Privacy Policy
Last updated:
This policy covers Ink Clans at inkclans.com.
Summary
Ink Clans has no accounts and no ads network. Games against the computer and pass and play run in your browser. The site measures how the game is played with Google Analytics, which sets its own cookies on this site (in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland only once you accept in the cookie banner; elsewhere until you reject there) and, on the game page once you accept, stores a Firebase installation id in your browser, and counts your page views in aggregate to help us understand traffic; apart from that, the only data the game can send is the optional error reports described below.
Who is responsible
Ink Clans is run by Leonel Meque, based in Spain (European Union), who is the data controller for the data described here. Contact: contact@inkclans.com.
Stored in your browser
Your settings are saved in your browser’s localStorage under paperDojo.settings, and the names of the settings you changed yourself under paperDojo.settingsTouched (so a device default, such as pencil shading off on low-end devices, never overrides your choice).
The game you picked on the title card (checkers or badminton) is saved under inkClans.game, and your Badminton preferences under inkClans.shuttle: your clan, the opponent, difficulty, points, match options and the handle you use in the crowd view’s stands. The handle stays in your browser and is never sent anywhere; the other fans in the stands are part of the game. Online Badminton never uses the handle: it sends the display name you type in its online form, which the server stores with the match (see Online matches) and your opponent sees on the court.
If you use online play, the browser also keeps a random anonymous device id (paperDojo.uid) and the seat token for each online match you joined (paperDojo.seats; entries older than 48 hours are dropped). None of these are cookies, and clearing your site data removes them.
Online matches
When you create or join an online match, the server stores the display name you enter, your clan, the anonymous device id, a secret seat token, the match settings and the list of moves. For an online Badminton match it stores, instead of moves, a snapshot of the match after each point (so a reloaded game can resume at the next serve) and the final score. This data expires automatically: a lobby nobody joins is deleted after 30 minutes and every match is deleted at most 24 hours after it was created.
To limit abuse, the server keeps short-lived counters keyed by your IP address (for IPv6, its /64 network): one counts every online-play request and expires after 1 minute, and others count match creations, joins and online Badminton connections and expire after 10 minutes. Separate counters per match limit how many moves it accepts per minute and, in Badminton, how many connections it accepts in 10 minutes; each expires at the end of its window. The counters hold only a number and are not linked to your moves or display name.
In an online Badminton match your inputs and the game state pass between the two players through our server on Vercel, and through Upstash when the two connections reach different server instances. They are passed on as they arrive and are not stored: the server keeps only the match data above, plus when both players first connected (for the rule on claiming a match). Players do not see each other’s IP address.
Hosting
The site is hosted on Vercel. Like any web host, Vercel receives your IP address, browser user agent and the pages you request, and keeps request logs under the Vercel privacy policy.
Online play, including the live connection of online Badminton, runs on Vercel Functions, and online match data and the rate-limit counters are stored in Upstash Redis, provided through the Vercel Marketplace. Vercel and Upstash process this data on our behalf only to run online play, under their own privacy policies.
Advertising (planned)
Ink Clans plans to show ads from Google AdSense to keep the game free. Currently none are shown: no ad code loads, no ad requests are made and no advertising cookies are set.
So that Google can review the site before any ads run, every page names the site’s AdSense publisher account in a google-adsense-account tag, and the site publishes an ads.txt file listing it. Neither sends anything to Google or stores anything in your browser.
Before any ads are shown, this policy will be updated to describe them, the cookies Google uses for them and how to opt out.
Analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase)
Ink Clans uses Google Analytics for Firebase to learn how the game is played. It records usage events: the pages and screens you view, the game you pick (checkers or badminton), matches started and ended (rule set, game mode, which side won and how), captures (clan and finisher), rule sets chosen, online matches created or joined (and for which game), Badminton matches started and ended (played, watched or online, the clans, difficulty, points and final score), online Badminton connections (how long it took to open, whether it replaced a dropped connection, or why it failed), when a crowd-view link is shared, and how ad breaks ended. Google adds device data (device type, operating system, browser, screen size and language) and your approximate location (country, region and city).
The events never include your display name, online match codes (page addresses are sent with the code replaced), seat tokens or anything you type. Google signals and ad personalization from analytics data are turned off. Google Analytics does not log or store IP addresses: it uses your IP address only to derive your approximate location and then discards it.
Google Analytics sets first-party cookies on this site (_ga and _ga_ followed by an id, kept for up to 2 years) to recognise a returning browser, and Firebase keeps a random installation id and a usage heartbeat in your browser’s IndexedDB (firebase-installations-database, firebase-heartbeat-database). Google keeps event-level data for 2 months; after that only aggregated reports remain.
This site’s cookie banner asks for your choice, and Google Analytics follows it through Google Consent Mode. Until you choose, only Google Analytics’ tag (gtag.js) runs, with a default that depends on where you are: in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland analytics storage is denied, so Google Analytics sets no _ga cookies and sends only cookieless measurements until you accept; elsewhere it runs, with its cookies, until you reject.
The Firebase SDK loads only on the game page (the home page) and only after you accept: then it stores its installation id and heartbeat record in your browser’s IndexedDB and contacts Firebase (Google) to register that installation. Before you accept, and if you reject, nothing is written to IndexedDB and no installation is registered. The other pages never load the Firebase SDK.
To withdraw or change your choice at any time, use “Privacy & cookie settings” (see Cookies and your consent): a rejection stops further collection at once and deletes the _ga cookies (an event recorded moments before you reject may still be sent, without cookies). If you had accepted before, a rejection does not delete the Firebase IndexedDB entries; they stay in your browser, unused, until you clear this site’s data. You can also delete this site’s cookies and site data, or install Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Error reporting and analytics
Error reporting (Sentry) is off unless the site operator enables it. Vercel Web Analytics is on by default in production builds to count page views and help us understand traffic patterns. There is no in-game switch for either.
When Sentry is enabled, crash reports and a sample of page-load performance data are sent to Sentry: the error message and stack trace, the page URL, and your browser and operating system.
Vercel Web Analytics counts your page views in aggregate to help us understand traffic patterns. It stores nothing on your device: no cookies and nothing stored in your browser, no tracking across sites. It is not affected by your cookie choice because it sends no data that could be stored on your device.
What Ink Clans does not do
No ads network is loaded and no data is sold. Apart from Google Analytics, fonts, images and scripts (the cookie banner included) are served from this site only.
Fight voice lines are AI-generated voice clips served by this site. If a clip can’t play, your browser’s speech synthesis says the line instead; some browsers offer online voices that send the spoken line (never your data) to the browser maker. Turn off Voice callouts in Settings if you prefer.
Cookies and your consent
The cookie banner on this site blocks the page until you accept or reject cookies.
Analytics (first party, Google Analytics): the _ga cookies and Firebase’s IndexedDB entries described under Analytics. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland the _ga cookies are set only after you accept in the cookie banner; elsewhere until you reject there. The IndexedDB entries are written only after you accept, when the game page loads the Firebase SDK; a later rejection does not delete them, clearing this site’s data in your browser does.
Strictly necessary (first party): the cc_cookie cookie stores your cookie banner choice (the categories you accepted, when, and a random consent id) for 6 months, and the game’s own localStorage keys listed under “Stored in your browser” keep your settings and your online seat. They are needed for what you ask the site to do, so they need no consent; cc_cookie is never sent to anyone but this site, and the localStorage keys never leave your browser.
To withdraw or change your consent at any time, as easily as you gave it, use “Privacy & cookie settings” (at the foot of every page and in the game’s Settings), which reopens the cookie banner’s preferences. You can also delete this site’s cookies in your browser.
International transfers
Google (Analytics) and Vercel (hosting) may process data in the United States. These transfers are covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, where the provider is certified under it, or by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.
Children
Ink Clans is not directed at children under 14, the age of digital consent in Spain.
Your rights (GDPR)
The data above is processed to run the game you ask for (online matches), for the site’s legitimate interest in keeping it secure and working (hosting logs, rate limits, optional error reports), and, for analytics in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, on the basis of the consent you give in the cookie banner for anything stored on or read from your device (the _ga cookies and, on the game page, the Firebase installation id); before you choose there, Google Analytics sends only cookieless measurements, which store and read nothing on your device, for the site’s legitimate interest in knowing how the game is used.
Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation you have the right to access the personal data held about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing done before. Online match data is not linked to a name or account, so to exercise a right about it, send the match code or your anonymous device id (paperDojo.uid) with your request.
To exercise any of these rights, email contact@inkclans.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority; in Spain that is the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD).
Legal notice / Aviso legal
Ink Clans (inkclans.com) is operated by Leonel Meque, Spain. Contact: hello@inkclans.com.
Ink Clans (inkclans.com) es un servicio operado por Leonel Meque, España. Contacto: hello@inkclans.com.
Contact
Questions or deletion requests: contact@inkclans.com