Oak & Seek privacy policy
Last updated: 12 November 2026
Oak & Seek is a daily hide-and-seek game run by Qatam Studio ("we"). This policy says what the game keeps about you, why, for how long, who helps us run it, and what you can do about it. We keep as little as the game needs. There are no ads, no tracking cookies and no analytics in the game.
Questions or requests: qatamstudio@gmail.com.
Who can play
Oak & Seek is for players aged 13 and over. If you are under 13, please don't play. If we learn that a player is under 13, we delete their data. Parents or guardians who think their child has played can write to us and we will delete the child's data.
What we keep
| A player ID | A random ID made when you first play, so the game can tell your picks and scores apart from everyone else's. You play as a guest under this ID until you sign in. |
|---|---|
| Your picks and scores | Where you hid your acorn and dug each day, your points, totals, streaks and ranks. |
| Your name | Only if you choose one (signed-in players). It is shown on the leaderboards. Names that other players report three times are hidden. |
| Your Google account ID | Only if you sign in with Google: the ID number Google uses for your account. We never receive or keep your email address, name or photo from Google. |
| A network tag | To stop cheating with many accounts, each hidden acorn keeps a scrambled tag made from part of your internet address. It can't be turned back into the address, and our game never stores your IP address itself. |
| Reports | If you report another player's name, we keep that report. |
| On your device | Your browser keeps your login token and your settings (language, sounds, music, text size) in its local storage. This is not a cookie and is not used to track you. |
Why we use it
- To run the game: save your picks, count the results, keep your scores and streaks, and show the leaderboards. We do this because you asked to play.
- To keep the game fair and safe: limit how fast new accounts can be made, spot cheating with many accounts, and hide or remove offensive names. This is our legitimate interest, and yours as a player.
- To let you sign in and move your game between devices, when you choose to.
We don't sell your data, we don't use it for advertising, and we don't make automated decisions about you other than counting the game's results.
What other players see
Other players see your name and points on the leaderboards if you have a name, and the combined numbers of each finished day (how many acorns were hidden at each spot). They never see where you personally hid or dug. Guests and players without a name don't appear on the leaderboards.
How long we keep it
- Your picks for each day: 90 days, then they are deleted (your totals stay).
- Network tags: 30 days.
- One-time sign-in codes: 5 minutes. Links to move your game to another device: 15 minutes.
- Your player, name, totals and Google account ID: until you delete them.
- Finished days keep only combined numbers, not who picked what.
Who helps us run the game
- Cloudflare hosts the game and its database. Like any web host, Cloudflare handles your internet address to deliver the game to you and may keep it briefly in technical logs. Cloudflare may process data in data centres around the world.
- Google, only if you choose "Sign in with Google": Google confirms who you are and gives us your account ID. Google's own privacy policy applies to your Google account.
Your choices and rights
- See your data: your profile in the game shows your name, scores, streaks and recent days.
- Change your name: in your profile, once a week.
- Delete everything: Profile → Delete my data removes your player, picks, scores, name, Google link and reports at once. It can't be undone.
- Anything else, such as a copy of your data or a question about it: write to qatamstudio@gmail.com. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to complain to your data protection authority.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change matters for how we use your data, we will say so in the game.