Smartphone Inc.

Vic Granellstar8,0

Very solid strategy euro game!!! I was a bit hesitant because of the theme, but I'm glad I got it!

GaGarfieldstar9,0

#41 Great economic game! Outstanding action selection mechanism. Very hard competition as in real life... [c] Theme: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]You feel the competition --> Gameplay: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Interesting and meaningful decisions --> Interaction: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Competition all the time --> Artwork: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very nice and elegant --> Luck: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]No --> Strategy: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Pure strategy --> Components: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Easy to teach: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok (30min) --> Rules quality: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Ok(12 questions) --> Setup time: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> No downtime: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Plays fast --> Replay value: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Different action tiles, technologies, starting location --> [/c]

EvEvanstar5,9

In this game players get two boards. Simultaneously they secretly overlap the boards in such a way that they cover 1 to 4 spaces. Then the icons that remain determine what you do that turn. Generally you produce cubes, place new houses along connected routes and research special abilities which also give you more opportunities to sell cubes. The key parts of the game involve setting a price for your cubes at the beginning of the turn and then the act of placing your produce cubes into sale spaces. Turn order goes from cheapest cubes to most expensive, and each board location has a majority scoring for who has the most cubes sold. There's a solid and enjoyable tension between wanting to sell for more vs selling cheaper to be able to sell sooner and in theory into more spots. The game feels like it needs to be exactly 5 players to function well as with 4 there are areas of the map that seem to become dominated by a single player, even when some spaces get closed off by starting setup tokens. Additionally, all the interesting decisions get made during the first half of the round, yet the second half is just raw processing and resolving and that takes up most of the time of the game. Decent economics game. Would play again with exactly 5, although the downtime is a little high. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ☆ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★☆☆ Raw enjoyment