Some Like It Hot

I felt compelled to get another game off my list since there is only about a month left for me. Once Liz got home, I already had taco fixin's ready and had set up...

Power Grid 2-5 players
I got this as a birthday present. I knew about the game, but it was never on my radar of games to get. I'm still happy with it. It's a game that has a presence in the game world so I knew it would be welcomed by the others in my family of boardgames (yes, they are sentient).

You play power station mongers trying to provide the most power to the country (Germany or US board sides). Each round starts with buying power station cards (auction), then moves to buying resources (prices based on supply), then to build stations (area control), and ends with making money based on the number of towns you can power with your resources. Turn order is variable and is based on the number of cities people are in. There are also 3 phases (or steps, the rulebook can't always make up it's mind) of the game that occur when certain events occur. The phases mainly ramp up the game and allow access to more cities on the map. Once a player has built in a specific number of cities, the person who can power the most cities wins.

Liz took a little bit of a lead in the beginning and I let her. I needed her to in order to get a few advantages. I got lucky on some bids and had some nice placement on the board so that by Step 2 I could take the lead and hold onto it. I was able to quickly get to 21 cities (the end point for 2 players) and was able to power them all for the win.
The game is pretty hefty. I find it a little frustrating because it's almost always beneficial to not be first to get the best prices on resources. It hurts my will to have to strategically hold back. I have plans of power, dammit! Let me loose from these chains! The game can also be a bit time consuming especially if one or more of the players are taking a lot of time to really think about what they want to do. The first two games I ever played were quick, but both were with just 2 players and neither of us thought more than a few seconds on what to do. Add in a third player who thinks hard and it drags.

In the midst of playing that game, Liz had a hankering to play Ticket to Ride, so I started setting that up afterwards. We went with the Heart of Africa expansion. The game didn't get too intense for me until the last few rounds. Liz got blocked by me once and was working furiously on getting Tickets completed. I had finished all my tickets and had 6 trains left so I dug through the cards to be able to play a 5 train route with double point scoring. I ended the game just before Liz could finish her last ticket. I blew her out of the water in points. Yippie!

Tally: 181/185  Bonus: 46/50