Privacy Policy

Ply Yard (plyyard.com and its associated game hosts) builds distraction-free browser board games. We adhere to a strict principle of privacy by architecture: if we do not need your personal information to render a game board, we do not collect or store it.

Last updated: August 2026. Effective date: August 14, 2026.

1. Information Stored Locally on Your Device

When you play a game on Ply Yard, your match state and UI preferences are saved directly to your browser’s standard web storage (localStorage and sessionStorage). This data remains on your physical device and is never uploaded to an analytics database or third-party tracking system:

• Active Board State: The current piece positions (FEN string), move history, and turn indicator, allowing you to resume your game if you accidentally refresh the tab.
• Interface Preferences: Sound effect toggles (muted by default), board visual themes, and AI difficulty selections (e.g. Easy, Medium, Hard, Master).
• Local Match History: In-session move logs generated during your game for replay, analysis, and copy-FEN actions.

You can clear this local data at any time through your browser’s “Clear Site Data” or “Clear Storage” settings, or by resetting the board via in-game controls.

2. Real-Time Multiplayer & Online Rooms

When you use the online room feature (for instance, on xiangqi.plyyard.com/online), game moves and seat statuses are transmitted via encrypted WebSockets between the two connected players:

• Ephemeral Memory: Rooms are managed by Cloudflare Workers Durable Objects and exist exclusively in transient server RAM for the duration of the match.
• No Permanent Storage: Move sequences, room identifiers, and game outcomes are automatically purged as soon as both players disconnect or close their tabs.
• No Personal Identifiers: We do not assign user profiles, track IP addresses across games, or build historical player records.

3. Server Infrastructure & Technical Logs

Like all web services delivered via standard content delivery networks (CDNs), our edge hosting provider (Cloudflare) receives standard HTTP network metadata when your browser requests page assets:

• Your IP address and general geographic location (country/city level).
• Browser user-agent string and operating system type.
• The specific URL path requested and the timestamp of the request.

This metadata is processed strictly for essential technical functions: defending against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, optimizing global edge caching, and diagnosing server errors. These technical logs are kept for short operational retention windows and are never combined with personal identifiers.

4. Cookies & Third-Party Tracking

This studio host loads Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-8EWY47HNXY) for aggregate traffic such as pages viewed, approximate region, device type, browser, and referral source. It is not a replay of board moves, not tied to local game state, and not tied to an account. Advertising storage stays denied. You can browse with analytics blocked.

Google’s privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy. You can also use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

• No Account Cookies: We do not set session cookies to track you across visits.
• No Advertising Networks: This release of Ply Yard does not serve third-party advertisements or share visitor telemetry with data brokers.

5. Children’s Online Privacy (COPPA & GDPR-K)

Ply Yard board games are suitable for players of all ages and do not solicit, gather, or store personally identifiable information from anyone, including children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Union and United Kingdom). Because our platform operates without accounts or user profiles, no personal data from minors is ever harvested or processed.

6. Data Subject Rights (GDPR, CCPA/CPRA)

Under international privacy regulations (such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act), you have rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Access & Deletion: Because Ply Yard does not store user accounts, names, emails, or personal databases, your match data exists solely on your local device. Deleting your browser’s cache and local storage immediately removes all traces of your game history.
• Right to Opt-Out: We do not sell, rent, or share personal data with third parties.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our games, new features, or evolving legal standards. Any revisions will be published on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage visitors to review this policy whenever visiting our studio.

8. Contact the Privacy Team

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our technical practices, please email us at: contact@plyyard.com.