Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-08-30
This Privacy Policy explains what data QED Night collects, why, and how you can control it.
Data we collect
- Email address and display name
- Password hash (never your plain-text password)
- Puzzle solve, attempt, and streak history
- IQ-style test results
- Multiplayer game results
- Server access logs (standard web request metadata)
Why we collect it
We use this data to operate the Service: authenticate you, run leaderboards and streaks, and calibrate puzzle difficulty. We do not run ads, sell your data, use tracking cookies, or run third-party analytics scripts.
Product analytics
We count how the Service is used, and we do it ourselves. When you view, start or finish the daily challenge, play a game, read a story, or create or finish a game room, we record the name of that action, the time, the game and page language, whether you are on a phone or a computer, and — if you are signed in — your account id. To count how many different people play, your browser holds a random id in the gn_vid cookie; we store only a one-way hash of it. While a game tab is open and visible your browser tells our server every 30 seconds, so we can count minutes played. Your browser's user-agent string is checked to leave crawlers out of the counts and is not stored. No IP address is stored, no cross-site tracking, and no third-party script: these counts are written on our own server, stored in our own database, and never leave it.
Individual event rows are deleted after 90 days. Before they are deleted they are folded into plain daily totals ("this many people finished the daily on this day"), which carry no account ids and are kept indefinitely.
QED Night sends email only when you ask it to: a sign-in or password-recovery link, requested from the login page. No marketing, no newsletters, no notification email, and your address is never shared with anyone.
Cookies & local storage
This is the complete list of cookies and browser storage QED Night uses. Everything below is essential or functional to operating the Service — there are no advertising or tracking cookies, so no cookie-consent banner is shown.
| Name | Type | Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| __gamenight_session | Cookie (essential, httpOnly) | Web app | Keeps you signed in |
| __gamenight_session | Cookie (essential, httpOnly) | API server | Same purpose — set by the backend service the web app talks to |
| gn_vid | Cookie (first-party, 1 year) | Browser | A random id used only to count distinct players; we store a one-way hash of it and never share it |
| gamenight_guest_id | localStorage (functional) | Browser | Anonymous guest identity, so activity in the same browser can be recognized across visits before you have an account |
| gamenight-theme | localStorage (functional) | Browser | Remembers your light/dark/system preference |
| gamenight-locale | localStorage (functional) | Browser | Remembers your language preference |
| gamenight-chunk-reload-at | sessionStorage (essential, transient) | Web app | Guards against a reload loop when a stale build chunk fails to load after a deploy; cleared when the tab closes |
Guest mode
You can solve puzzles without an account. A guest identity key is stored in your browser (see the storage table above), and some guest activity — for example an IQ-test attempt or joining a multiplayer room — is recorded on our servers without any account identity attached. Guest results never appear on leaderboards and are not linked to an account you create later.
Retention
We keep account data for as long as your account exists. Server access logs are rotated on a regular schedule and are not retained indefinitely.
Your rights
Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, rectify, erase, port, or object to the processing of your data (for example, under the GDPR). Erasure is currently a manual process — we do not yet offer self-serve account deletion. Email [email protected] to exercise any of these rights.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Email [email protected].