Using the site
Play as much as you like. Every game is free, none of them are behind an account, and you are never charged. We ask only that you do not attempt to break, overload or disrupt the site, that you do not use automated means to hammer it, and that you do not try to reach other people's accounts or data.
Using the site means accepting these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use it.
Accounts
An account is optional and free. To have one you must be 13 or older and give an email address you actually control, because that address is the only way back in if you lose your device.
You are responsible for what happens under your account and for the security of the mailbox that can sign in to it. Tell us if you think someone else has access, and revoke the session from your profile.
You may delete your account at any time from your profile; what that removes is set out in the privacy policy. We may suspend or remove an account that is being used to abuse the site, to harass someone, or to submit prohibited content — see below.
Scores, streaks and friends
Scores are reported by your own browser, which means a determined person can report a score they did not earn. That is why leaderboards here are friends-only and why there is no global board: the only audience for a fake score is people who know you. Do not do it anyway.
Only the first result for a given game and day counts. We may recalculate, correct or remove results and streaks that are clearly not real. Streaks are a number about a game, not a possession, and nothing here is a promise that any particular number will survive a bug, a migration or an outage — though we will try.
Things you submit
Word Chain lets you submit a chain of your own, with an optional credit line. Two things follow from that.
You keep it, and you let us use it. You keep whatever rights you have in what you submit. By submitting it you give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store it, review it, edit it for length or clarity, publish it as a daily or practice puzzle, and show it alongside your credit. You can ask us to withdraw an unpublished submission at any time; a chain already published as a puzzle stays in the archive, because removing it would break days other people have already played.
It has to be yours to give. Do not submit anything you do not have the right to submit, and do not submit anything hateful, sexual, harassing, threatening, or aimed at a real person. Submissions are reviewed automatically and, where needed, by a person. A rejected submission for a safety reason is logged; the privacy policy explains what that log keeps and for how long. Repeated abuse ends in the account being blocked from submitting.
We are under no obligation to publish any submission, and we do not have to explain a rejection.
What belongs to whom
The games — their code, their design, their writing, the way the globe behaves, the way the chain resolves — belong to [your name or business name]. You may share screenshots, score cards and links freely; that is what they are for. Republishing a game itself, or a substantial part of one, needs permission.
Sojourner's map is built from Natural Earth, which is in the public domain. Flags are drawn from public-domain sources. Several United States state flags have been altered to paint out lettering that would give the answer away; they are not accurate reproductions and should not be used as such.
Each fact in Sojourner cites the source it came from, and those sources belong to their authors. The facts are summarised in our own words and linked back so you can read the original.
Accuracy
Every fact in Sojourner has been checked against an institutional source, and every source is linked. Even so, these are games and not reference works: borders shown are cartographic conveniences drawn from one public dataset, not a statement about any territorial dispute, and mistakes are possible. Word Chain's judgements about what counts as a compound come from a lexicon and, sometimes, a language model; both are occasionally wrong. If you find a mistake, please say so — it will be fixed.
Availability
PlaySapien is offered as it is. It may be unavailable, it may change, games may be added or retired, and the whole thing may one day stop. We will give notice before deliberately shutting an account service down, and where we can we will let you take your data with you. We do not promise uptime.
No warranty, and limits on liability
The site is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. To the fullest extent the law allows, [your name or business name] is not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from using the site or from being unable to use it. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Changes to these terms
These terms may change as the site does. The date at the top shows the current version, and a material change will be announced on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to play after a change means accepting it.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of [your state or country], without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the courts of [your city or judicial district] have exclusive jurisdiction — except where the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim locally, in which case it does.
Contact
[your contact email]
PlaySapien is run by [your name or business name], [postal address, if you publish one].