Terms of Service — Thricebound

⚠️ UNREVIEWED DRAFT — DO NOT PUBLISH

This document has not been reviewed by a lawyer. It was drafted as a structured starting point, not as legal advice. It contains unfilled [PLACEHOLDERS] and at least one section that depends on business decisions that have not been made. It must be reviewed by qualified counsel in the operating jurisdiction before it is published or relied on.

See docs/legal/README.md for the full list of placeholders and open decisions.

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE] Last updated: [LAST UPDATED DATE]

1. Who we are

Thricebound ("the Game") is made and operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], trading as No Crunch Games ("we", "us", "our"), a [ENTITY TYPE — e.g. sole proprietorship / LLC] [established in / operating from] [STATE/PROVINCE], [COUNTRY].

You can reach us at [email protected].

Note for the drafter: No Crunch Games is not currently registered as a legal entity. Until it is, this section cannot be completed truthfully, and the entity named here must be whatever legal person actually operates the service (which may be an individual). Do not name an entity that does not exist.

2. Agreement to these terms

By creating an account, playing the Game, or otherwise using our services, you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Game.

These Terms work together with our Privacy Policy and our Refund Policy, both of which form part of this agreement.

3. The Game is in development

Thricebound is currently in playtest. That means:

• Features, rules, balance, prices, and the content of the Game may change at any time.
• The service may be unavailable, interrupted, or reset without notice.
• Progress, accounts, currency, and unlocked items may be wiped during the playtest period as part of testing or when moving to a new server.
• The Game is provided as-is during this period, with no guarantee of availability or data preservation.

We will make a reasonable effort to tell players in advance before a planned wipe, but we cannot guarantee it.

4. Eligibility and age

Age policy REVISED 2026-08-24, fully implemented 2026-08-29 (TB-97), replacing the 2026-07-22 version. Matches §13 of the Privacy Policy. Still subject to legal review before launch (see the residual questions in Privacy Policy §13).

The Game is for players 13 and over. You are asked what year you were born at two points — before the playtest interest form on our site will take your email address, and when you create an account — and, only if that year cannot settle it, in which month. If you already had an account before this check existed, the Game asks you once before you can carry on playing.

Your answer is checked and then discarded: we do not store your birth year, your birth month, or your age. If the answer is under 13, nothing is kept at all — no address, no record, no email, and no account.

Notifications are optional and off by default — you turn them on yourself, and can turn them off again at any time in Settings.

If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may only use the Game with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. A parent or guardian who wants a child's account deleted may contact us at [email protected].

5. Accounts

• You are responsible for keeping your password safe and for everything that happens under your account.
• Accounts are personal. Do not share, sell, buy, rent, or transfer an account.
• One person per account. Do not create additional accounts to evade a suspension or to manipulate matchmaking, rankings, or rewards.
• Tell us at [email protected] if you believe someone else has accessed your account.

Guest ("Play Now") accounts. The Game lets you start playing immediately with a provisional guest account. Guest accounts are real accounts and these Terms apply to them, but they are not protected by a password you have chosen and their progress may be lost. Set a username and password if you want your progress to persist.

6. Fair play

You agree not to:

• Cheat, exploit bugs, use bots, scripts, automation, or modified clients.
• Interfere with matchmaking, ratings, seasons, quests, or the in-game economy — including win-trading, boosting, smurfing, or deliberately losing.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or tamper with the Game or its network traffic, except where that right cannot be excluded by law.
• Attack, overload, probe, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to our servers or other players' accounts.
• Harass, threaten, abuse, impersonate, or discriminate against other players.
• Use the Game for anything illegal.

If you find a bug or an exploit, please report it through the in-game report tool or to [email protected] rather than using it.

7. Content you create

The Game lets you create and share custom boards, and lets you type free text in usernames, clan names, and bug and abuse reports. This is "Your Content". Custom boards are text and layout data only — the Game does not accept image, audio, or file uploads.

• You keep ownership of Your Content.
• You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, display, and distribute Your Content for the purpose of operating and promoting the Game. This licence lasts as long as we host the content, and ends when the content is deleted, except for copies we are required to keep (for example in backups until they expire, or in abuse records).
• You promise Your Content is yours to share and does not infringe anyone's rights, and is not unlawful, hateful, harassing, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate.
• We may remove Your Content, refuse to publish it, or suspend accounts, at our discretion, and we are not obliged to monitor content in advance.

Reporting. Any player can report a published custom board from inside the Game. Reports go into a review queue. We aim to review reports within [REVIEW TARGET — e.g. 5 business days], though we cannot promise a response time.

8. Virtual items and in-game currency

The Game includes an in-game currency ("TP") and virtual items including chests, boosters, characters, upgrades, cosmetics, and a custom-board unlock.

• Virtual items and TP are a limited, revocable, non-transferable licence to use them inside the Game. You do not own them.
• They have no monetary value, cannot be redeemed for cash, and cannot be sold, traded, or transferred outside the Game.
• We may add, remove, change, rebalance, or re-price virtual items, and we may change how much TP things cost or award, at any time. Balance changes are a normal part of a live game.
• Purchased items are non-refundable except as set out in the Refund Policy or as required by law.
• If your account is terminated for breaking these Terms, you lose access to your virtual items and we are not required to compensate you.
• If we discontinue the Game, virtual items and TP stop working. See §12.

9. Purchases and payment

NO PAYMENTS ARE CURRENTLY TAKEN. Thricebound is free during the playtest. This section applies from the point real-money purchases go live and must be finalised before then.

Payment processor — DECISION PENDING. The Game will take payments through a third-party processor. The choice is between two options with materially different terms, and this section must be rewritten to match whichever is chosen:

• Option A — Paddle (merchant of record). Paddle would be the seller of record for your purchase. Your contract for the purchase would be with Paddle, Paddle's own terms and refund handling would apply alongside ours, and Paddle would charge and remit applicable sales tax/VAT.
• Option B — Stripe (payment processor only). We would be the seller. Your contract for the purchase would be with us, we would handle refunds and disputes directly, and tax would be handled by us.

Draft text, to be finalised once the processor is chosen:

Purchases are processed by [PAYMENT PROCESSOR]. [Where Paddle is the merchant of record, insert the required merchant-of-record disclosure here.] We never receive or store your full card details. Prices are shown in [CURRENCY] and [include / exclude] applicable taxes, which are calculated at checkout.

Virtual items are delivered to your account immediately after payment is confirmed. By buying, you ask for immediate delivery and acknowledge that you [lose / retain] the statutory right of withdrawal once delivery is complete — see the Refund Policy for how this works in the EU and UK.

We may change prices at any time. A price change never applies to a purchase you have already made.

10. Suspension and termination

By you. You can delete your account at any time using Start Fresh in Settings. This deletes your account and its data as described in the Privacy Policy. Deletion is permanent, and you will not be refunded for unused TP or virtual items unless the law requires it.

By us. We may suspend or terminate your account, remove content, or restrict access if we reasonably believe you have broken these Terms, if it is needed to protect the Game or other players, or if we are required to by law. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you why and give you a way to respond at [email protected].

11. Intellectual property

The Game, including its code, artwork, characters, board designs, music, and the names "Thricebound" and "No Crunch Games", belongs to us or our licensors. These Terms do not transfer any of those rights to you. You get a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to play the Game for your own non-commercial enjoyment.

You may make and share videos, streams, screenshots, and similar content featuring the Game, including monetised ones, provided you do not claim to be us or officially endorsed by us, and do not use our names or artwork in a way that suggests we made or approved your content.

Note for the drafter: no trademark has been registered for "Thricebound" or "No Crunch Games". Do not add ® symbols or claim registered marks. Unregistered rights may still exist depending on jurisdiction — confirm with counsel.

12. Changes to the Game, and discontinuation

We may change, suspend, or stop offering the Game or any part of it. If we permanently shut the Game down, we will try to give reasonable advance notice through the Game or at [WEBSITE URL — e.g. nocrunchgames.com], and we will describe at that time what, if anything, we will do about unused paid virtual items. Nothing in this section removes rights you have under consumer law.

13. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Game is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Game will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or that any defect will be corrected.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any right you have as a consumer that cannot be excluded or limited by law.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost virtual items, or lost progress.
• Our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Game is limited to the greater of [AMOUNT — e.g. the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim] or [FLOOR AMOUNT].

This does not limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

15. Indemnity

[REVIEW WITH COUNSEL — indemnity clauses against consumers are unenforceable or restricted in several jurisdictions, including much of the EU and the UK. Confirm whether this clause should be included at all, and if so in what form.]

16. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of [GOVERNING LAW JURISDICTION], without regard to conflict of law rules. Disputes will be handled by the courts of [COURTS / VENUE].

If you live in the EU or UK, you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings there.

[DECISION: whether to include an arbitration clause and class-action waiver. These are common in US-facing consumer terms and unenforceable or heavily restricted elsewhere. Do not include one without counsel.]

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. If a change is material, we will give notice in the Game or by other reasonable means before it takes effect, and we will update the "Last updated" date above. If you keep playing after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the Game and delete your account.

18. General

• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
• Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
• You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them as part of a sale or reorganisation of the business, on notice to you.
• These Terms, plus the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, are the whole agreement between us about the Game.

19. Contact

[LEGAL ENTITY NAME] (No Crunch Games) [BUSINESS ADDRESS] [email protected]