When comparing Power Grid vs Spyfall 2, the Slant community recommends Power Grid for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Power Grid is ranked 18th while Spyfall 2 is ranked 50th. 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
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Can be mixed with Spyfall 1
It will add more locations and make the game harder for experienced spies.
Pro Allows for really big parties (12 players max)
Pro An interesting twist on a Mafia-style game
The spy doesn't try to kill everyone, but to find out where he or she is and to blend with others. This unleashes the player's creativity in asking and answering in that way that only villains will understand it
Cons
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.
Con Heavily dependant on the team's playfullness
Not talkative or extremely serious people will definitely make the game an ordinary mafia challenge.
Con Highly trivial if played in 3 or 4
It is very easy to reveal the spy in small teams.