Privacy Policy
This policy explains what personal information PCdle collects, why, and what you can do about it. We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and we describe your additional rights if you live in the EU, UK or California.
The short version
- You can play without an account. Your progress is kept on your own device.
- We do not sell personal information and we do not run advertising or third-party tracking scripts.
- We only link your plays together for analytics if you click “Accept analytics”.
- An account, the daily email and giveaways are all optional, and each collects only what it needs.
What we collect
When you play
- On your device: today’s puzzle state, your streaks and statistics, and your settings. See the Cookie Policy.
- Game events: when a puzzle is started, guessed, solved or shared, we record the date, category, mode and guess number. Without analytics consent these are recorded against the label “anonymous”; with consent they carry a random identifier that lasts until you close the tab.
- Guest streaks: if you play without signing in, your server-side streaks and today’s guess count are keyed to a random guest ID we keep in a cookie (
pcdle_guest). If you sign in later, those streaks move to your account and the guest ID is retired. Where no guest ID or session is available, a finished game is keyed to a one-way hash of your IP address; we do not store the IP address itself. - Links after a puzzle: when you finish a puzzle we may show links to articles, a search, or retailers. Each link goes through PCdle first, and we record the date and time, the kind of link and the product or topic it was about, so we can count how many readers each link sends. We do not record who clicked: no IP address, account, cookie or session identifier is stored with it. Clicks from automated crawlers are not counted. Once you leave PCdle, the destination site’s own privacy policy applies, and retailer links may carry an affiliate tag that earns PCdle or its publishing partner a commission.
- Rate limits and security log: to stop automated abuse we count requests per player identity and per a keyed one-way hash of your IP address for up to two days, and we keep a log of security events (a refused request, a rejected sign-in, a browser security report) for 30 days with the same hashed address; the IP address itself is never stored.
- Server logs: our hosting provider records standard request information (IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time) to run and secure the service.
If you create an account
You can sign in with Google, X, Discord, Apple, GitHub, Twitch, Steam or an emailed sign-in link. We receive your email address (or Steam ID) and the basic profile details that provider shares, and we store your streaks. You stay off the public leaderboard until you confirm a name. The name we suggest is your Steam persona if you signed in with Steam, otherwise a random name such as “Player 3F9A2C” — never your real name or email. You can change your name or hide yourself completely on your profile page. We never receive your password for any of those services.
If you subscribe to the daily email
We store your email address, when and how you agreed, and whether you have confirmed. We only send after you click the confirmation link, and every email has a one-click unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).
If you enter a giveaway
We store your entry, your email address, a display name and your scores for that campaign. Your display name and score appear on the public standings; your email address does not. Each giveaway has its own terms, which name the sponsor and say what happens to a winner’s details.
How we use it
- to run the game, keep score fairly and stop one solve being counted twice;
- to keep you signed in and sync your streaks across devices;
- to send the daily email you asked for and to run giveaways you entered;
- to produce aggregate statistics about how the game is played; and
- to secure the service and comply with the law.
For visitors in the EU and UK, our legal bases are: performing our agreement with you (playing, accounts, giveaways), your consent (analytics, the daily email), and our legitimate interest in running a secure, working service (server logs, fraud prevention).
Who we share it with
- Service providers that host and run PCdle on our behalf: Vercel (hosting), Supabase (database and sign-in) and Resend (email delivery). They may store data in the United States and other countries outside Australia.
- Publishing partners who license PCdle: they see aggregate numbers (plays, solves, shares and how many readers followed links to their articles) for their own edition, and the display names and scores on their own giveaway standings. They do not receive your email address from us.
- Giveaway sponsors, only for a winner and only what is needed to deliver the prize, as set out in that giveaway’s terms.
- Authorities, when the law requires it.
We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
PCdle embedded on publisher sites
PCdle can be embedded in a publisher’s own pages. When you finish a puzzle there, the publisher’s page is told that you finished, how many guesses it took and whether you solved it, but nothing that identifies you: no name, account, email address or guest ID. Your plays there count toward that publisher’s anonymous totals, including how many readers followed links to their articles. Signing in there uses the same PCdle account. Because browsers block an embedded game’s cookies, the embed keeps its sign-in and guest ID in device storage inside the publisher’s site instead; see our Cookie Policy.
How long we keep it
Device storage stays until you clear it. Account data is kept while your account exists. Email addresses are kept until you unsubscribe, after which we keep only what we need to honour the unsubscribe. Giveaway records are kept for as long as needed to run the campaign and resolve any dispute about it. Game events are kept as aggregate statistics. Link clicks are kept as anonymous records for counting how many readers each link sends: they carry no identifier, so they cannot be linked to you.
Your choices and rights
- Change your analytics choice at any time with “Cookie settings” in the footer.
- Unsubscribe from email with the link in any email.
- Ask us for a copy of your personal information, to correct it, or to delete your account and its data, by emailing the contact address below. We respond within 30 days.
- In the EU or UK you may also object to or restrict processing and ask for your data in a portable format. In California you may ask what we collect and ask us to delete it, and we will not treat you differently for doing so.
If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au, or your local data protection authority.
Children
PCdle is a general-audience game and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Giveaways may have their own minimum age.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit, database access is restricted by row-level security, and only the operator can reach personal information such as email addresses. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach is likely to cause you serious harm we will tell you and the regulator as the law requires.
Changes
We will update the effective date above when this policy changes, and tell subscribers about significant changes by email.
Who we are
PCdle is operated by Jak Connor, based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. A contact email address will be published here before public launch.