Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc. Game
Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc. Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In Mobile Markets: A Smartphone Inc. Game, you will set prices for your smartphones, develop technologies, launch marketing campaigns, produce smartphones and sell them to your customers.
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to earn more money than your competitors. Consider your money as your victory points. The scoring track allows you to keep track of the amount of accumulated wealth.
On each turn, you will receive money, mainly by selling manufactured smartphones to customers. Some of the Technology Cards and Marketing Campaigns will bring you extra money. Also, at the end of each round, players who have sold a larger number of Goods will receive extra income.
Game Components
Player pieces
4 Corporation Boards — 1 per player: Atlantis (blue), Sun Tech (yellow), Redberry (red), Shooting Star (black). Each player will use their Corporation Board to keep track of the number of Goods that they produce, their features, and net profit per sale.
4 Pairs of Planning Pads — 1 pair per player. The pads represent the resources of your company: R&D departments, production shops, etc. In each round, you'll arrange your pads according to the configuration of your choice to make a management decision.
5 Starting Feature Cards — Features will allow you to meet specific customers' needs. You start the game with 1 Feature Card.
6 Starting Technology Cards — Technologies are crucial to the development of your company. You start the game with 1 Technology Card.
4 Double-sided reference cards
20 Player Markers — 5 per player
Shared pieces
Game Board (in 4 parts) — The game board is divided into 4 parts that need to be placed in ascending phase order: Preparation/Planning, Pricing/Technology, Marketing/Production, Sales/Profit.
Scoring Track — To keep track of each players' wealth (money).
1 Setup Card — With 4 possible Setup sections depending on the number of players.
1 Phase Marker — Move the phase marker along the Phase Track as the game progresses.
12 Progress Tokens — Used to save Technology Points for later.
12 Discount Tokens — Used to mark discounted cards.
108 Customer Cards — 36 of each: Variety-seeking, Regular and Complex Customers will buy your smartphones… or those of your competitors.
15 Event Cards — Introduce specific events at the beginning of each round, add new customers and increase basic production capabilities.
30 Technology Cards — Technology Cards give you specific production advantages.
30 Marketing Campaign Cards — Marketing Campaign Cards give you specific sales advantages.
30 Feature Cards — Feature Cards allow you to produce more advanced smartphones.
16 Steve Jr Cards — Used for solo play variant.
Setting Up The Game
Shared pieces setup
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Place the game board in the center of the table, using all 4 parts and placing them side by side in ascending order. Place the Phase Marker on the 1st space of the Phase Track, next to the phase name.
Note that the game board consists of two tracks:
- The upper track of the board is the Phase Track: Preparation, Planning, Pricing, Technology, Marketing, Production, Sales, Profit. During each round, you will move the Phase Marker along the track to keep track of which phase is being played.
- The lower track of the board is the Price Track. It shows the price of each player's product. The track also organizes the market space in the game (see more in the rules).
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Place the Setup Card with the section matching the number of players face up, below the Preparation space of the board.
Shuffle the Event Cards and draw 5 cards at random and place them in a face down pile near the board. This is the Event Deck for this game. Return the remaining Event Cards to the box.
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Place the Scoring Track next to the game board.
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Shuffle all Customer Card decks separately (depending on their type) and place them as shown in the picture.
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Shuffle all other cards separately (Technology Cards, Feature Cards, and Marketing Campaign Cards) to form their decks.
- Reveal 4 Cards from the Technology Deck to create the Technology Display.
- Reveal 6 Cards from the Feature Deck to create the Feature Display.
- Reveal 4 Cards from the Marketing Campaign Deck to create the Marketing Display.
- Then, put a pile of Progress Tokens and a pile of Discount Tokens next to the Technology and Feature displays.
Player pieces setup
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Each player receives one pair of Planning Pads.
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Each player receives a personal Corporation Board in their color and 5 markers. Each player places 2 markers of their color on the "0" space of the Scoring Track (one for units, the other for fifties), and a third next to the Price Track. This marker is called the Price Marker. The remaining two markers are used to track the number of Goods produced and Net Profit per Sale on each player's Corporation Board. Put these markers on the "0" spaces of corresponding tracks.
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Each player receives 1 random Starting Technology card and 1 random Starting Feature Card. These components differ from one player to another. Each player places them face up next to their Corporation Board. They are available at the beginning of the game. Return the rest of the starting cards back to the game box.
Gameplay
The events of the game take place over a period of 5 years, represented by rounds. There are 8 game phases in each round. At the beginning of each phase, move the Phase Marker one step to the right, to the next sector of the board.
Each round plays as follows:
Phase 1: Preparation, Phase 2: Planning, Phase 3: Pricing, Phase 4: Technology, Phase 5: Marketing, Phase 6: Production, Phase 7: Sales, Phase 8: Profit.
Phase 1 — Preparation
We recommend that the most experienced player resolves this phase as it can be complicated for beginners. It is also possible to assign specific tasks among the players to speed up the preparation of the round.
Step 1. Resetting Price Markers
All Price Markers must start the round on the 5-space of the price track (place them back here if they moved during the 3rd phase of the previous round). There are four available spots on that space, from left to right (as on every other space): these spots define the turn order.
In the first round, each player checks the Initiative Number of their Starting Technology Card. The player with the lowest number places their marker on the first spot of the space (far left). The second-to-lowest number places their marker on the second spot, and so on.
Example: At the beginning of the game, Red's Starting Technology Card Initiative is 3, Blue's Starting Technology Card Initiative is 4. Therefore, Red occupies the first spot, while Blue occupies the second spot.
In subsequent rounds, the turn order will be determined by each player's position on the Scoring Track: the player with the least money occupies the first spot, the second-to-last occupies the second spot, and so on. If there is a tie, it is broken in favor of the Starting Technology with the lowest number.
Example: After a few rounds, Red has 35 points, Blue 28, and Black 28 as well. Blue and Black check their Starting Technology Card to know who will go first. Since Black has the lowest Initiative (lowest number), Black plays first. Red, no matter what, will occupy the third empty slot.
Step 2. Revealing Event
Reveal the top card of the Event Deck and place it onto the Setup Card, overlapping the bottom half of it. For subsequent rounds, each time you place a new Event Card, place it onto the previous one, without covering the Customer and additional Production icons of that card.
Apply the event's instructions on the new card. The event modifies the standard rules of the game. As a result, each time that an Event Card contradicts a rule in this booklet, the card text overrides the rules. An Event usually affects the whole round.
Always leave the previous Customer Icon visible when placing the new Event.
Step 3. Refilling the Displays
Skip this step during the first round of the game.
Refresh the Technology, Feature and Marketing Campaign Card Displays as follows:
- Discard any cards with a Discount Token and all the cards with a cost of 1.
- Place a Discount Token on each remaining card in each display.
- Refill the Technology and Marketing displays up to 4 cards. Refill the Feature display up to 6 cards.
Example: Card A has a Discount Token and must be discarded. Card B has a cost of 1, so it must be discarded too. Place a Discount Token on cards C and D. Draw 2 new cards E and F to refill the Technology Display to 4 cards.
Step 4. Adding Customers
Add new Customer Cards to the market. The number of cards to be added is the sum of the number indicated on the Setup Card + the total indicated on all Event Cards (which is why their Customer Icons must remain visible at all times).
Place each Customer Card under the Price Track space matching its number (a Customer with number N must be placed below the N-space, and so on).
Please note that the customers from the previous round remain in the game. Each new Customer Card must be placed below the ones already on the market to create a column. If there are no cards left in a deck of any type, shuffle the discard pile and form a new deck.
Example: This round 2 Variety-seeking, 3 Regular and 3 Complex customers are added to the market, according to the Setup and Event cards. Players take this number of cards from corresponding decks and place them under their respective spaces.
Phase 2 — Planning
Each player takes their two pads and arranges them secretly to define the players' management decisions. Planning must be done simultaneously by all players and in secret (hide your pads with your hand).
When arranging your pads, you must place one of them on top of the other. Depending on the icons that you cover, and which icons remain visible, you'll receive Technology and Marketing Points, produce Goods and increase or decrease the price of your products.
Always observe the following rules when arranging your pads:
- At least one of the squares of the lower pad must be covered.
- At least one of the squares of the lower pad must remain visible.
- Each square must either be completely visible or completely hidden.
What is a management decision and how to make it?
Each side of the pad consists of 5 square cells. Each cell contains a symbol or two, which is a decision element. In the end, all squares that remain visible will affect your strategy:
- Each Price Up cell increases the price of your product during the Pricing Phase,
- Each Price Down cell decreases the price of your product during the Pricing Phase,
- Each Technology cell will grant you 1 Technology Point during the Technology Phase,
- Each Marketing (megaphone) cell will grant you 1 Marketing Point during the Marketing Phase,
- Each Production (box) cell will produce 1 Good during the Production Phase.
- Each covered cell, regardless of its type, will produce 1 Good during the Production Phase (as if it was a visible Production cell).
Once all players finish arranging their pads, they reveal the management decisions they made and proceed to the next phase.
For a better understanding of the game mechanics, we advise you to carefully read the descriptive text of each phase before playing, as they will considerably impact your management decisions and your global strategy.
Example 1: The following configuration grants: +1$ to the product price (Pricing Phase), +3 Technology Points (Technology Phase), +2 Marketing Points (Marketing Phase), +2 Goods (Production Phase). Also, since 2 cells have been covered, this player will produce 2 extra Goods.
Example 2: The following configuration grants: No changes to the product price (Pricing Phase), +3 Technology Points (Tech Phase), +1 Marketing Point (Marketing Phase), +3 Goods (Production Phase). Also, since 2 cells have been covered, this player will produce 2 extra Goods.
Phase 3 — Pricing
During this phase, in turn order, players adjust the price of their products on the Game Board by moving their Price Markers. The base price is 5. Each visible Price Down icon reduces the price by 1, and each visible Price Up icon increases it by 1.
The player whose Price Marker is on the leftmost spot of the 5-space moves first. If several Price Markers land on the same space, the first to arrive must occupy the leftmost spot, and so on.
Once the Pricing Phase is complete, check the position of each player's Price Marker. From now on, until the next Preparation Phase, the turn order is changed: the leftmost player on the Price Track is considered to be first, and so on.
Example: With 2 visible Price Up icons and 1 visible Price Down icon, Red increases their price by 1 and moves their marker to the leftmost empty spot of the 6-space.
Pricing is an extremely important element in the game, since it defines the turn order. During the Technology and Sales Phases, players will play in turn order. During the Marketing Phase, they will play in reverse turn order.
Phase 4 — Technology
During this phase, in turn order, players can spend Technology Points from their pads and cards, and also discard Progress Tokens, to obtain 1 Technology Card and as many Feature Cards as they can afford, if they want.
The cost of each card is indicated in its upper left corner. It is decreased by 1 if there is a Discount Token on the card.
To buy a Technology Card and/or one of several Feature Cards, you need to have as many Technology Points as the required cost(s). If you have more Technology Points than necessary, each extra Technology Point will be converted into a Progress Token that can be used on later rounds. A Progress Token is worth 1 Technology Point and is discarded when used.
Example: With 3 visible technology cells, Blue can:
- buy technology A with a cost of 2 and feature B with a cost of 2 and a discount token on it, or
- buy only technology C and get 2 Progress Tokens, or
- buy feature card D or E with a cost of 3, or
- take 3 Progress Tokens instead of buying any of the cards.
Blue can't buy F Technology Card or G Feature because they don't have enough Technology Points.
Phases depicted on the Technology Cards indicate at which game phase their effect is triggered. Feature Card effects only trigger during the Sales and Profit Phases.
Phase 5 — Marketing
During this phase, in reverse turn order (starting with the rightmost player and going from right to left on the Price Track), players can spend Marketing Points to buy 1 Marketing Campaign Card.
Any Marketing Points that are not spent for a Marketing Campaign Card must be spent to take as many Private Customer Cards as you can afford.
The price of each Marketing Campaign Card is indicated in the upper left corner. It is decreased by 1 if there is a Discount Token on the card. Private Customers cost 1 Marketing Point each.
To buy a Marketing Campaign Card and/or one or several Private Customer Cards, you need to have as many Marketing Points as the required cost(s). If you have more Marketing Points than necessary, each leftover Marketing Point automatically gives you a Private Customer Card. You cannot save Marketing Points for later use.
Any acquired Marketing Campaign Card can be used immediately, even in the current phase, if appropriate.
Example: With 2 visible Marketing cells, Red can:
- buy A with a cost of 3 and discount token on it, or
- buy B with a cost of 2, or
- buy C with a cost of 1 and take 1 Private Customer, or
- take 2 Private Customers.
Red can't buy D because they do not have enough Marketing Points.
Phases indicated on the Marketing Campaign Cards indicate at which game phase their effect is triggered. Images on the Technology and Marketing Campaign cards match the ones depicting phases of the game. Do not hesitate to stack cards with the same phase trigger in piles to save some table space.
Private customers. When receiving Private Customers, you may take them from any deck (but not from the visible customers on the market). Place them in front of your Corporation Board: they stay there until you are able to sell them a product that meets their requirements, which can only happen in the Sales Phase (see below). Other players cannot sell to your Private Customers.
Phase 6 — Production
During this phase, in turn order, each player calculates the number of Goods that they produce. When you become familiar with the game we recommend doing it simultaneously instead.
This number of Goods produced is equal to: number of Goods icons on Event Cards + number of visible black (Production) cells on their pads + number of covered (hidden) cells of their lower pad, regardless of their color.
Hint: The number of covered cells is always 10, minus the number of visible cells.
Some Event, Technology and Marketing Campaign Cards affect the number of Goods that you produce. Set the number of produced Goods on the matching track of your Corporation Board.
Example: Red produces 2 for visible goods icon cells, 2 for covered cells on pads and 2 for symbols on event cards. Also they have a Technology Card, that grants them 1 good at production, so they move their cube to the 7 position on Goods Produced Track.
Phase 7 — Sales
During this phase, in turn order, each player creates a product and sells their Goods, going through all of the following steps before passing the turn to the next player.
1. Creating a product
You may create a product with your Feature Cards, placing them on the Feature Card slots (dedicated spaces on your Corporation Board and Technology Cards). Feature Cards usually allow you to produce superior phones and/or to provide them with specific features. Try to meet the customers' demand by placing the features that they are looking for. You may also decide not to place any Feature Cards.
Some Technology Cards allow you to increase the number of slots for Feature Cards.
Feature types. There are five feature types in the game:
- Multi-Camera — Phones with multiple camera lenses, for better shots.
- 5G — Phones compatible with 5G, able to use a greater bandwidth and higher download speeds.
- NFC — Phones equipped with NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology, for contactless payments or file sharing.
- 8K — Phones with 8K video recording capabilities.
- Flexible Display — Phones with flexible screens.
Star icons. Star Icons appear on some Feature Cards. The more Star Icons you have on your product, the more advanced it is. Some customers have specific needs and will be looking for superior phones.
2. Determining Net Profit per Sale
Manufacturing cost. The Goods that you produce have a base cost (which is a money icon). Each feature used also may have a cost. It should be also noted that placing a Feature Card in the third slot of your board has an extra cost of 1 money icon. The total number of money icons is the Manufacturing Cost.
Some Technology Cards let you ignore cost icons, decreasing your cost. Manufacturing Cost may never go below 0.
Net profit per sale. Subtract the product's Manufacturing Cost from its Set Price (identified by your Price Marker). The result is the Net Profit per Sale. Each Good that you sell brings exactly that much money to your corporation. Set the value of Net Profit per Sale on the corporation board.
Hint: Feel free to change the configuration of the Feature Cards used to create the product to try and modify the net profit per sale before the sales start.
Attention! If you have a negative profit per sale value, this means that your sales do not cover your manufacturing costs. You will suffer losses instead of making profit!
Example: Red player has a price of 6 and 3 Feature Cards.
- A — They have no Technology Cards that can alter their Manufacturing Cost, so it is 1 money icon. This will decrease Red's Net Profit per Sale by 1.
- B — They have decided to add a Feature Card with multicam and 1 star. It has no cost icon, so Net Profit per Sale stays on 5 money per Good.
- C — They want to add another Feature Card with NFC and 8K features. It has a cost icon, so Net Profit per Sale will move to the 4 slot.
- D — If they decide to use a 3rd Feature Card it would not only add the flexible-display feature and a Star Icon, but also two cost icons (one for the Feature Card and one for the slot). This will decrease Red's Net Profit per Sale to 2 money per Good sold.
3. Sales
Time to sell your Goods to customers, depending on their type. Each time that you sell a Good to a specific customer, put the Customer Card in your sales pile.
Customers' requirements. To meet the customers' requirements, you need to provide them with the Features and Star Icons that they need.
Requirements = Features + Star Icons
If several needs are separated with a slash, it means that you only have to satisfy one of them to sell the good to the customer (you must still match the other requirements, depending on the customer's type).
- Variety-seeking (green) customers are ready to buy at the set price (and below) or at any price if the product has all the specified features that they require.
- Regular (blue) customers are ready to buy at the set price (and below). They do not have specific needs.
- Complex (pink) customers are ready to buy at the set price and below, but they also have specific needs that you need to fulfill.
Anatomy of a Customer Card:
- A — Type of Customer (Variety-seeking, Regular or Complex)
- B — Price at which the customer is ready to buy (and position on the board)
- C — Plus icon (Complex Customer): the customer will buy at the indicated price (and below), and you need to match their needs
- D — Slash icon (Variety-seeking Customer): the customer will buy at the indicated price (and below), or at any price if you match their requirements
Example: This Complex Customer will buy at a price of 7 only if your Product has one of the following features: 8K or 5G. If you can sell a Good to them, you must do so.
Example: This Variety-Seeking Customer will buy at a price of 3, or at any price if your Product has the multi-camera feature and 3 Star Icons.
3a. Sales to private customers
First, check if you have Private Customers. You must sell the Goods to Private Customers whose requirements you meet. Always resolve sales starting from Private Customers with the lowest preferred price (2), then continue in ascending order until 8 or until you run out of Goods.
Private Customers who do not want to buy the product that you offer remain in front of the Corporation Board.
3b. Sales to customers on the market
Once you've sold to your Private Customers (if any), you must sell the remaining Goods to the market if able.
Always resolve sales starting from Customers with the lowest preferred price (2), then continue in ascending order until 8. Basically, this means that you resolve each column from left to right. Inside a column, always resolve from bottom to top.
To sell a Good to a Customer, you must meet the price requirement, the number of Stars, and/or the Feature Icons, as with Private Customers (apply the same rules, depending on their color).
Each time you sell a Good to a specific customer, put the Customer Card in your sales pile. You continue selling your Goods until the number of cards in the sales pile becomes equal to the number of Goods that you produced in this round. If you've reached the top card of the last column, the sale is over no matter what — even if you still have Goods to sell, no one wants to buy them.
Example of sales phase. In a 2-player game Red takes their turn second after the Yellow player. Price of this player is 6.
- A — Red places 2 Feature Cards on the slots of the player board, which gives the product a Star Icon and 2 cost icons. Red decides not to use their 2 remaining Feature Cards.
- B — Base cost and the cost icon on the feature card sum up for a manufacturing cost of 2. Net profit per Sale for Red player is 6 minus 2 = 4.
- C — Both Private Customers buy Red's product: Red has the two features needed to meet the requirements of the 1st one, and the second buys because of the price (6 is lower than 8) and presence of the required feature icon.
- D — Now Red sells to the market, starting from left to right. There are not enough stars on the product and the price is too high for the 1st customer in the leftmost row, but the player has both technologies for customer number 3. Customer number 4 requires a feature and 3 stars, which the player's product has (due to a feature card with 2 stars and a technology card with an extra star). Customer in row 4 considers Red player's price too high and doesn't buy. Customers number 5 and 6 both buy because they are satisfied with price and star amount. The top customer on row 8 doesn't want to buy because there is no flexible screen feature in Red's product. Red reached the end of the market and their sale phase immediately ends, even though they still have 1 of their goods left unsold.
Phase 8 — Profit
Getting a bonus for the market share. Players who sell more Goods receive a bonus. These are always the same for any number of players.
- 8 money — for 1st place in the number of Goods sold,
- 4 money — for 2nd place,
- 2 money — for 3rd place.
If several players have sold the same number of Goods, the victory points for the places they are applying for are summed up and divided by the number of challengers, rounded down. In a solo and two-player game the third place is not awarded to anyone. If a player has not sold a single Good, they also cannot claim any of the rewards.
Example: If the 1st place is claimed by 2 players, both get 6 money; if the 2nd place is claimed by 2 players both get 3 money (provided there are more than 2 players).
Resolving technology & marketing campaign cards. Any Technology & Marketing Campaign Cards that trigger at the end of the round are resolved. For example, if you have not sold all of your products, receive the bonus of your Starting Technology Card.
Getting profit. Each player receives money equal to the number of the Goods they sold, multiplied by the Net Profit per Sale. In other words, each Customer Card in the sales pile brings the player as much money as the rate of net profit marked on their Corporation Board. Mark all the received money on the Scoring Track. If the player has scored more than $50, mark it by placing their marker on the "50" square of the track (then 100, then 150).
Example: There are 3 customers in Red's customer pile. It means that Red sold 3 Goods (out of 4). Red's Net Profit per Sale is 3 (Price Marker is on 5 and the base cost plus features cost 2 money). As a result, Red scores a profit of 3x3=9 money.
At the end of the phase:
- Discard all customers from all players' sales piles to the corresponding discards of the customer decks,
- Remove all Feature Cards used to create the product from the players' Corporation Boards and set them aside with the other Feature Cards at their disposal. Players will be able to use any of the cards they own in the next Round.
- Reset the marker of the number of produced Goods and the Net Profit track to the "0" space on the Corporation Board.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the 5th round. You can easily spot the 5th round since at the end of this round, you will be out of Event Cards.
Any Technology & Marketing Campaign Cards that trigger at the end of the game are resolved.
The player who ends the game with the most money wins the game. If there is a tie, the player with the lowest number on the starting Technology Card wins.
Solo Variant
The goal of the solo variant is to earn more money than the AI opponent called Steve Jr.
Steve Jr. card anatomy:
- A — Card Features. Remain visible at all times. Each feature section is a combination of one or several Feature icons and possibly a cost icon. These are just like Feature Cards that players add to their pool during the game, but made for Steve Jr. use only. Instructions on the bottom half of the card will dictate which features the AI opponent activates each round. Once activated, Steve Jr. counts all of the icons on the Feature Card section towards the product. Features without a cost icon are considered free, and features containing a cost icon will be mentioned as features with a cost.
- B — Card Ability. Remain visible at all times. These Abilities are a variant of Technology or Marketing Campaign Cards. Once revealed, abilities work continuously, applying effects when possible.
- C — Phase rows. Represent the actions Steve Jr. will execute during the round and tell when to resolve them.
Setup
- Setup a 2-player game as usual. The AI opponent does not receive any starting cards. Steve Jr. doesn't need Starting Technology or Starting Feature Cards, as he uses his special deck instead.
- Take all Steve Jr.'s cards from the box and shuffle them. Form a face down deck and place it near the Steve Jr. Corporation Board.
Depending on the difficulty level that you want to play, reveal 0 (for easy), 1 (for medium) or 2 (for hard) cards from the Steve Jr. Deck and stack them face up near his Corporation Board, with only the top row visible.
Gameplay
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Preparation Phase. As in a 2-player game. In case of a tie for initiative, Steve Jr. always goes first.
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Planning Phase. After a player finishes arranging their pad, reveal a Steve Jr. card from the deck and place it on top of the previously placed card, overlapping all Phase rows, leaving the card's features and ability visible.
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Pricing Phase. Set Steve Jr. price according to the price row on the card.
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Technology Phase. Steve Jr. does not buy any Technology or Feature Cards — instead, he discards some of those, based on the instructions given in the Technology Action Row. Steve follows the turn order rules.
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Marketing Phase. Steve Jr. discards Marketing Campaign Cards and takes Private Customers based on the turn order. Unless stated otherwise, Steve Jr. always takes customers from the top of the corresponding deck. Some of Steve Jr.'s abilities let him take more cards in this phase.
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Production Phase. Steve Jr. produces Goods based on the production formula in the Production Row on his card. Some of his card abilities let him produce extra Goods. Mark Steve Jr. production on his Corporation Board.
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Sales phase. Steve Jr. sells Goods based on his Sale Row. He follows the same rules as a regular player: First, set his profit per sale based on his Sale Row instructions and used features (do not forget to include the base cost!). Then, Steve Jr. sells his Goods — first to Private Customers, then to the Market, following 2-player rules. Steve Jr. can have any number of features and stars on his product simultaneously. When instructed to choose up to a number of features, go through the Steve Jr. card stack from bottom (latest card) to top and count as many segments with feature and cost icons as active. Steve Jr.'s discounts always add to the permission number. You don't split or pick what features will be used. Also, Steve Jr. can have additional special abilities on his cards for the Sale Phase.
Bear in mind that Steve Jr. features are set on his card — he never uses any of the slots on the Corporation Board or feature cards from the Feature display.
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Profit Phase. Count Steve's money based on his net profit per sale, market share bonus and abilities on his cards.
End of the game (Solo Variant)
You win if you have earned more money than Steve Jr. Otherwise (even if tied), Steve Jr. wins.
Appendix
The Appendix collects card-specific clarifications for the Event, Marketing Campaign, and Technology Cards, referenced by the card's printed identifier (e.g. E1, M2, T6).
Event Cards
- E1 / E2 — Place a total of 7 Technology Cards on market this turn. Each player can buy 2 technologies this round. Same for Marketing Campaign Cards on E2.
- E4 — In the Sales phase treat your product as having base cost of 2 instead of 1.
- E9 — In the Sales phase you need 1 more star symbol on your product to sell to customers with star requirement than usual.
- E10 — In case players have a price of 8 consider their price as 7 for E10.
- E11 — In case players have a price of 2 consider their price as 3 for E11.
- E12 — In the Profit phase no players get any bonus for the amount of goods sold (market share bonus).
- E13 — Discard all customers cards from the market that are left after previous rounds. Do not discard your private customers.
Marketing Campaign Cards
- M2 — For this card count how many customers with different price numbers you have and get this much money. They may have a price lower than your price marker, as you can sell them via features and stars.
- M3 — In Profit Phase get money for each feature card you placed in slots in the previous Sales phase.
- M7 / M8 — Count the number of different feature icons on customers in your sales pile and get that much money (double for M8). Customers with two feature icons provide both, even if icons are separated by a slash symbol.
- M9 / M16 / M25 — You can place Customers of any type on the market, even ones you got earlier. Place new customers on the bottom of the corresponding price row.
- M12 — If you have NFC on your product this Marketing Campaign Card allows you to sell to all customers that require stars, as if you have enough stars to meet the requirement.
- M17 / M18 / M19 / M20 / M21 / M27 — "Customer consider" means the customer acts as if you have something mentioned in the condition.
Technology Cards
- TS1 / TS2 / TS3 / TS4 — This ability works in the Profit phase if you have any goods left unsold.
- TS5 / TS6 — This ability works in the Profit phase if you sell 2 or more goods less than you produce. You can choose among the cards that have an equally lowest cost. Discount tokens count towards decreasing the cost, as in the Technology phase.
- T2 — In Sales phase you can produce extra goods by discarding Progress Tokens (one good for each token discarded this way).
- T9 / T3 / T4 — These Technology Cards provide you a Feature Card slot, similar to the ones on the Corporation Board. You can freely choose to place feature cards on any of the available slots on the Corporation Board and this Technology Card. In addition, for T3 ignore the cost icon for the feature card placed; for T4 consider this card to give you double the amount of stars on it.
- T6 — You ignore the cost icon if you have any 3 feature icons on your product, even if some are the same.
- T7 — In Sales phase after you determine your product but before you start sales, produce 1 good if you have an 8K feature icon on one of your Feature Cards in your product.
- T11 — In Sales phase your product receives Star Icons from all your Feature Cards, even ones not placed on slots. They are not considered to be on your product for Marketing Cards in the Profit phase.
- T12 / T13 / T18 — Get additional money at the end of the game if you meet the condition on the card.
- T12 — You get 2 money for each Feature Card you have, including the Starting Feature Card. It doesn't matter if the Feature Cards are used to create the product or not for endgame scoring.
- T13 — You get 3 money for each Technology Card you have, including the Starting Technology Card.
- T14 — Same, for Marketing Campaign Cards.
- T15 / T22 — Get an additional marketing point if you meet the condition of the card in the Marketing phase. You must spend this point during this phase according to game rules.
- T26 — This effect triggers at the end of the Production phase, after all players have produced and used their bonuses from Technology Cards. If there are no players that have fewer goods than you, produce one extra good.
- T27 / T29 — Get additional money at the end of the game if you meet the condition on the card.
- T27 — You get 14 money if you have 5G, NFC, 8K, Multi-Camera, and Flexible Display icons on your Feature Cards. You get nothing if you don't have at least 1 of each icon.
- T29 — You get 12 money if you have 7 or more Star Icons on your Feature and Technology Cards. You get nothing if you have 6 or less. The ability of card T4 doesn't give you extra stars, as it is active only in the Sales phase.
- T30 — This ability only works if all slots on your board and any Technology Cards you have are filled with Feature Cards.
Credits
- Game design: Ivan Lashin
- Artwork: Viktor Miller Gausa
Cosmodrome Games
- CEO: Mikhail Pakhomov
- Production director: Sergey Morozov
- Editor-in-chief: Max Vereschagin
Comrades Development
- General management: Ivan Lashin
- Game development: Andrey Kolupaev, Ivan Tuzovsky
- Project management & editing: Valeriy Kruzhalov
- Lore design: Ivan Tuzovsky
- Art concept & ideas: Valeriy Kruzhalov
OWL agency
- Graphic design: Vyacheslav Sergienko, Eugene Sarnetsky
- Layout: Vyacheslav Sergienko, Valery Zaveryaev
- Graphic design management: Ilya Sevastyanov
Special thanks to all those involved in the creation of this game:
- Rules editing: Antoine Prono (Transludis)
- Rules translation: Tasha Telezhkina
- Playtesting: Alexander Aleksanin, Andrey Zhuravlev, Ivan Kutiavin, Galina Kirillova, Arseniy Kiselev, Nikolay Kuzivanov, Roman Makurin, Petr Kolupaev, Viktor Nevskiy, Konstantin Glazkov, Sergey Latyshev, Mikhail Krotov, Yulia Ilinskaya, Konstantin Malygin, Yura Korzun, Igor Ganzha and all the other members of Comrades Development Playtesting Group