How to Play Энергосеть: Россия (Power Grid: Russia)

Game Objective

The objective in Power Grid: Russia & Japan is to build your own power plant empire in this exciting economic game. Players are strategists and tacticians who seek to make money from electricity, facing geographical and resource supply challenges.

Preparation (Setup)

This is an expansion game and requires a copy of Power Grid to be played. The rules of Power Grid remain the same, except for the modifications and special features of the two maps contained in this expansion.

Setup for the Russia Map:

• Remove power plants 6 and 14 from the game and place them back in the box.
• The power plant market contains only 6 power plants (2 rows of 3). Power plants 3, 4, and 5 are in the current market, and power plants 7, 8, and 9 are in the future market.
• After setting up the initial market, set aside power plants 10, 11, and 13. Set up the remaining power plants as usual (removing a certain number of random power plants from the game, depending on the number of players).
• Then, take the first three power plants from the shuffled draw pile and power plants 10 and 11, shuffle these 5 cards, and place them back on top of the pile.
• Finally, as usual, place power plant 13 on top of the draw pile.
• Initially, resource prices start at: coal 3 Elektro, oil 1 Elektro, and uranium 6 Elektro. There is no trash in the resource supply at the start of the game.

Setup for the Japan Map:

• Initially, resource prices start at: coal 2 Elektro, oil 4 Elektro, trash 6 Elektro, and uranium 12 Elektro.

Game Flow

The game flow follows the basic rules of Power Grid, with some specific modifications for the Russia and Japan maps. The game progresses in phases, and the modifications primarily affect Phases 2, 4, and 5, as well as Game Step 3.

Modifications for the Russia Map:

• Phase 2: Buying power plants: Starting from game turn 2, when the first player in a game turn does not bid on a new power plant for auction and instead passes, the lowest power plant in the current market is removed and replaced by a new power plant from the pile. This rule replaces the base game rule, so players DO NOT remove the lowest power plant from the market when all players pass and no one buys a new power plant.
• Phase 4: Building: DO NOT remove a power plant from the market when a player connects the same or a greater number of cities in their network.
• Phase 5: Bureaucracy: In this phase, resources are refilled according to the Russia resource supply table.
• Game Step 3: At the beginning of Step 3, remove the lowest power plant and the "step 3" card from the market (as explained in the base game rules), leaving only 4 power plants in the market. Players can choose from all 4 remaining power plants.

Modifications for the Japan Map:

• Phase 4: Building: Each player can have two separate networks during the game.
  • During the first game turn, each player can start 0, 1, or 2 networks. Each can place only two houses if starting both networks (i.e., not two houses in the same network). The player must place their first houses for the networks in two of the six starting cities: Fukuoka, Kobe, Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo, or Yokohama (depending on the regions chosen at the start of the game). All these cities have two spaces for first connections (cost 10 Elektro). Thus, two players can place houses there during the first step of the game. As usual, a single player can only have one house per city.
  • Of course, a player can also choose to build in only 1 or 0 cities in the first game turn. From the second game turn, the player can freely connect any other cities from one or both of their starting cities, including using the second first connection space in the starting cities.
  • If they start their first or second network later during the game, they still need to choose one of the starting cities. During Game Step 3, the player can also use the third connection spaces of the starting cities (cost 20 Elektro). If all spaces in a starting city have already been chosen by other players, the player is forced to play with a single network for the rest of the game.
  • Important: some cities in Japan are smaller and have only two building spots for houses. Players can build houses from the start of the game (building costs of 10 and 15 Elektro) or only at the start of "step 2" (building costs of 15 and 20 Elektro).
• Phase 5: Bureaucracy: In this phase, resources are refilled according to the Japan resource supply table.

Actions and How to Play

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

End of Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• On the Russia map, the power plant market restriction and the change in outdated power plant exchange rules force leading players to completely rethink their strategies. Adapt to having fewer power plant options and plan your purchases in advance.
• On the Japan map, the possibility of starting two separate networks offers a significant strategic advantage. Try to establish a presence in two of the starting cities to ensure a stronger fight for the best networks and expand your empire more efficiently.