Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

• Account Data: When you register via email or Google, we collect your username, email address, and (for Google sign-in) your profile picture.
• Game Data: We track your guesses, scores, and streaks to power your personal stats, item history, and leaderboards.
• Session Data: We use a session cookie (motes_games) to keep you logged in. This cookie is shared across motes.org and Hoofprint Games properties so one account works everywhere.
• Usage Analytics: We use Matomo, a self-hosted analytics tool, for basic page-view statistics. Matomo is configured with Do Not Track support and no cross-site tracking.

2. How We Use Your Data

• To authenticate you and maintain your session across motes.org and Hoofprint Games properties.
• To calculate and display your game statistics, streaks, and leaderboard rankings.
• To troubleshoot bugs and improve site performance.

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or any commercial purpose.

3. Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data with any third parties. We do not use third-party advertising or invasive tracking services. Your email address is never shared. Daily item listings are pulled from eBay's public Browse API, The Kroger Co.'s public Products API, and Google Shopping search results retrieved through SerpApi; these are one-way data sources about products and pricing, not data-sharing arrangements involving your personal information. We query them using our own application credentials. No player account information, guesses, or scores are transmitted to eBay, Kroger, SerpApi, Google, or a searched retailer. Only administrator-entered product searches and the configured shopping location are sent for SerpApi searches.

4. Email Contact

We only contact you by email in genuine emergencies (e.g., a security incident affecting your account). We do not send marketing emails, newsletters, or notifications beyond any initial account confirmation email at registration.

5. Cross-Site Authentication

Your Price Check account is part of the shared motes.org / Hoofprint Games auth system. The same credentials and active motes.org session work at The5 (the5.motes.org), Herdle (herdle.motes.org), and TurdQuest (turd.motes.org). Game data (scores, streaks, stats) is kept separate per game; only your account and login session are shared across the network.

6. Your Choices

• You can request deletion of your account and all associated data by emailing us.
• You can disable cookies in your browser, but this will prevent you from staying logged in.
• Google sign-in is optional; you can always use an email and password instead.

7. Users Under 18

Price Check is a general-audience game that is also used by high school students as a classroom exercise in understanding real grocery prices. We have designed it to be safe for that use:

• We collect no more from a student than from anyone else — a username, an email address, and game results. We never ask for a real name, age, birthdate, address, phone number, or school.
• We do not serve advertising, build advertising profiles, or sell or share personal data with anyone, for any purpose. This applies to every user and is not something we would change for minors only.
• We do not use behavioral or cross-site tracking. Our analytics (Matomo) is self-hosted, honors Do Not Track, and reports page views in aggregate.
• Usernames and scores appear on public leaderboards. Students should choose a username that does not identify them personally.

The site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, email us and we will delete it and its data promptly.

A parent, guardian, or teacher may request deletion of a student's account and all associated data by emailing m@motes.org. We do not require proof of guardianship for a deletion request — we would rather delete an account on request than keep data someone wants gone.

8. Security

Passwords are stored using industry-standard hashing (PBKDF2-SHA256). We implement reasonable measures to protect your data, but no system is 100% secure.

9. Contact

Questions or deletion requests? Email m@motes.org.