Privacy policy
The short version
- You can explore without an account. We only ask for a Google sign-in if you want to chat, use voice, or save hunt progress, and only people aged 18 or over can sign in.
- Other players see your in-game name, never your email or Google name.
- There are no ads, no analytics, no tracking cookies, and we don't sell your data.
- Chat messages are deleted after 90 days. Voice is never recorded.
- You can download your data or delete your account yourself, from the Chat panel.
1. Who we are
jolly.land is a free, non-commercial game run by one individual based in the United Kingdom. For data protection law, that person is the "controller" of your personal data, meaning the one responsible for it. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean them. They can be reached at the address below, and will identify themselves to you, to a regulator or to a court where the law requires it.
Contact for anything about your data, including complaints and requests: [email protected].
2. What we collect, and why
When you play without signing in
- On your device: the name, state, district and character you choose, and your progress (places found, items collected), are saved in your browser's storage. They stay on your device until you clear your browser data. We can't see them.
- While you're connected: your in-game name, character and position in the game world go to our server so other players nearby can see you. The server holds this in memory only while you're connected. It isn't written to our database.
- Your IP address is used while you're connected to limit how many visitors can join from one address, to prevent abuse. The game doesn't store it. Our hosting and network providers may keep it briefly in their security logs (see section 4).
When you sign in with Google
- From Google: your Google account ID, your email address, and whether Google has verified it. We don't use your Google name or profile photo, and other players never see your email.
- Your profile: in-game name, home state and district.
- Your confirmations: when you confirmed you are 18 or over, and which version of these terms you accepted, and when.
- Sign-in sessions: when each started and was last used. The session key itself is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form, and a copy of it is saved in your browser so you stay signed in.
When you chat
- The messages you send, the conversations you're in (and when you joined and left), chat requests you send and receive, the players you block, and messages you report.
- To check that you're near someone when you ask to chat, we use your position at that moment. We don't record where you've been for chat.
When you use voice
- Voice is only available inside a conversation, after you press Join voice. Your microphone audio is sent live, through our voice provider LiveKit, to the other people in that call. Neither we nor the game record it.
- While a call is going, our server keeps track of who is in it so the others can see. This isn't stored once the call ends.
Points, coins and leaderboards
- We record what you earn and spend in the game — points for walking and picking things up, coins for finishing hunts — as a list of entries, so a balance can always be explained.
- Leaderboards are public. If you're signed in and have scored, your in-game name, home district and Explorer score can be seen by anyone, including people who aren't signed in. Your email is never shown.
When you play treasure hunts
- Which hunts you've started and finished, your progress through each step, and the answers you submit (so we can check them and stop guessing by brute force).
- The places and items you've found.
- Some hunt steps check that you're in the right place. For that, the server keeps your recent positions and pickups in memory for up to an hour. They are never written to our database.
Moderation and safety
- If someone reports a message, we keep the report, the message and the reason. A moderator can then read the conversation it was in. We don't read conversations that haven't been reported.
- We keep a log of moderation actions: removing a message (including what it said), banning or unbanning someone and why, and deleting accounts.
- If an account is banned, we keep a one-way scrambled (hashed) copy of its Google account ID, even after the account is deleted, so the ban can't be undone by deleting the account and signing up again. The hash can't be turned back into the ID or used to identify you.
3. Our legal reasons for using your data
Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), we rely on:
- Providing the service you asked for (a contract): showing you to other players, your account, chat, voice, hunts and saving your progress.
- Our legitimate interests in keeping the game safe and working: rate limits, reports, blocks, bans, the moderation log, and security.
- Legal obligations, where the law requires us to keep or hand over information.
If you're in India, by signing in you consent to us processing your data as described here, for these purposes, under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. You can withdraw that consent at any time by deleting your account.
4. Who sees your data
- Anyone, including people without an account, can see leaderboard entries: in-game name, home district, score, and the banner and title you are wearing.
- Other players see your in-game name, your character and where you are in the game world while you're nearby. They also see the names of people in a conversation when they're near it (that's how you find one to join), messages in conversations they're part of, who is in a voice call with them, and when you're speaking.
- Moderators (people we appoint to help run the game) can see account details including email addresses, and can read a conversation only after a message in it has been reported.
- Service providers who process data for us, under their data protection terms:
- Google, for sign-in. When you use the Google button, Google handles that step under its own privacy policy and may set its own cookies.
- LiveKit, which carries voice audio between players.
- Cloudflare, which provides our network, security and domain services, and which all traffic to the site passes through.
- Our hosting provider (Contabo, Germany), whose servers run the game and its database.
- Authorities, only where the law requires it.
We don't sell your data, and we don't share it for advertising.
International transfers. Google, LiveKit and Cloudflare operate worldwide, including in the United States, so your data may be processed outside the UK and India. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards those providers offer under UK law, such as the UK's approved international data transfer agreements.
5. How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account and profile | Until you delete it, or after 2 years without signing in, when it's deleted automatically |
| Sign-in sessions | Until you sign out, or 30 days after last use |
| Chat messages | 90 days, then deleted automatically |
| A message under an open report | Until a moderator deals with the report, then the 90-day rule applies |
| Chat requests (invites, requests to join) | 90 days |
| Hunt progress and finds | As long as your account exists |
| Points and coins entries | As long as your account exists |
| Moderation log | 2 years |
| Hashed ID of a banned account | For as long as the ban stands |
| Positions, pickups, who's in a voice call | In memory only: up to an hour, or while connected |
| Voice audio | Never recorded |
| What's saved in your browser | Until you clear it |
6. Your rights
You can:
- Get a copy of your data: Chat panel → Download my data.
- Correct it: change your in-game name at any time.
- Delete it: Chat panel → Delete my account. This deletes your account and everything tied to it straight away, except what section 2 says we keep for moderation. If you can't sign in (for example, if you've been banned), email us.
- Object to how we use your data, or ask us to restrict it.
- Withdraw consent (for India): delete your account.
To use any right we don't provide a button for, email [email protected] from the address on your account. We'll reply within one month.
Complaints. Please tell us first and we'll try to fix it. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or, in India, to the Data Protection Board of India.
7. Grievance contact (India)
Grievance contact: [email protected]. We'll acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours and aim to resolve it within 15 days.
8. Age
You must be 18 or over to sign in. Anyone can explore without an account, but the game isn't designed for children. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we'll delete it.
9. Browser storage and cookies
The game uses your browser's local storage for your choices, progress and sign-in, as described above. These are needed for the game to work, not for tracking. We don't set advertising or analytics cookies. Google's sign-in button may set Google's own cookies when you use it.
10. Security
Everything between your device and the game is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Session keys are stored scrambled (hashed). Access to the database and to moderation tools is limited to the people who run the game. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach puts your data at risk, we'll tell you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top and ask you to agree again the next time you sign in.