Terms of Use

Welcome to Ply Yard. By accessing or using the website at plyyard.com or a game page such as xiangqi.plyyard.com or chess.plyyard.com, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please close the browser tab.

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

1. Nature and Purpose of the Service

Ply Yard provides free, browser-based abstract strategy games designed for casual play, tactical practice, and educational study.

• Recreational & Practice Tool: The games, AI opponents, and analysis features are provided for recreation and personal study. They do not constitute official rating systems or tournament arbitrations.
• No Gambling or Wagering: Ply Yard does not host, facilitate, or support real-money gambling, betting pools, monetary wagers, or financial transactions of any kind.
• Service Availability: We reserve the right to update, modify, suspend, or retire any game page, feature, or board rule set at any time without prior notice.

2. Acceptable Use Policy

We encourage open, honest play and direct linking to our boards. To keep the site reliable for everyone, you agree not to engage in prohibited activities:

• No System Abuse or DoS: Do not execute automated flood attacks, denial of service scripts, or excessive crawling that degrades server performance or harms edge availability.
• No Deceptive Framing: Do not embed Ply Yard within iframes or third-party wrappers that strip branding, inject unauthorized advertisements, or falsely claim ownership of Ply Yard’s software.
• No Malicious Payloads: Do not attempt to inject malicious code, scripts, or exploits through online room parameters, game state data, or WebSocket channels.
• Fair Play in Live Rooms: Do not harass other players or disrupt live game sessions created by peers.

3. Intellectual Property & Open-Source Attributions

Ply Yard respects intellectual property rights and utilizes open-source assets with clear, prominent attribution:

• Ply Yard Code & Design: The Ply Yard brand name, logo, visual design language, custom SVG board layouts, and client-side rule validation code are proprietary to Ply Yard and its creators.
• Xiangqi Piece Artwork (hnz SVG set): The piece face illustrations used on the Xiangqi board are from the open-source pychess-variants repository by gbtami and contributors, used unmodified under the GNU AGPL-3.0 License. Local copies and license notes reside on the Xiangqi page at xiangqi.plyyard.com/xiangqi-pieces/.
• Xiangqi AI Engine (XQWLight): The artificial intelligence search algorithm for versus-AI matches incorporates the XQWLight engine by Morning Yellow / xqbase, included unmodified under the GNU GPL-2.0 License. A verbatim copy of the license is published at xiangqi.plyyard.com/xq/xqwlight-LICENSE.txt.
• Chess Pieces: The Chess board draws Unicode chess symbols. It does not use a third-party SVG piece set.
• Chess AI Engine (Stockfish): Versus-AI search on the Chess page incorporates the Stockfish engine and the stockfish.js packaging, included unmodified under the GNU GPL-3.0 License. A verbatim copy of the licence is published at chess.plyyard.com/brand/chess/stockfish/COPYING.

4. Online Multiplayer Rooms

Online rooms on Ply Yard are private, unrated peer-to-peer match spaces. Room links and access codes are shared directly by players. You are solely responsible for sharing room links only with your intended opponents. Ply Yard is not responsible for any communications, disputes, or interactions occurring outside Ply Yard.

5. Disclaimer of Warranties

PLY YARD AND ALL ASSOCIATED GAME BOARDS ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS-IS” AND “AS-AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION OF THE SITE OR SERVERS;
• ACCURACY OR THEORETICAL PERFECTION OF AI MOVE CALCULATIONS IN ALL ENDGAME CONDITIONS;
• COMPATIBILITY WITH EVERY LEGACY BROWSER OR UNUSUAL OPERATING SYSTEM CONFIGURATION.

6. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL PLY YARD, ITS CREATORS, MAINTAINERS, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

7. Governing Law & Severability

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with standard internet governance and applicable local laws, without giving effect to conflict-of-law principles. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

8. Contact Information

If you have questions regarding these Terms of Use or wish to discuss licensing inquiries, please contact us at: contact@plyyard.com.