Smart Games

What Smart Games does

Smart Games LLC is a privately held, founder-owned computer game software development and publishing company headquartered in San Jose, California, wholly owned and operated by David Fotland. The company specializes in turn-based strategy games with strong artificial intelligence engines, with primary focus on the game of Go — described in source material as the most difficult strategy game for computers. Its flagship product, The Many Faces of Go Version 12, is a Go-playing program built on approximately 30,000 lines of C and a unique hybrid architecture combining Monte Carlo Tree Search with traditional knowledge-intensive techniques. The engine is supported by proprietary data assets including a 45,000+ move Joseki database, a Fuseki opening library derived from nearly 100,000 professional games, and a pattern database of 700+ entries, and has won five computer Go world championships plus ten U.S. championships.

The product portfolio also includes the Arimaa program (a two-time world computer Arimaa champion), free consumer titles such as Igowin (a 9x9 Go tutorial for Windows and formerly iOS), Sudoku Helper, and a Maze Builder, and two new 2025 web-based games (Tic Tac Toe and QuAIto) whose code was generated using third-party large language models. Smart Games has historically licensed its Go and Chess engines to third parties and offers contract AI game-engine development across games including Bridge, Othello, Checkers, Arimaa, Domineering, World War Chess, and a multiplayer real-time space battle game.

Revenue is generated primarily through one-time perpetual license sales of The Many Faces of Go ($89.95 new license, $49.95 upgrade from v11) and Arimaa ($19.95), distributed exclusively as direct-to-consumer downloads via smart-games.com with PayPal-based payment and email-delivered registration codes. The company previously sold Igowin through the Apple App Store from 2010 until Apple discontinued the apps in 2020. Customer segments are exclusively individual hobbyist game players and a small set of academic/research licensees; the company is bootstrapped with no institutional funding, no reported revenue, and a stated headcount of 11-50 that in practice reflects a single full-time proprietor.

Name

Smart Games

Legal name

Smart Games LLC

Website

https://smart-games.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Smart Games LLC is a privately held, founder-owned computer game software company in San Jose that develops and sells perpetual-license AI-powered strategy games, principally The Many Faces of Go, serving individual Go and Arimaa players worldwide via direct download from smart-games.com.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Strategy Game Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Game Engines (General-Purpose & Real-Time 3D) (MPAFAFAA)

Keywords

• Computer Go software
• Strategy game AI
• AI game engine licensing
• Monte Carlo tree search
• Turn-based strategy games

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Many Faces of Go License: One-time purchase of a registration key for Many Faces of Go version 12. A single purchase entitles the buyer to registration codes for all computers they own or use. Upgrades from version 11 available at a discounted price.
2. Arimaa Registration: One-time purchase of a registration key for Arimaa software to unlock the full-strength computer opponent.
3. Free Software Distribution: Free distribution of Igowin (9x9 Go), Sudoku helper, Maze builder, and Tic Tac Toe. Used as lead-generation for paid products. Igowin was previously sold through the Apple App Store (2010-2020).
4. AI Engine Licensing: Licensing of Go and Chess playing engines, plus contract software development for AI game engines including Bridge, Othello, Checkers, Arimaa, Domineering, World War Chess, and a real-time multiplayer space battle game with intelligent aliens.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Smart Games develops and sells computer strategy game software, with The Many Faces of Go (Version 12) as its flagship product: a world-champion computer Go program that combines Monte Carlo Tree Search with traditional knowledge-based AI. The company also publishes the free Igowin 9x9 Go tutor, the Arimaa strategy game program, and free puzzle utilities (Sudoku Helper, Maze Builder, Tic Tac Toe, QuAIto). Beyond packaged products, Smart Games licenses its Go and Chess AI engines and provides contract AI game-engine development services.

Product overview

Smart Games is a computer game software development and publishing company specializing in turn-based strategy games with strong AI engines and user-friendly interfaces. The product portfolio centers on The Many Faces of Go as the flagship product (Version 12), complemented by the free Igowin Windows/iOS app for learning Go on 9x9 boards. The company also offers the Arimaa program (two-time world computer champion), free puzzle software (Sudoku Helper, Maze Builder), and new AI-assisted web games (Tic Tac Toe, QuAIto). Beyond consumer products, Smart Games licenses its AI game-playing engines (Go, Chess, Bridge, Othello, Checkers, Arimaa) and provides contract software development services for AI game engine development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Many Faces of Go: Flagship go-playing computer program with calibrated levels from 18 kyu to 1 dan, combining Monte Carlo Tree Search with traditional knowledge-intensive techniques. Multiple world champion titles.
• Igowin
• Arimaa

Products and services

• The Many Faces of Go Version 12 World-champion computer Go program combining Monte Carlo Tree Search with traditional knowledge-based AI. Offers calibrated playing levels from 18 kyu to 1 dan, includes Joseki and Fuseki tutors, commented professional games, go problems, game editor, and built-in IGS client for online play. Sold as a one-time perpetual license.
• Igowin Free 9x9 version of Many Faces of Go for Windows (and formerly iOS). Includes the Go tutorial, tracks player strength and record, and adjusts to player level from 25 kyu through 6 dan. Used as lead generation for the paid Many Faces of Go product.
• Arimaa Two-time (other source: five-time) world computer champion Arimaa program. A two-player strategy game designed to be difficult for computers. Offers adjustable difficulty levels, position analysis, hints, and advice. Free trial with weak player; $19.95 registration unlocks full strength opponent.
• Sudoku Helper Free Windows software that helps solve Sudoku puzzles by showing possible numbers for each square, allowing trial solutions with undo, and providing hints.
• Maze Builder Free Windows program that generates maze puzzles. Users can solve on screen or print them, with adjustable maze size and difficulty.
• Tic Tac Toe (Web Game) Web-based Tic Tac Toe game with a learning AI opponent. AI starts knowing nothing and learns from player behavior. Runs entirely in web browser on any device.
• QuAIto Web app version of the board game Quadro with an AI opponent offering multiple playing levels. Supports two-player mode.
• Many Faces of Go HPC Cluster Version Free supercomputer implementation of Many Faces of Go for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 clusters using MPI. 64-bit executable requiring MPI to run. Beta quality software using GTP protocol for GUI front-end communication.
• AI Engine Licensing Licensing of proprietary Go and Chess playing engines to third parties. Other AI engines developed include Bridge, Othello, Checkers, Arimaa, Domineering, World War Chess, and a real-time multiplayer space battle game with intelligent aliens.
• Contract Software Development Contract software development services for AI game engines. Leverages existing working code for many games to provide fast and inexpensive development of new game engines.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 7 stones stronger than Version 11, rated stronger than 1 Dan on KGS (approximately 2 Dan with Version 12 engine)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Google (DoubleClick / Google Adsense)minorOthersGoogle Adsense serves advertisements on the Smart Games website. Google uses DoubleClick cookies to show ads based on users' web browsing history across sites. Users can opt out of DoubleClick tracking via Google Ad Settings. This is a standard advertising partnership for the company's website.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• GNU Go: Long-running free, open-source computer Go engine — the historical open-source counterpart to commercial programs like Many Faces of Go. Compares directly on product category (desktop computer Go) and competes on price.
• Crazy Stone (Rémi Coulom): Commercial computer Go engine developed since the 1990s that, like Smart Games, has won multiple world computer Go championships and uses Monte Carlo-based search. Directly competes with Many Faces of Go for paying Go players seeking a strong desktop opponent.
• Stockfish: Leading open-source chess engine with deep neural-network variants (NNUE). Parallel to Leela Zero for Go: a free, open-source engine that has eclipsed many commercial chess engines, putting downward pressure on paid chess engine sales analogous to the threat Smart Games faces in Go.
• ChessBase: Established packaged-software publisher for chess, with premium desktop products (engines, databases, training) sold to serious amateurs. Mirrors Smart Games' business model of one-time-license desktop strategy-game software for dedicated hobbyists, applied to chess rather than Go.
• Zen (Go program): Long-running commercial Japanese computer Go program with strong amateur dan-level play and a polished interface. Directly comparable to Many Faces of Go as a paid desktop Go engine popular in Japan and East Asia.

Emerging players

• KataGo: Open-source, neural-network Go engine with strong amateur dan-level play and advanced analysis tools. Comparable as a strong computer Go opponent with training features, directly challenging Many Faces of Go in the serious-amateur segment.
• Leela Zero: Open-source Go engine modeled on AlphaGo Zero that has surpassed many traditional and hybrid engines. Comparable to Smart Games because it offers a strong computer Go opponent, but competes on price (free) and uses a different (neural-net) AI architecture.

Broad incumbents

• DeepMind (AlphaGo / AlphaZero): Research organization behind AlphaGo, which fundamentally changed competitive computer Go. While not a commercial product, its open methodologies and tooling define the technical frontier against which Smart Games' hybrid engine is benchmarked.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/smartgames

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smart Games