Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026

At APE9, we believe in privacy by default. We minimize data collection, never sell personal information, and store only the minimal data required to provide a fast, fair, and fun gaming experience.

1. Information We Collect

Guest Players: When you play as a guest without creating an account, we generate a random pseudonymous session identifier stored in an encrypted, secure session cookie. We do not collect your name, email, or telephone number.

Registered Accounts: If you choose to register, we collect your email address, chosen display name, and an encrypted password hash generated using Argon2/Sodium. We never store plain text passwords.

Gameplay & Interaction: We record gameplay moves and statistics (games played, win rates, streaks, and ratings) to calculate rankings and confirm daily challenge results. Multiplayer chat logs are retained temporarily solely for abuse prevention.

Technical Diagnostics: Our servers record standard connection data including IP addresses, browser user agent, and request timestamps to enforce rate limits, mitigate denial-of-service attacks, and detect cheating.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information strictly to: deliver solo and multiplayer tabletop and card games, synchronize your preferences across sessions, verify fair play on leaderboards, and connect you with friends in private rooms.

Your email address is used solely for essential transactional purposes, such as account verification, password resets, and critical service notifications. We do not send marketing newsletters or spam.

3. Cookies & Local Browser Storage

Session Cookies: We use a secure, HttpOnly, SameSite session cookie to keep you connected to your game table or room. This cookie is strictly necessary for the service to function.

Local Storage (localStorage): Your browser stores non-identifying preferences locally on your device, including chosen theme (dark/light), card back designs, felt color, sound settings, and in-progress solo game boards for offline resumption.

Advertising Cookies: If third-party advertisements are enabled on APE9, advertising partners (such as Google AdSense) may place cookies only after you accept advertising in the cookie banner.

Analytics Cookies: If you accept analytics, we use Google Analytics 4, which sets the cookies _ga and _ga_<id> to count visits, pages, games played and performance. We send no name, email, user ID, chat text or room code, and we do not use it for advertising unless you also accept advertising. Nothing is loaded or stored before you agree.

Your Choices: You can accept, reject or change your cookie choices at any time with the Cookie settings link in the footer or in Settings. Withdrawing consent stops measurement and deletes the analytics cookies. We ask again after 12 months or when this policy changes.

4. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or monetize your personal information to data brokers, advertisers, or any third parties. Period.

We share data only with trusted infrastructure providers who assist in operating our platform (such as cloud hosting facilities and transactional email services like Amazon SES), and, only if you accept analytics, with Google LLC for Google Analytics, all bound by data processing terms.

We may disclose information if required by a valid legal process, court order, or to protect the safety, rights, and integrity of APE9 and its players.

5. Data Retention & Security

We retain registered account data for as long as your account remains active. Inactive guest sessions and temporary chat records are purged automatically on a regular schedule.

We implement industry-standard security safeguards, including TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, strict Content Security Policies (CSP), rate limiting, and cryptographic password hashing.

6. Your Privacy Rights (GDPR & CCPA)

Depending on your location (including the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and California), you have rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, and CCPA/CPRA regarding your personal data.

You have the right to access the data we hold about you, request corrections, or download an export of your account. You can permanently delete your account and all associated data at any time directly in your Account Settings.

We will never discriminate against you, deny services, or alter game functionality because you choose to exercise your privacy rights.

7. Children's Privacy

APE9 is not directed to children under 13 years of age (or under 16 in the European Union). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under these ages. If we learn that a child has provided us with personal information, we will delete it promptly.

8. Changes to This Policy & Contact

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our games, technology, or legal requirements. Material updates will be highlighted on this page with an updated revision date.

If you have questions, feedback, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact our privacy team at [email protected].