Privacy Policy

Who we are

Golden Rule Game Time is a family game of backgammon, checkers, chess and gin rummy, made by Doug Golden. Gin Rummy can read your own cards aloud with your phone or tablet's built-in voice; the app picks a voice that runs on the device when there is one, and nothing it says is sent to us. If your browser only has an online voice, the card names go to your browser's maker (Apple or Google) to be spoken, under their privacy policy. Questions about this policy or your data: doug@1stplacebrands.com.

Playing without an account

You can play Tillman (the computer), play two people on one phone, and do the lessons without signing in. Those games are saved only on your own device, in the browser's storage. Nothing about them is sent to us.

What we collect when you sign in

You sign in with Google. We use Google's Firebase service to run the sign-in and keep the game's records.

• From Google: your name, email address, profile picture and an account number. Your email stays with the sign-in service. The game does not show it to anyone.
• Your table name, which you choose, and your Google profile picture.
• Your games: moves, results, gold bars, matches, tournaments, and real-table scores you record.
• Your lists: the family and friends you add, your family name, and your Watch & chat settings.
• Chat messages you send in a game (300 characters at most).
• Family and friends pictures you choose to upload.
• Lesson progress and saved games, so they follow you to another device.
• When you were last in the app, so others can see who is online and the alert server knows not to buzz you while you're playing.
• Phone alerts: if you turn them on, a device code from Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging so we can send turn and challenge alerts.
• Prize shipping: if you win the monthly prize and claim it, the name, address and size you give us, used only to send the prize.
• Notify me: which merch items you asked to hear about.

What we do not collect

• No advertising, no ad networks, no tracking across other apps or websites.
• No analytics or usage tracking tools.
• No location, contacts or payment details.
• No real-money betting. Gold bars are points. They can't be bought, sold or cashed out.

Talk instead of typing

The chat has a microphone button. It uses the speech-to-text built into your phone or browser (Apple on iPhone, Google in Chrome). Your voice goes to them, not to us. We only receive the words if you tap Send.

Who can see what

• Other signed-in players can see your table name, your Google profile picture, your game results and standings, and whether you're online.
• Watching and chat follow your Watch & chat settings. Family and friends are allowed by default. The public is not, unless you turn it on.
• Family and friends pictures are seen only by you and the people on your family (or friends) list.
• Lesson progress, saved games, alert codes and prize shipping details are private to you. The organizer sees prize shipping details only to send a prize.
• We don't share your data with anyone else, except Google, which runs the sign-in, the database and the alerts for us, and Netlify, which serves the web pages.

Where it is kept

Your records are kept in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore) in the United States, protected by database rules so that you can change only your own records. The web pages are served by Netlify. Like any web host, Netlify and Google keep short-term server logs (such as your device's internet address) to run and protect their services.

Keep it, take it, delete it

• Delete your account in the app: tap your name at the top, then Delete my account. It removes your account and your data right away. See how deleting works.
• After you delete, online games and games against Tillman stay only as scores with no name or picture, shown as "Someone", so other players' standings still add up.
• Family record: the keeper of a family table can export it from Pam's Table, Export the family record.
• To ask for a copy of your data, or for help deleting it, email doug@1stplacebrands.com.
• We keep your data while your account is open. We don't keep it after you delete your account, except the anonymous scores above.

Children

Golden Rule Game Time is a family game, but signing in is meant for people 13 and older. Younger children can play without an account, or with a parent at the same device. If you think a child under 13 has signed in, email us and we will delete the account.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top and say what changed in the app.