Power Grid is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game Funkenschlag, designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004.

In the game, each player represents a company which owns power plants and tries to supply electricity to cities.

During the game, players bid on power plants and buy resources to provide electricity to the growing number of cities in their network.

Power Grid was developed from Funkenschlag, the original game, which had players draw their networks with crayons instead of playing on a fixed map.

In step one eight power plants are visible to players, arranged in two rows of four based on reverse value.

The vast majority of board games get dragged out once or twice and are then chucked to one side to collect dust until either auctioned or hidden in the loft by the better half.