Power Grid
166 questions players ask about Power Grid. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-02.
Preparation
- How many map regions do you use for each player count?
- Do the regions chosen for the playing zone have to be connected?
- Does each player own a region, or must they start in the region they picked?
- How do you decide which region to leave out in a 5- or 6-player game?
- How much money does each player start with?
- How many power plants are removed at setup for each player count?
- How is the power plant deck and starting market set up, and where does the Step 3 card go?
- What is the Default Starting Cities rule and how does it work?
- Does garbage start at price 6 or 7 on the Germany and USA maps?
- Did the Recharged edition change any connection costs on the Germany and USA maps?
The Power Plants
- Can a power plant be fired twice in one round to power more cities from its stored fuel?
- How many resources can a power plant store?
- Can a hybrid coal/oil plant burn a mix of both fuels?
- Which power plants count as ecological?
- Can I auction or buy a plant from the future market?
- Where does a newly drawn plant go, and can a plant move from the current market back to the future market?
- Can I move resource tokens between my own power plants?
- Can one plant burn fuel stored on a different plant?
- Can I throw away resources to free up space?
Player Order and the Power Plant Auction
- How is player order decided each round, and what breaks ties?
- How is player order set in the first round?
- Can I pass on buying a power plant in the first round?
- In what order do players bid, and who picks the next plant?
- If I start an auction and someone else wins it, can I start another one?
- What is the difference between passing during bidding and opting out of the auction phase?
- Can I buy more than one power plant per round?
- What is the minimum bid, can I open higher, and can I bid more cash than I have?
- How does the discount token work in the auction phase?
- Does the discount token still apply in Step 3 and on expansion maps?
Buying Resources
- In what order do players buy resources, and can I buy more than once?
- Can I buy resources that none of my plants can use or store?
- If I buy several tokens, do I pay the price of each token or the first token's price?
- Do I have to take the cheapest resource tokens first?
- What if a resource is sold out in the market?
Building Houses and Connections
- How many cities can I connect in one building phase?
- What does my first city cost, and must I build in the first round?
- How are building and connection costs calculated for a new city?
- Can I build past, or through, cities that other players occupy?
- If I paid for a route earlier, do I pay the connection cost again when I later build in a city I bypassed?
- In Step 2 or 3, what does it cost to build in a city nobody has built in yet?
- Can I have two houses in the same city?
- Can I build in both halves of a double city such as London?
- Can I build more cities than the end-game number in the final building phase?
- Do I need to be able to power a city to connect it?
Bureaucracy
The 3 Steps of the Game
- When exactly does Step 2 start?
- Is the lowest plant removed every round in Step 2, or only once?
- What happens if the Step 3 card is drawn during the auction phase?
- What happens if the Step 3 card is drawn during Bureaucracy?
- Can the Step 3 card appear during the building phase?
- How many plants are in the market during Step 3?
- Can Step 3 start before Step 2 ever happens?
- What is shuffled when Step 3 begins?
- When the lowest plant is removed at a Step change, could it be a plant a player owns?
- Is the resource market still resupplied in Step 3?
End of the Game and Winning the Game
- How many connected cities end the game?
- Is Phase 5 played at the end of the game, and do players get paid?
- Who wins when the game ends?
- How are ties broken at the end of the game?
- After a player reaches the end-game city count, do the other players still get to build?
- Can the game end before Step 3 starts?
Editions, Money and General Questions
- Is each player's money secret or open?
- What are the main rules differences between Recharged and the original Power Grid?
- Can I use the Recharged rules with an older copy of Power Grid or its expansion maps?
- Do the expansion maps work with the Deluxe edition?
- Is the 3-city version of plant 29 a misprint?
- Can the Germany map be played with six players, even though the player order track has five slots?
- Did the 2008 Rio Grande reprint change the rules?
- Can players give or loan Elektro to each other?
Two-Player Game: Against the Trust
- How do the Trust rules count the Trust for plant limits, refill rates and setup?
- How many cities end a two-player game?
- Can I use Against the Trust with the original (non-Recharged) Power Grid?
- Which power plant does the Trust take, and what resources does it buy?
- How do the Trust's houses block cities?
- How many regions are used in a two-player game?
Power Grid: The RobotsExpansion
- Can the Robot skip a free city it could build in?
- With the Robot's "Last Player Chooses" building tile, how many cities does it build?
- How many cities can a Robot with the "Step 1: 1 city, Step 2: 2 cities, Step 3: 3 cities" tile build per turn?
- Who counts as the "last player" for the Robot tiles?
- If the Robot is interested in a plant when it is put up for auction, does it pay the minimum bid?
- What does a Robot do if the plant it wants is a nuclear plant it cannot buy?
- Is the Robot's maximum bid meant to be so low?
- What happens in the Robot's First City bidding if every player bids 0?
- Does the starting-city puzzle tile follow the English or the German order?
Power Grid: The Stock CompaniesExpansion
- When does a share round end in The Stock Companies?
- How do power plant auctions work for companies in The Stock Companies?
- What starting capital applies in each Stock Companies variant?
- In The Biggest Electricity Distributors, where does the money for the first president share go?
- When are resources bought and spent in The Stock Companies?
- Can a company president skip an available adjacent city to connect a far one?
- Is The Stock Companies compatible with the Deluxe edition?
Power Grid: China/KoreaExpansion
- Are there misprints in the Korea resource refill table?
- On the Korea map, do I buy from both markets, and when do I choose?
- Which Korean market does the Trust buy from in a two-player game?
- Does China/Korea need The New Power Plants deck?
- On the China map, do I reshuffle the deck when Step 3 begins?
- How many plants are in the China market each round?
- Can I build several cities in a zero-cost cluster such as Seoul on the same turn?
Power Grid: Russia & JapanExpansion
- In Russia, when is the smallest power plant removed in Phase 2?
- How many starting cities can I use on turn one on the Japan map?
- Can I start a second network later on the Japan map?
- Does merging my two Japan networks let me start another network?
- Do the normal 10, 15 and 20 Elektro house spaces apply on the Japan map?
- What changes about the Russia & Japan setup under Recharged rules?
Power Grid: Benelux/Central EuropeExpansion
- Can I buy or use a nuclear plant on the Benelux/Central Europe map if my cities are in nuclear-free areas?
- How many regions are used with 5 or 6 players on the Benelux map?
- On the Benelux map, how many plants leave the market in each Bureaucracy phase?
- Does the Vienna (Wien) garbage discount require a garbage plant to power the city?
Power Grid: Australia & Indian SubcontinentExpansion
- How does selling uranium work on the Australia and India maps?
- Why does selling uranium matter in the final round if no income is paid then?
- Can the Trust own uranium mines and sell uranium on the Australia map?
- Can I build in both halves of Melbourne, Sydney or the other double cities on these maps?
- Is the Flux Generator a uranium mine on the Australia map?
Power Grid: Fabled ExpansionExpansion
- Is there an overall winner of the three-game Fabled campaign?
- Do Fabled cards only affect the player who triggers them?
- Does Fabled card 3 apply every round once triggered?
- How often does Fabled card 4 remove a plant?
- Do removed Fabled cards come back in the next game of a campaign?
- Are the neutral pieces on Fabled card 14 removed after each game?
Power Grid: Middle East/South AfricaExpansion
Power Grid: Northern Europe/United Kingdom & IrelandExpansion
Power Grid: The New Power Plants – Set 1Expansion
Power Grid: Bremen/ManhattanExpansion
- On Manhattan, if I buy the discounted plant can I buy another plant in the same phase?
- On Manhattan, does "directly adjacent" for the building discount include diagonal spaces?
- Can Bremen/Manhattan be played with the first-edition base game?
- In Bremen, how are connection costs between districts calculated?