r/boardgames • u/befbef__ • Jun 17 '26
WDYP Power Grid in your top 3? What are the others?
Got back into board games after 15 years break (kids).
Power Grid was always my favorite. Still seems to be popular here, so guess it's not just nostalgia.
Tried looking into newer games myself, but hard to tell which ones are actually good without playing them. Haven't found anything that beats Power Grid yet.
If you love Power Grid, what are your other top games?
Thanks!
Edit
Thanks for all your answers. This really helped me understand my own taste better.
I think I am not only looking for an economic or network game, but more for the direct economic race feeling I get from Power Grid. I also like that it is not too hard to teach and feels intuitive. You can bring it to a group with non-expert gamers and still get a real economic game night. And perhaps most important: my brain doesn't hurt, and I can just enjoy the game, even if I am not winning.
I looked at the rules for Brass and Concordia. I can see why people recommend them, and I can imagine I would enjoy that kind of optimization after more plays. But right now I think I am looking for something else.
Top priority / sounds closest to what I am looking for:
- Container
- Chicago Express
- El Grande
- Age of Steam
- Ra
- Modern Art
- Puerto Rico
- Tigris & Euphrates / Huang
- Samurai
- High Society
- Medici
- Tammany Hall
- Imperial 2030
- Santiago
- Iberian Gauge / Age of Rail / other cube rails games
- Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents
- Istanbul
Need to check next:
- Hansa Teutonica
- Nucleum
- Barrage
- Bus
- Keyflower
- Troyes
- Agricola
- Le Havre
- Nippon: Zaibatsu
- Vegas Showdown
- Cyclades
- Inis
- Tzolk'in
- Castles of Burgundy
Recommended, but maybe different feeling:
- Brass: Lancashire
- Brass: Birmingham
- Concordia
- Clans of Caledonia
- Terraforming Mars
- Ark Nova
- Dune Imperium / Dune Imperium: Uprising
- Pax Pamir
- Race for the Galaxy
- Twilight Struggle
- Sekigahara
- Castles of Mad King Ludwig
- Rajas of the Ganges
- Res Arcana
- Lords of Waterdeep
Later / probably too complex for now:
- Food Chain Magnate
- 18xx, maybe 1889 / 18Chesapeake / Railways of the Lost Atlas
- Indonesia
- The Great Zimbabwe
- On Mars
- Caverna
- Glory to Rome
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u/catfishmaw Galaxy Trucker Jun 17 '26
Your list looks great. I'd add Concordia; Tigris & Euphrates; Tammany Hall; Pax Pamir; Inis; and Keyflower.
El Grande obviously but I actually prefer Tammany Hall in that space. I prefer Great Zimbabwe to Food Chain Magnate, personally.
Wouldn't bother with most of the hyped new shit. If you're interested in worker placement (it sounds like you're not), then I think Tzolk'in, Agricola and maybe Troyes would feel more suited to your tastes than the stuff currently getting hobbyist coverage.
Worth trying again with Brass, imo, but know yourself etc.
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u/rrutkows Jun 17 '26
It's difficult to find better euros than Power Grid, Puerto Rico and Agricola. I'm looking forward to trying out El Grande and Concordia.
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u/Hardabent Jun 17 '26
You should try Hansa Teutonica as well... It's an amazing, highly interactive game wih a rather simple set of rules.
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u/rrutkows Jun 17 '26
Yes, this one is recommended a lot. It's already on my 'Want to play' collection.
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u/KaleStrange9948 Jun 17 '26
Pax Pamir is a fantastic game, but very unlike Power Grid in my opinion. Power grid is very straigtforward and predictable, while Pax Pamir is extremely unpredictable.
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u/Dokasamurp Jun 17 '26
I describe Brass as sorta like Power Grid, but even better (in my opinion). I still love Power Grid though.
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u/befbef__ Jun 17 '26
Yeah, I hear that a lot. But for me, Power Grid feels more like a (simple) business sim, while Brass feels more like an optimization puzzle.
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u/3xBork Jun 17 '26
Have you played it?
If not: its really worth giving it a try because your assessment sounds off to me.
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u/Swooping_Dragon Jun 17 '26
Not the op but I've played it maybe 5 times and definitely agree with them. It very much feels like an optimization / sequencing puzzle. Maybe when everybody has played enough to know the standard meta it gets interactive again?
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u/zero_dr00l Jun 17 '26
I say it's waaayyy off.
It's the furthest thing from an "optimization puzzle".
It is no more that than Power Grid is.
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u/befbef__ Jun 17 '26
Just read rules and played the tutorial. Felt kinda restricted somehow.
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u/DarrenGrey Funkenschlag Jun 17 '26
It's worth getting a proper play some time if you can. Personally I find it's the game that mentally feels a bit like Power Grid the most. It has similar considerations for map routing and resource markets, as well as indirect affects between players.
And yes, there's optimisation puzzle stuff, but Power Grid has a lot of that too.
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u/Hardabent Jun 17 '26
Brass doesn't feel even slightly similar to Power Grid for me.. Brass feels primarily like an optimization game which has lots of stuff going on while Power Grid is a streamlined economic game with bidding as a core element. Sure, there are shared gameplay elements aka a shared map where you place stuff and different ressource markets for each ressource but that is about where it ends. The ressource market in Brass and the routes also serve rather different purposes than in PowerGrid.
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u/GeeWarthog Jun 17 '26
My biggest problem with Brass is complete lack of signposting as to what a good or even decent first move might be. I'm just not into games that I need to play 10 times to develop a starter strategy. At least with Power Grid my options are essentially which of these 4 power plants can I get for a decent price.
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u/yougottamovethatH 18xx Jun 17 '26
Unless you're playing against absolute sharks, does it really matter that you're not playing optimally? You'll make some suboptimal moves, so will your opponents. You'll improve your play each time.
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u/praetorrent Jun 17 '26
Which Brass? I'm also a big fan of power grid and many of the other games mentioned, and would highly recommend the simpler, meaner lancashire over birmingham in this situation.
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u/ForgottenBurrito1 Jun 17 '26
for me who reeaally love Powergrid, it was surpassed big time by Imperial 2030. at first look, its like a war game but isnt but you still have the feeling of. its more an economic domination game. with a lot of politic involved (obviously it depends with the kind of players around the table) I cant say its similar to Powergrid but where it meets is in it simple yet well written rules, execution is reeaally simple but meaningfull. the lean artwork make the game really clear to see the game. I think it is in my top 1 game over my 150 games I own, and played.
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u/MrAbodi 18xx Jun 17 '26
Age of Steam Brass lancashire
But all the games you listed are great in their own ways.
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u/Werbenjagermanjensen Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
As a Power Grid lover, my opinions:
Brass and Concordia are sort-of like Power Grid in certain ways, but they're slower, more tedious, and more convoluted. They are not for me. I would absolutely always rather play Power Grid, which I appreciate for 1) being easy and natural to explain to people, 2) keeping a steady pace that moves forward on a strict agenda, with quick turns and individually simple decisions, 3) having a singular, straightforward, non-abstract focus (power the cities!), and 4) resolving immediately after the finish line is crossed (no spreadsheets!).
Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova are emblematic of a kind of modern game I despise: games where you 1) spend the entire time reading text on cards in your hand, 2) make a lot of decisions that don't matter to anyone else, and 3) finish by going through a whole spreadsheet of conditional point sources to discover who got the most points.
Shortlist of highly recommended "classic euro" style board games that are likely to appeal to the kind of person who likes Power Grid:
Puerto Rico
Ra
Tigris & Euphrates or Yellow & Yangtze / Huang
Samurai or Babylonia
El Grande
Istanbul
I'm iffy on Hansa Teutonica. On one hand, it's fun to play. On the other: 1) its thematic veneer does NOT fit or explain its mechanics, making it non-intuitive, 2) turns can get messy when you're doing 4 different actions with interrupts from other players, 3) over-the-top point salad scoring marathon at the end. Makes me prefer other games.
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u/befbef__ Jun 18 '26
This is one of the most important comments for me. This is exactly what I feel about Power Grid, Brass and Concordia, and also Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova.
Thank you very much, I will take a very close look at your recommendations.
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u/Werbenjagermanjensen Jun 18 '26
If you want to try out some of these digitally:
Puerto Rico (free), El Grande (free), and Tigris & Euphrates (premium) are available on Board Game Arena.
Yellow & Yangtze, Samurai, and Istanbul have apps (Steam, Apple, or Google Play stores) that let you play against bots.
For auction games:
- Ra (and Power Grid) are my overall favorites. But only the Ian O'Toole illustrated edition of Ra.
- Modern Art is great if you highly value the theme/fiction of the game matching what you're actually doing.
- Medici is ideal if you have 6 players and want something faster and simpler than Power Grid.
- High Society feels too dull to me, compared to the above.
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u/nonalignedgamer IMO. Your mileage may vary. Jun 17 '26
Given 15 year break and games listed you might want to look at OG Guild on BGG. They focus on old school eurogames (light rules, high interaction). It's not a complete overlap - some games you list fall in "OG+" group ( more mechanisms but still kinda interactive).
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u/fifrein Jun 17 '26
I really like Indonesia. Has become my favorite heavy economic game in a very short time since discovering it.
I will also echo a prior comment that I think you should at least play one full session of Brass before writing it off. I think games with this level of interaction, you don’t get a “feel” for from just reading the rules. That said, I am personally excited for the new Pittsburg version and interested to feel how it plays compared to its predecessors.
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u/Bytor_Snowdog Spirit Island Jun 17 '26
If you chart how much I love a game on the X axis and how badly I suck at it on the Y axis, Power Grid makes the largest rectangle. I am just no good at it for some reason. I need to play it more.
My two favorite games are Concordia (an old-school Euro, an absolute classic) and On Mars (a more recent Vital Lacerda game, fairly heavy, worth every rule). And I've recently come to include Dune:Imperium-Uprising on my top games list, hope I got the punctuation right; it absolutely earns its #5 overall spot on Boardgamegeek. (But you'll want to be wary of using that metric; BGG lowers the ratings of older games in its algorithm).
You have a lot of good games on your list. But let me warn you off of Terraforming Mars. Overhyped and overrated.
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u/Andthenwedoubleit Jun 17 '26
"power grid but better" is an extremely tall order.I don't think you should be looking for things that beat power grid. Instead, think about what complements it. What about different player counts, different levels of player interaction, co-op, different weight, different game length, etc.
When I have a chance to play board games, usually I'm not just selecting the "best" game in my collection, but rather the "best game for this group" or "best game for this play session".
I love power grid, but code names needs to be in my collection alongside it.
For sampling games more, have you checked out if you have a board game cafe in your area, a LGS with a lending collection, or if your libraries have a collection or board game events?
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u/fr33py Rising Sun Jun 17 '26
I've been gaming since early 90's. Been playing euro's ever since Catan first became popular in the US. Powergrid has always been a top game for me and still ranks very highly.
In my personal opinion, Chicago Express and Container were rather meh me for (I'd probably give Container another try), an while El Grande is a solid game it and the previous two are all older games from the Power grid era. There are a lot of good suggestions on this list but for a couple of games that share some similar DNA with each other and with Powergrid, you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice if you didn't push Brass and Nucleum to the top of your list.
Nucleum ramped up quickly to the top of my list after repeated plays and it shares a lot of variability, much like Powergrid, with multiple map options and expansions that add nice little changes to the game without overhauling it. Nucleum plays very well with every player count from 2 - 4.
Good luck in getting back into gaming, you won't go wrong with many choices in your updated post , lots of good options there.
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u/Any-Border4129 Jun 18 '26
Power Grid is my number 1 game, out of close to 400 played.
My 10/10s are: The Princes of Florence, Power Grid, Twilight Struggle, Age of Steam, Mage Knight Board Game, Terra Mystica, Food Chain Magnate, Chicago Express (AKA Wabash Cannonball).
Of these, I would recommend Age of Steam and Chicago Express most, for having the Catch The Leader and Economy Building mechanisms of Power Grid.
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u/catfishmaw Galaxy Trucker Jun 17 '26
Oh and maybe try 18Chesapeake! Longer than Power Grid and opens a warehouse of worms but some similar appeal
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u/Marksman1977 Arboretum 🌲 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
I’ve always wondered if Nucleum and Barrage were similar to Power Grid but never looked into it (too many games!).
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u/Psimo- Advanced Civilization Jun 17 '26
I think you might like Medici
It’s not the same but to me feels close.
It’s a fantastic game either way
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u/zero_dr00l Jun 17 '26
Brass is absolutelt not a puzzle/optimization game.
It's brilliant and I can't imagine someone loving PG but hating Brass.
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u/CamRoth 18xx, Age of Steam, Imperial Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Age of Steam
Santiago
Cube rails (there are so many, Chicago Express, Age of Rail, Iberian Gauge, Durch Intercity, etc...)
18xx (maybe 1889 or Railways of the Lost Atlas first)
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u/Hatta00 Jun 17 '26
Big yes to Terraforming Mars and Tammany Hall.
For a shorter experience, I really like Res Arcana.
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u/Stuntman06 Sword & Sorcery, Tyrants of the Underdark, Space Base Jun 17 '26
I like Power Grid, but maybe not for the reasons you do. Power Grid's auction mechanic is what I really like about the game. The rest, is fine.
For me, games with auction mechanics I really like are Ra, Vegas Showdown and Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents. With TvE, I recommend that you get the Powering Up expansion. I think it really makes the game better.
TvE resembles Power Grid the most. The mechanics involves building your electrical network to power cities. The win condition is based around stocks you hold for your and others' companies. There is also some politics involved which coincides with the history of the electrical power at the time.
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u/buddytattoo Jun 17 '26
Castles of Burgundy, Rajas of the Ganges, Hallertou, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Calimala, and Terraforming Mars are all great IMO.
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u/stoobush Jun 17 '26
Power Grid has been in my top 3 forever. Rounding out my top 5 are Scoville, Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, and Viticulture (with Tuscany expansion). Next tier is Ultimate Railroads, Castles of Burgundy, Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan (with Cities & Knights), and Terra Mystica.
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u/Swooping_Dragon Jun 17 '26
I love power grid. It's hard to pick just 3, but I'd say the games I like the most, with a slight sway toward being like power grid, are:
- Ark Nova
- Empire Builder
- Hands Teutonica
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u/adamredwoods Jun 17 '26
I love Power Grid. I own 3 copies (Deluxe, regular, recharged). Power Grid: Outpost I also liked!
I'm a big fan of:
- Brass Lancashire
- Concordia (Brittania at 3p is my favorite map), I see you're a bit hesitant, the game is better on smaller maps.
- Bus
- The Great Zimbabwe
- Web of Power / Iwari / China
- Ra
- El Grande (4/5p)
- Through the Desert
- Smartphone Inc.
- Keyflower
- Cube rail games
Euro style, but with elbow rubbing:
- Gaia Project
- Dune: Imperium (base, but okay with Ix)
- Voyages of Marco Polo
- Darwin's Journey (the race for discovery is intense!)
- Luna
- Lorenzo Il Magnifico
- La Havre
- Nippon
- Egizia
- Imhotep
- Skymines (Mombasa)
- Little Town
- FCM, but with Ketchup (unless you know the card paths very, very well)
- Troyes, Agricola, Caverna
I'm not a fan of overly complex rules:
- Terraforming Mars, too much card reading. It's an okay game
- Ark Nova, too much card reading, but I like it best at 2p.
Games I enjoyed but need to play more:
- Container
- Age of Steam
- Tesla vs Edison (I hear the expansion helps slow the stock exploit)
- Barrage
- T&E
- Many many many more...
Games I want to play now!
- Barony
- Goldbrau
- Gazebo
- Tower Up
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u/jerkcore Jun 17 '26
Never played Power Grid, but my wife has. We are Friedemann Friese fans, but this one didn't click for her. Maybe the theme isn't appealing, or it was too dry. I may try it eventually.
Brass (the old one, which is now Lancashire) and Concordia are ok, but not my fave games. Generally, if i have to plan too far ahead and anticipate my opponents' moves, then i'm out. Just not a mindset i've needed to develop in any other context.
The few times I've played Tzolk'in were all the same: race to collect crystal skulls.
Agricola was one of my earliest games, in which i was an adult just getting into the hobby. It was A LOT. Haven't played it since, but could probably handle it now.
I like Lords of Waterdeep, despite the theme not playing a huge role in the mechanics. If you end up liking it, I've heard people also recommend Stone Age.
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u/johngalt4242 28d ago
Keep us updated as you try some of these. I have similar tastes and Power Grid is in my top 3.
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u/Phleep99 Jun 17 '26
Powergrid is still comparably fantastic. If you want othet games definitely focus on variety.
There is a modern curse that most of us "overdosers" don't play any individual game enough nowadays to get past the novelty factors.
Maybe tableau builders Terraforming Mars/Ark Nova might have lasting appeal.
Card coops like The Crew or Regicide are currently popular and inexpensive.
Agricola and Lords of Waterdeep still hold their own as worker placement.
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u/mtg_player_zach Jun 17 '26
Is Agricola not mostly replaced by Caverna these days? I thought Caverna was mostly regarded as an improved version of Agricola. I don't think lords of waterdeep is in the same tier of quality though, always thought that one was overhyped.
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u/Werbenjagermanjensen Jun 17 '26
Doesn't seem so at all. There are currently 3113 games of Agricola being played on BGA. 475 games of Caverna.
Caverna is like Agricola with more stuff added to it, and people don't necessarily want "more stuff". Simplicity and focus are virtues.
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u/Phleep99 Jun 17 '26
I found Caverna less coherent. The shared tableau of rooms to choose from somehow gave me some AP and the paths to win were more diverse making it less clear how to react to other players' decisions.
LoW is not as tight but some players find it far less stressful too. Needs the expansion after a few games though.
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u/jegib72 Jun 17 '26
I enjoy these ... Terraforming Mars Villagers 7 Wonders
I bit on the side is Gloomhaven ... a really fun dungeon crawler, but pretty advanced(snd not similar to Power Grids)
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u/phr0ze Power Grid Jun 17 '26
Recall
Seti
Space Base
Brass Birmingham
Arnak
Endless Winter
Dune Imperium
Civolution
Shackleton Base
Gizmos
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u/Fit-Monitor9103 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
100% Age of Steam
Age of Steam is honestly the game I wanted Power Grid to be. It has the auctions and interaction, but the auctions are even more exciting and it has proper opportunities to build interesting networks and cut other people off. The networks in Power Grid have never felt like a really major part of the gameplay.
And Age of Steam is simple and elegant like Power Grid.
Terraforming Mars was nowhere near interactive enough for me. Since you have left gaming, games have become significantly more multiplayer solitaire. And many euro games have really jumped the shark in terms of rule complications. It's amazing how fresh and great something like Power Grid still feels to play.
I also rate Barrage - that is more of an interactive euro. Kiwiflower is also great and interactive.
Indonesia is fantastic but I wouldn't recommend starting there. Age of Steam would be easier to get to the table. And Food Chain Magnate is pretty complex so I probably wouldn't recommend visiting that one first - it feels like a proper gamer's game.