When comparing Monopoly vs Power Grid, the Slant community recommends Power Grid for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Power Grid is ranked 18th while Monopoly is ranked 69th. The most important reason people chose Power Grid is:
The concepts are pretty easy to grab a hold of (buy power plants, connect different cities together, buy resources for your power plants, then make money and repeat). Each step has strategy involved with it - when you buy power plants you want to diversify from others as resources more in demand cost more - when connecting cities you are looking at pricing but also blocking other players off - you can buy extra resources to boost the price on other players, or buy the bare minimum for that turn etc etc.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Many different editions
There are many different editions of Monopoly available including Junior and Anniversary. There is also a slew of themed Monopoly games such as Disney and Star Wars.
Pro Easy enough to understand for children
Monopoly is easy enough to understand the rules of and follow the gameplay for children above the age of 8.
Pro 2 to 6 playes
Monopoly can be played with as little as two players and as many as six. This makes it a very versatile game as it can be played one on one or with small gatherings.
Pro Easy to understand but still allows for good micromanagement/strategy
The concepts are pretty easy to grab a hold of (buy power plants, connect different cities together, buy resources for your power plants, then make money and repeat). Each step has strategy involved with it - when you buy power plants you want to diversify from others as resources more in demand cost more - when connecting cities you are looking at pricing but also blocking other players off - you can buy extra resources to boost the price on other players, or buy the bare minimum for that turn etc etc.
Pro It's hard for 1 player to hold onto the lead
You know those games where one player has a great start, and nobody can even dream of catching up? That doesn't happen in Power Grid. It balances itself out - the player currently winning goes first when buying power plants (they get only the current selection), and they build new cities last (worst selection) and pay the most for raw materials.
While the game punishes (at least in a way) the leading player, it helps to balance games and make them more fun overall. In addition, you can strategically not build more cities and hold yourself back if you need the advantage.
Pro Very little randomness
There is almost no randomness involved in the game, making achieving mastery of the game about understanding your opponents' plans and working around them.
Cons
Con Hard to come back
An early lead almost inevitably leads to a win.
Con Potential for early player elimination
A player may become bankrupt long before the end of the game.
Con Boring and predictable, only one strategy to win
Con Variant rules
Though not a fault of the game itself, most families have their own house rules, often omitting several such as:
- Auctioning any available property not purchased by the person landing on the square.
- Only purchasing houses / hotels once the complete set of properties of matching color are owned by the player.
- Gain money on Free Parking, which makes the game take too long.
Con No room for creativity
Once you fall behind, there aren't many ways to catch up. Virtually everything can be calculated (only power plants are random), meaning there is little surprise. Once you get started, you keep trucking along the same path until somebody wins.