Draft template. Replace everything in [square brackets] and have this reviewed by a solicitor before you launch the daily challenge. Delete this box when you're done.
Rules, fair play and privacy
Last updated: [DATE]. The daily challenge is run by [YOUR NAME OR BUSINESS NAME], [ADDRESS]. You can reach us at [CONTACT EMAIL].
The daily challenge
- It is free to enter. You never need to pay, and nothing you can buy gives you extra attempts or a better score.
- There is one list a day, the same for every player, starting at 00:00 UTC. You get one attempt a day.
- You have three lives. A wrong answer, or running out of time on an answer, costs a life. You have [30] seconds per answer, and the clock keeps running if you close the page.
- An answer at rank 1 is worth 10 and rank 10 is worth 1. Answering quickly can roughly double an answer's value. Ties on points are decided by total time, then by who finished first.
- The monthly table adds up your daily scores. If we find a list was wrong we may cancel that day, and it then doesn't count.
- Lists are compiled with the help of AI and can contain mistakes. You can report a problem on the results screen. Correcting or cancelling a list is our decision.
Prizes
[Describe the prize, who provides it, the period it covers (for example each calendar month), how winners are worked out, how winners will be contacted, how long they have to claim, and what happens if a prize isn't claimed.]
Ranked matches
- Ranked 1v1 is free to play and separate from the daily challenge. Nothing you can buy affects a rating.
- Everyone starts at 1200. After each match your rating goes up or down depending on the result and your opponent's rating, using an Elo-style formula. New players' ratings move faster for their first 20 matches.
- Resigning, or being disconnected for more than [60] seconds, counts as a loss. A match where someone never connects is cancelled with no change.
- The fair-play rules below apply to ranked matches too. We may reverse a match's rating change, adjust a rating, or close an account where we reasonably believe the rules were broken.
Fair play
The challenge is a test of what you know, so please play it that way. Don't look answers up, use AI tools or scripts, paste in answers, share answers with other players, or use more than one account.
To protect honest players we run automatic checks while you play. They look at how each answer was entered: whether it was typed or pasted, how quickly it appeared, and whether the page was in the background just before you answered. We don't read your clipboard or see other tabs. These signs are not proof of anything, and plenty of innocent things (password managers, voice typing, assistive technology) can trigger them. Unusual attempts are held back from the public leaderboard until a person has looked at them.
Before any prize is awarded we may ask the leading players to complete a short extra round so we can confirm the result. We may remove a score, withhold a prize or close an account where we reasonably believe the rules were broken, and we'll tell you why if you ask.
Privacy
The short version: we never ask for your email address or a password. You sign in with Google, GitHub or Discord, and we only learn a scrambled ID from them.
What we store
- A scrambled account ID. A one-way hash of the ID your sign-in provider gives us. We never receive your email address, name or password, and we ask the provider for the least information it will give.
- Your username, which you choose. It is unique, appears on leaderboards and in matches, and is how other players find you.
- Your friends list and any friend requests you've sent or received, kept against scrambled account IDs.
- Which sign-in methods you've linked (for example Google and GitHub), as a scrambled ID for each, never your email address.
- Your privacy settings: whether you accept friend requests and whether your profile is public or friends-only.
- Your profile picture choice: a colour and a picture from a fixed set, stored as two small numbers. We never store photos or links to photos.
- Your results: each day's score, time, answers and when you played.
- Your ranked rating and match history: your rating, your wins, losses and draws, and a record of each match (who played, the result, the rating change and the fair-play signals described above), kept against scrambled account IDs.
- How you entered each answer (typed or pasted, key presses, timing, whether the tab was in the background), used for the fair-play checks. Per-answer details are deleted after 60 days.
- A scrambled network ID (a hash of your IP address, not the address itself), used only to spot abuse such as many accounts from one place.
- If you delete your account after playing, a scrambled marker is kept until 00:00 UTC that day to stop a second attempt. Then it is erased.
Because this information can still be linked back to you, we treat it as personal data under UK data protection law.
Why and how long
We use this information to run the game, keep the leaderboard fair and prevent abuse. That is our legitimate interest, and it is necessary to provide the game you asked to play. We keep your account and results until you delete your account. Sign-in sessions last 30 days.
Who else sees it
Other signed-in players can see your username, profile picture and rating. Your ranked record, streak and recent matches are visible to everyone who is signed in, or only to your friends if you switch your profile to friends-only. Your linked sign-in methods and privacy settings are visible only to you. The game runs on Cloudflare, which stores the data on our behalf. Your sign-in provider (Google, GitHub or Discord) knows you signed in to this site, under its own privacy policy. We don't sell your data, show ads or use tracking tools.
Your choices
- Delete your account at any time with "Delete my account" on your profile page. This erases your account, username, ratings, results, linked sign-in methods and friends straight away.
- You can sign out at any time, and you can ask us for a copy of the data we hold about you or raise a concern at [CONTACT EMAIL]. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
Cookies
We use two small cookies and nothing else: one keeps you signed in, and one lasts a few minutes while you sign in. Both are strictly necessary, so there is no consent banner. If we ever add advertising or analytics we'll update this page first.
Age
The daily challenge is for people aged [13] or over.