Iran Power Grid Map

I've always wanted to put together a DIY boardgame project. My friends and I are big fans of Power Grid, so an expansion map seemed an obvious choice. Iran is a particularly interesting subject for the project, due to their energy issues. Iran has been developing a nuclear energy program for decades, and there's international speculation that their intention is to create nuclear weapons. Consequently, Iran has been sanctioned by the United States, EU, and the UN. We thought that players' development of nuclear energy plants, and the subsequent sanctions, was a really cool scenario for a Power Grid game. (Big thanks to my friend Sam for helping with the rules.)

Here's the result:

And a detail shot:

And because my wife is totally awesome, here's a detail of her custom-made city markers. Yes, those are real Iranian buildings and landmarks! So cool.

Unfortunately, this is still sort of a work-in-progress. After a couple playtests, we found several faults. We decided that Tehran as a triple-city is overpowered, and we still haven't settled on finalized rules. However, it's fun, and I haven't touched the map in months, so I'd rather release it as-is than never. If you have suggestions for how to improve anything, feel free to email me.

Files

Use these files as you see fit, short of commercial use—Friedemann will probably come after you. If you do something cool with them, contact me. Also contact me if the MegaUpload links expire.

Process

First, credit to Ryan Amos. We borrowed the border and track art from his Canada PG map.

Secondly, this was really my wife's project — it turns out I'm nearly incompetent, so I mostly prodded and bribed her along. If you're impressed with her work, check out her store and her website.

I'm very happy with the final result. For potential would-be map-makers, here's some things we learned:

Extra credit and thanks goes to Lev Matiushenko for updated rules.

Enjoy. I appreciate feedback as much as anyone, so once again, contact me with praise, criticism, or suggestions.

-K. Monteith, 11/22/2011