Plenty of us play boardgames for fun, so imagine what would happen if there was some prize tagged on to the liberating and intellectually stimulating pursuit?

Well, wonder no more as the Power Grid boardgame competition is now officially here!

Do you have what it takes to be the uber gamer champ, for Power Grid at least?

The competition, the first of its kind in Malaysia, will be held beginning March 13 (that’s this Sunday), in the newly-opened boardgames store, Boardgame Depot, in Bangsar, and will continue all the way till mid-April.

The tournament will be played in a series of six qualifiers, spread across different boardgame cafes and shops as well as regular kopitiams.

While the grand prizes are likely to be cash prizes, the big appeal of this competition has got to be its full-on, competitive angle, a rarity for boardgames, especially in Malaysia!

So what’s the lowdown on the game? Power Grid or Funkenschlag, its original German name) is an Euro boardgame designed by Friedemann Friese in which the gamers play the role of independent power producer, and you get to build power grid networks, bid for the best power plants, acquire raw materials at the lower cost possible, all in order to supply the most cities with electrical power.

The player who can build his power plant empire in the most efficient manner wins the game!

Power Grid first came out in 2004, and quickly became a staple German or Euro-boardgame around the world. It’s playable between two to six players, and has spawned a number of spin-offs and expansions.

Boardgamegeek.com has a full review here, complete with plenty of pictures: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid.

For the full and latest details of the Power Grid competition can be found, click here, http://bit.ly/gvBE7M. Well, here’s to hoping that this will be the first of many local boardgame competitions!

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