Smartphone Inc.

Set up the main board, placing the round marker on '1' and the phase marker on 'Planning'. Place the product value marker on '5'. Shuffle the technology tiles and place them face-up on their designated spots, ensuring the 4G tile is on its specific space. Shuffle the improvement cards and place five face-up on the board. Each player receives a player screen, an initial office token placed on their starting region (indicated on their screen), and an initial improvement card. Place one of each player's cubes on the '0' space of the score track and another on the starting value of the product value track (also indicated on their screen). If playing with fewer than five players, place neutral retailer tokens on the designated spaces to block certain regions.

The primary objective in Smartphone Inc. is to accumulate the most money by the end of five rounds. Players achieve this by strategically managing their technology company, producing and selling smartphones, researching new technologies, expanding their logistics network, and dominating market regions.

Each round consists of eight phases: 1. Planning: Players secretly arrange their two planning tiles behind their screens to cover 1-4 icons, determining actions for the round. Improvement cards can also be used here. 2. Cost: Players reveal their planning tiles. For each visible '$+' icon, move their product value marker up one space; for each '$-' icon, move it down one space. This also determines turn order for subsequent phases (lowest value goes first). 3. Production: For each visible black icon, players gain one product cube. Additionally, for each covered icon on their planning tiles (excluding those covered by improvement cards), they gain one product cube. 4. Research: For each visible purple icon, players can place a development token on a technology track. The first player to meet a technology's development cost gains its patent. 5. Logistics: For each visible truck icon, players can place a logistics token on a connected region where they don't have an office. 6. Sales: Players sell products to clients in regions where they have offices. Red clients buy based on product value (must be equal to or less than the client's value), while purple clients require a specific technology. 7. Income: Players gain money based on the number of products sold (multiplied by their current product value) and for dominating regions (having the most products sold in a region). 8. Maintenance: Remove all product cubes from the board, discard unused improvement cards, replenish improvement cards, reset product values to '5', and advance the round marker.

Players earn money throughout the game primarily during the Income phase. Money is gained by selling products, with the amount determined by the number of products sold multiplied by the player's current product value. Additionally, players earn money for dominating regions; the player with the most products sold in a region gains victory points equal to the value shown on the highest occupied space in that region. At the end of the game, the player with the highest total money wins.

The game concludes after the fifth round has been fully completed, including the final Maintenance phase. After all eight phases of the fifth round are resolved, players tally their total money. The player who has accumulated the most money is declared the winner of Smartphone Inc.