Monday evening after prayer meeting: With just 3 people left for games, they still picked Power Grid...heh. So it was the first time we played with so few people. And since at least one needs to build to at least 17 out of the 21 available cities, the map was pretty tight as well. We picked the bottom three regions in the Germany map, which meant that expanding costs are high.

It all went pretty smoothly at the start. I was the first one to have capacity 17 for power plants. In the next round (which is the second last one), Li Zhen and I bought up all the oil so Harry couldn't power all of his plants...heh. And if I could just build up to 17 cities, I would win. But, I couldn't, short by about 10 dollars...oops. So I built up to 16, forgetting that I really should have pulled back a couple of cities to go last in the turn order.

Then the last round came. Harry had capacity 17 and Li Zhen had capacity 16. I was the first to buy power plants, and I was afraid that by passing, they could buy power plants to power up to 18 or 19, and I would be out of the running. So I decided to put a 7-plant up for auction. When they saw that I was trying to get up to capacity 19, they were worried and bid as well. Eventually Li Zhen got it, giving him capacity 18. There was only one 7-plant remaining, so I put that up for auction. Harry went to a bidding war with me, since if he doesn't get it, then he could only go up to capacity 18. But he raised prices high enough that even if I win this plant, I could only build up to 17 cities, and I would still lose. So at this point, I was definitely losing this game...

But how to make it fun? I still don't want Harry to win this, so I've decided to raise the price high enough that Harry couldn't both afford the plant and build up to 19 cities (he didn't get enough money from the previous round when oil ran out). And it worked, so I got this plant for a hefty price, I go up to capacity 19, and Harry bought a plant to bring him up to capacity 18. I only had money left to build up to 17 cities, so I was out of running. Li Zhen and Harry both had capacity 18, and built up to 18 cities, so it was a matter of how much money they had left. They refused to be the one to show first...heh...so I decided to go look at their money one at a time...and Li Zhen won! I think I had a hand in helping him win, just as he had a hand in helping me win in a previous game...heh. So that was a fun game that left Harry furious (in a fun way...heh).

Final scores:

Harry: 18 capacity, 18 cities, 40 dollars left.
Li Zhen: 18 capacity, 18 cities, 70 dollars left.
Me: 19 capacity, 17 cities, 12 dollars left.