NTO connects to Nyíregyháza for 22 Elektros, Kecakwmé for 21 Elektros, Szeged for 20 Elektros, and Graz for 25 Elektros.

TRC connects to Wroclaw for 25 Elektros, Poznan for 24 Elektros, and Byogoszcz for 22 Elektros.

Power Hungary connects to Linz for 26 Elektros, Česke Budějovice for 23 Elektros, Salzburg for 24 Elektros, and Innsbruck for 25 Elektros.

Industria Optimum connects to Gdnya for 10 Elektros and Szczecin for 24 Elektros.

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 9

Bidding

Industria Optimum opens the bidding on power plant 39 at 39 Elektros.  Power Hungary passes.  NTO passes.  TRC passes.  GEGS passes.  Industria Optimum discards power plant 29.  Power plant 46+ is added to the market.

Power Hungary opens the bidding on power plant 46 at 46 Elektros.  NTO passes.  TRC bids 47.  GEGS bids 48.  Power Hungary bids 49.  TRC passes.  GEGS passes.  Power Hungary discards power plant 34.  Power plant 60+ is added to the market.

NTO opens the bidding on power plant 44 at 44 Elektros.  TRC passes.  GEGS bids 45.  NTO bids 46.  GEGS bids 47.  NTO bids 48.  GEGS bids 49.  NTO bids 50.  GEGS bids 51.  NTO bids 52.  GEGS passes.  NTO discards power plant 28.  Power plant 57+ is added to the market.

TRC opens the bidding on power plant 57+ at 57 Elektros.  GEGS bids 58.  TRC bids 59.  GEGS passes.  TRC discards power plant 23.  Power plant 50+ is added to the market.

GEGS buys power plant 40 for 40 Elektros, discarding power plant 17.  Power plant 42 is added to the market.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

Adjust Power Plant Market

Turn 10

Bidding

TRC opens the bidding on power plant 60+ at 60 Elektros.  Power Hungary bids 61.  NTO bids 62.  Industria Optimum bids 63.  GEGS passes.  TRC bids 64.  Power Hungary bids 65.  NTO bids 66.  Industria Optimum bids 67.  TRC bids 68.  Power Hungary bids 69.  NTO bids 70.  Industria Optimum bids 71.  TRC bids 72.  Power Hungary bids 73.  NTO bids 74.  Industria Optumum bids 75.  TRC bids 76.  Power Hungary bids 77.  NTO bids 78.  Industria Optimum bids 79.  TRC bids 80.  Power Hungary bids 81.  NTO bids 82.  Industria Optimum bids 83.  TRC passes.  Power Hungary bids 84.  NTO passes.  Industria Optimum bids 85.  Power Hungary passes.  Industria Optimum moves 2 oil from power plant 32 to power plant 37 and discards power plant 32.  Power plant 52+ is added to the market.  TRC bids 50 on power plant 50+.  Power Hungary bids 51.  NTO bids 52.  GEGS bids 53.  TRC bids 54.  Power Hungary bids 55.  NTO bids 56.  GEGS bids 57.  TRC bids 58.  Power Hungary passes.  NTO bids 59.  GEGS passes.  TRC bids 60.  NTO bids 61.  TRC bids 62.  NTO bids 63.  TRC bids 65.  NTO bids 66.  TRC bids 67.  NTO bids 68.  TRC bids 70.  NTO bids 71.  TRC bids 73.  NTO bids 74.  TRC bids 75.  NTO bids 76.  TRC passes.  NTO discards power plant 30.  Power plant 54+ is added to the market.  The power plant draw deck is exhausted.  TRC opens the bidding on power plant 52+ at 52 Elektros.  Power Hungary passes.  GEGS bids 53.  TRC bids 54.  GEGS bids 55.  TRC bids 57.  GEGS bids 58.  TRC bids 59.  GEGS passes.  TRC discards power plant 57+.

Power Hungary opens the bidding on power plant 46+ at 46 Elektros.  GEGS passes.  Power Hungary discards power plant 21.

GEGS buys power plant 50 for 50 Elektros, discarding power plant 35.

Fuel Purchases

Grid Connections

Bureaucracy

Power Cities

End of Game

End of Game Statements

Chris Geggus (GEGS):  Maybe one day. The rest of you do seem to have a more intuitive feel for the game, whereas I seem to just struggle from turn to turn. Even on the last turn I thought I was heading for 19 cities, but my calculations were obviously off again. Congrats to Kevin and thanks to Chris.

Kevin Wilson (Industria Optimum):  I learned a lesson with Power Grid in this game, watch the coming resources. I could have ended it last turn but got shut out of oil to fuel the plants.  I wasn’t watching that closely enough and didn’t see the limits coming into play.  By then I was committed and was going to remain exposed to oil but got a little bit lucky in that first, I finally got off the lead with others buying bigger plants and second, was able to diversify away from oil just a bit with only one oil plant to come.  That left me with access to the cities that Gegs couldn’t block going before me and the cash to make the connections.  Early on (turn 4?) I didn’t want to pass but the plant I wanted was in the future market so I picked a plant I thought others would want and no one bid.  I got stuck with it and ended up in the #1 spot the rest of the game and, as a result, got shut out on resources in the penultimate turn.  But, no one else could trip 18 and win so another round we had and that let me use the cash I had accumulated.  Once it was clear I wasn’t going to get off the #1 spot it was just a plan to generate as much cash as possible and hope for a break, which did finally come.

I wondered if Gegs might just play spoiler the last turn.  I didn’t think he could win.  If he let me get oil then I get to 20 cities and he couldn’t.  If he shut me out of oil again by buying 54+ and all the oil he still couldn’t win cause it would use up his cash but could have kept me from winning too.  So, I wasn’t sure if he’d want to just mess with me or not.  Turns out he didn’t.  Thank you! ;-)

Thanks to Chris for running the game as usual and to the rest for playing.  At least no stupid math errors like 2 or 3 games ago when I missed a whole plant opportunity for poor arithmetic.

Dave Hooton (Power Hungary):  Kevin had a big financial advantage in this game. After the fourth player shoehorned himself into the center/south, Kevin had the entire north to himself. Note that he was able get to 20 cities by a margin of only 4 Elektros. On the other hand, I missed ending the game on the previous turn by less than 15 Elektros.

I did make one mistake during the final turn. I thought Chris G. could improve his position from fourth to third by buying Plant 54+ instead of Plant 50 along with the remainder of the oil, sending Kevin to the rear. What I didn't realize was that the extra cost would have put him behind Andy. so there was no real gain for him.

It was a fun game, with everything up in the air until the final turn. Thanks, Chris, for running it.

Bill Scharf (NTO):  Congrats to Kevin on his win, and thanks Chris for running it. Always fun.

Players

GEGS is Gamer Excessively Grabbing at Straws. TRC is Texas Railroad Commission.   NTO is Number Ten Ox.

Power Plant Market

Fuel