Privacy Policy
CountDown Escapes · countdownescapes.com · Last updated 29 October 2026
CountDown Escapes is run by Dependable Computer Solutions, a sole proprietorship in Arlington, Texas, USA. This page says what we keep about you, why, for how long, and what you can ask us to do. Questions and requests go through the contact form.
- No cookies of any kind: no tracking cookies, no advertising cookies.
- No advertising, no outside analytics, no tracking scripts, and nothing from any outside company is loaded into our pages. We keep plain totals of games played (for example, how many rooms were started in each theme), which never say who. We make no visitor statistics from our logs, and nothing is sent to an outside analytics company.
- We never sell, rent or trade any information about you or about how you play, and we never give it to anyone for advertising or marketing. Ever.
- We keep only the account details you give us (an email address to sign in, the display name you choose, and your password in scrambled form) and the records of your games and wallet. Nothing else about you: no real name, home address, phone number, payment card, location or browsing history.
- The only outside companies involved are Square, to take a payment you ask for and to settle any refund or payment dispute about it (see Payments below); our hosting company, whose servers in the United States store our data and which has no right to use it; and, if you ask for an email reply, the email service that carries it. Otherwise we disclose information only when the law requires it (for example a court order), or when needed to protect players or the service from fraud or abuse. If CountDown Escapes is ever sold or passed on, these promises go with your information, and the new owner must keep them.
What we keep, and why
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address and display name | To sign you in and to show your name on leaderboards and to co-op teammates | Until you delete your account |
| Your password, only as a salted one-way hash (scrypt) | To check it when you sign in; nobody can read it | Until you delete your account |
| Sign-in sessions (a random token) | To keep you signed in | 30 days (guests: 1 day) |
| Wallet balance, and a record of credits and charges (amount, kind, time, game) | To run the wallet, and for accounting and tax | Seven years; after you delete your account, kept only under an account number, without your name or email |
| Unlimited pass dates, and the customer reference Square gives us | To know whether your pass is active | Until you delete your account |
| Games: room settings, room number (seed), who played, start and end times, extra time bought, and the in-game actions of a game | To keep the clock fair, to let players rejoin and resume suspended rooms, and for leaderboards | Kept with your account number. After you delete your account they stay only under that number, which no longer links to your name or email |
| Leaderboard and Daily Challenge entries (display name, room, time, hints) | Leaderboards are public | Until you delete your account; then the name shows as “Former player” |
| Administrator records: a log of changes made to accounts (wallet corrections, roles, tester invites) and of rooms suspended, resumed or dissolved. Entries include the administrator's IP address. | To keep administrator actions accountable and to settle billing questions | Seven years. When you delete your account, your name and email are removed from them and only the account number stays |
| Messages you send with the contact form (and a reply address if you give one) | To answer you | One year |
| Game statistics: running totals only, such as how many rooms were started in each theme, at each level and time limit, and how many were suspended, abandoned, won or lost. They never say who: no account, name, address or game is in them. | To see which themes and options players enjoy, so we can improve the game. They are seen only by our administrators and never leave our server. | Kept as running totals |
| Guest identities (a random name) | To let a friend join your room | One day, then deleted |
Payments
Payments are handled by Square. When you buy something, we send Square only the amount, a description (for example “CountDown Escapes wallet credit”) and an order reference made from your account number, never your email or display name. You enter your card details on Square's own page, so we never see or store card numbers. Square tells us whether the payment succeeded, its amount and time, and a Square customer reference. Square's own privacy notice covers what Square collects from you.
On your device
We use no cookies. The game keeps a few things in your browser's local storage (which, unlike cookies, is never sent to us automatically): your sign-in token, your settings (text size, motion, graphics quality, high contrast, BONK), recently played themes, and small conveniences such as the last game you joined. They stay on your device and you can clear them in your browser. Notes typed on the sound board page are also kept only in your browser. Challenge cards are drawn on your own device and are not uploaded to us.
Because nothing on our pages tracks you, and no other company can collect information through them, we treat every visitor the same whether or not the browser sends a “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signal.
Technical data
Your IP address is used in memory to slow down repeated sign-in attempts and spam. Our web server keeps standard access and error logs: IP address, time, the address requested, the page you came from, and your browser's identification string. They are used for security and to fix faults, and they are deleted after at most six weeks. Your sign-in token is never part of an address, so it is not written to these logs.
Who can see what
- Other players in a co-op game see your display name, where you are in the room, and messages you type in co-op chat (passed on, not stored).
- Leaderboards and the Daily Challenge board are public and show display names. Challenge cards never show names.
- Our administrators can look up accounts to help players and to correct wallet problems; every such change is recorded.
- No one else, except as listed in “Our promises” above: Square for payments you ask for and disputes about them, our hosting company (which stores the data on our rented server and has no right to use it), an email service if you ask for an email reply, and disclosures the law requires or that protect players and the service from fraud or abuse.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account yourself from the account panel (choose “Delete account”). Your sign-in stops working, your wallet credit is lost along with any remaining Unlimited days, and your leaderboard entries show as “Former player”. Wallet, payment and administrator records about your account are kept for seven years for tax and accounting, under the account number only; contact messages are kept for up to one year.
- See, correct, delete or take a copy of what we hold about you, or ask any privacy question, through the contact form (choose “Privacy”; no account is needed). We offer these rights to everyone, wherever you live, whether or not a law requires it. To protect your account, we may ask you to confirm the request while signed in, or from the email address on the account. We answer within 45 days; if we need longer, we will tell you why and take no more than 45 more days. Requests are free.
- If we turn down a request, you can appeal by sending a message that starts with “Appeal”; we will look at it again and answer within 60 days. If you are still not satisfied, you may complain to your state attorney general (in Texas: texasattorneygeneral.gov).
- We do not sell personal data, use it for targeted advertising, or profile you, and we never will; so there is nothing to opt out of.
Children
CountDown Escapes is for adults aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly keep information about anyone younger; if you believe a child has an account, tell us through the contact form and we will delete it.
Visitors outside the United States
CountDown Escapes is run from, and stores its data in, the United States, and it is offered to players in the US. If the EU or UK GDPR applies to you, the controller is Dependable Computer Solutions (contact through the form above). We use your information to provide the game you sign up for (contract), to keep tax and accounting records (legal obligation), and for security, server logs, totals of games played and answering messages (our legitimate interest in running a safe service). You have the rights described above, plus the right to object to and restrict our use of your information, and the right to complain to your data protection authority. We answer within one month.
Changes
If we change what we keep or how we use it, we will update this page and its date first, and post a notice on the home page. We will not use information we already hold in a new way that is less private without first asking for your consent.