The ‘Hit-Makers from Helsinki’ have posted massive revenues with a small, international team and few games. The game developer just raised $130 million on a $770 million valuation and could explode even further with new markets and a jump to Android.

The first thing you notice when you enter Supercell’s glassy Helsinki offices is the assortment of shoes strewn on the floor at the foot of a coat rack near the entrance. Finland’s climate yields a lot of snow and it’s probably a good idea to leave frost-caked footwear at the door. The result is that business is conducted in socks and slippers.

Shoes or no, Supercell is the current king of mobile gaming, with its 8.5 million daily players generating $2.4 million every day, sometimes more. Supercell is already at a run-rate of more than $800 million for 2013, having earned $179 million before expenses in the first quarter alone. If Supercell plays its cards right, it could reach a billion by year’s end.

Oh, and one more thing—it only has two (2) games on the market right now, only available on iOS for iPads and iPhones/iPods: the social farming experience, Hay Day, and the tower defense game, Clash of Clans.

On Mondays, Supercell’s employees enjoy a catered breakfast together, with cold cuts, fruit, coffees, juices; and discuss what’s happening within the company. On the black walls in the office’s main thoroughfare are written snippets of feedback the company’s games have drawn from players. “I can’t get enough of Hay Day!” reads one. “My kids love to check on my barbarian horde,” reads another. “Ecelente juego muy adictivo y entretenido.”

What’s the Draw?

The Barbarian King, from Clash of Clans

Part of what makes Clash of Clans and Hay Day so insanely addictive is what Supercell employees like to call the “soul of the game.” This soul materializes through those small details that lead players deeper into the game, such as the charming aesthetics of game characters like sheep that overflow with wool when it’s time to sheer them or pigs that become so fat they cannot walk, indicating it’s time to harvest their meat.

According to Timur Haussila, a product lead and one of the brains behind Hay Day, the aesthetics are a big deal and, in fact, the visuals of the animals on Hay Day came first. “It has a huge impact,” he said. “It’s the first thing that you see.”

Hay Day, by game developer Supercell, draws 4 million players per day, 69% of them women.

Another aspect of a game’s soul is emotion. You have to feel it, especially in a mobile game where screens are small and gameplay simple. Co-founder and Creative Director Mikko Kodisoja, told me that a good game should tickle a player’s funny-bone, incite excitement and sometimes even anger.

You can’t discount the social aspect of mobile gaming as a draw. Friends and game connections can cooperate on both of Supercell’s games. “We made sure that (Hay Day) is truly social,” said game product manager Stephan Demirdjian. “It means that on our platform not only can you visit other players, but you can help them. One of the core features of the game is that you can not only produce but also sell goods to other players.” That’s sell with in-game money. You can use real money to buy yourself game resources and power-ups.

Clash of Clans features fortress building and battles.

Clash of Clans features organized conflict among groups of players. This breeds two things: a sense of community and the fire of competition. Groups of Clash players (called “Clans”) can coordinate attacks and share resources and all are locked in deadly (well, not deadly, but it seems that way) battle against other clans and players. The need to do right by your clan and also beat adversaries drives players to spend their own money to purchase in-game power-ups and resources.

“At some point it’s not the game that will suck you in but your clan or your alliance or the other people,” says Kodisoja.

Down with Bureaucracy

Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen.

Supercell’s culture is all about small teams with autonomy doing what they do best. When I sat down with CEO Ilkka Paananen, a boyish 34-year-old decked out in Supercell attire, he told me his goal was to become the world’s least powerful CEO by relinquishing control to these “cells.”  “Get the best people then get out of the way and let those people do their jobs,” Paananen said.

Every cell makes its own decisions – regarding how to change or whether to kill a game – and the idea of having an autocratic leader in any group is abhorrent to the company. Sure, there’ s a team member that keeps the group adhering to some kind of schedule, but the chemistry of autonomy seems to have created a sense of responsibility that keeps the cells moving of their own volition.

When you walk around Supercell’s offices, it seems that every group has its own corner, yet they freely mingle throughout the day. There are no personal offices at Supercell, just several conference rooms with names like “Ultramarine” and “Unicorn Tears,” (a room with couches, stuffed unicorns and a TV).