When comparing Power Grid vs Robo Rally, the Slant community recommends Power Grid for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Power Grid is ranked 18th while Robo Rally is ranked 56th. 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 Easily choose the length of game
By allowing the player to choose checkpoint and boards before a game the length is easily set. So for those looking for something either short or long the choice is there.
Pro Program then resolve
You plan your moves before playing them; much like writing code before running it, where you may encounter exceptions you'd not foreseen.
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 Not great for a family with young kids
Boardgames are a social thing that many play with their families, the downside being if the children in the family are young this game may not be the best choice. The recommended age is 12+.