Designer: Ivan Lashin (Skytopia)

Artist: Viktor Miller Gausa

Publisher: Cosmodrome Games (Glastonbury, Smartphone Inc., Suburbia)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/movement programming, area control, economic, route/network building, simultaneous action selection

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Smartphone Inc. is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 4x the initial funding goal, with 15 hours left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  The first English printing (and second overall printing) of the economic Eurogame about competing smart phone companies.

How It Works: Smartphone is played over 5 rounds, with 8 phases in each round. They are: Planning, Set Prices, Production, Improve Production, Research Technology, Logistics, Selling Goods, and Receive VP. In Planning, players arrange their player boards so that at least 1 square of one of their two 6-square boards is covering at least 1 square of their second player board. This serves to limit player action somewhat, albeit while incorporating the player’s tactical choice. In Set Prices, players set the prices they intend to sell their goods at for the round. In Production, players produce goods to sell at a later time, with that production based on the positioning of their two player boards. In Improve Production, players either take an Improvement or a Goods Token, depending on the position of their player boards. In Research Technology, players receive a Progress Marker and work towards researching technology, which may require researching over several rounds to complete. Once they successful complete researching a given technology, they receive an Office Marker to make note of their new ability. In Logistics, players may receive another Progress Marker depending on the position of their player boards, and work to place more Office Markers. In Selling Goods, players can sell goods where a) they have an Office Marker, b) there are Buyers, and c) where there are no Retailers. In Receive VP, players collect VP for goods they sold as well as for their controlling regions. After 5 rounds, players score end-game points for Patents collected and VP collected from Retailers, added to the VP points they scored over the course of the game. The player with the most points wins.

Comparisons:  Smartphone Inc. reminds me of another recent Kickstarter for a game called It’s a Wonderful World. Both are medium-weight games of resource management and cube-pushing, but Wonderful World leans more into the card drafting, whereas Smartphone focuses on the economics of gameplay with Ian O’Toole-like design, network-building, and area control. Smartphone is all about trying to build up a global network of smart phone sales and beat the other players to the punch with a more powerful and deep-reaching sales network.

What Should I Pledge?:
$65 CEO: a copy of Smartphone Inc. Second Edition with all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $65 plus $14 in shipping for a total of $79.

Smartphone Inc. completes its Kickstarter on Monday, August 12th and tentatively ships in February 2020.