Trivia

Here I have gathered interesting information about Kosmopolska that doesn’t fit in anywhere else.

The name Kosmopolska

“Polska” is the Swedish word for the Polish language, but it’s also the name of a form of music and dance that has a long history in Sweden. Different types of the dance polska has different name, such as “rundpolska”, “springpolska”, “Jössehäradspolska”, and so on. Then there’s also the term “cosmopolitan”, meaning to be a “world citizen”, to be part of a global community. So the game name “Kosmopolska” could be a reference to the language, the dance (a “cosmic polska”) or the term, or possibly all three at the same time.

The Swedish musician Jonathan Sandgren has written a piece of music titled “Kosmopolska”, which as far as I can tell isn’t a reference to the game, but probably to the dance:

The magazine

At one point in the game, you get a magazine, and see a closeup of its cover:

The cover is based on a cover to an issue of the real science fiction magazine Galaxy Magazine, specifically the October issue from 1985:

The ice cream kiosk melody

In the strategy segments of the game, you can construct an ice cream kiosk, and if you click on it, you hear a melody:

This melody is very similar to the real-life melody played by ice cream trucks belonging to the Swedish company Hemglass: