Terms of Use

1. Who we are and what the service is

GeoPinpoint ("the game", "the service") is a free geography learning game with no ads, no payments and no purchases. It is operated by an individual developer, and every question about the service, its content or these terms can be sent to shahar@rotshtein.com.

The service includes city-guessing games, leaderboards, a daily challenge, study mode, a flag game, a speed mode, multiplayer rooms, achievements and tournaments.

2. Acceptance of these terms

Using the game — playing, creating a profile or signing in — means you accept these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. If you do not accept them, please do not use the service.

Your acceptance is recorded on your device when you confirm it (date and time), and for signed-in players also on the account. If you do not agree, close the notice and leave the game.

3. Age and eligibility

Creating an account requires an explicit confirmation that you meet the age requirement and accept these terms and the Privacy Policy; the same confirmation is required when signing in with Google. That confirmation is your own statement, and if it turns out to be untrue we may close the account.

The service is for people aged 13 and over. In the European Union and the United Kingdom it is for people aged 16 and over, or younger with the consent of a parent or guardian.

Do not open an account or use the service if you are under 13, or under your country's digital consent age without parental approval. A parent or guardian may contact us at any time to have a child's account deleted; deletion is available on the "My data" page or by written request.

By using the service you confirm that you are able to enter into this agreement, and that you are authorised to act for anyone on whose behalf you use it.

4. Limited licence to use

You are granted a personal, limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable licence to use the game for personal, non-commercial purposes. Any other use requires our written permission.

• No bots, scripts, automation tools or other automated methods against the game or its servers.
• No systematic collection, extraction or copying of the city database, the questions or the leaderboard results.
• No bypassing, faking or altering of scores, leaderboards, tournaments or multiplayer results, including direct writes to the database.
• No selling, renting, sublicensing, redistributing or embedding the game or any part of it in another product.
• No decompiling, reverse engineering or attempting to extract source code, except where the law requires that this be allowed.
• No use of the service that breaks the law, infringes anyone's rights or breaches these terms.

5. User content and behaviour

Your display name, avatar and multiplayer chat messages are your responsibility alone. By posting content you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to display, store and show it inside the service, and to remove it where needed.

Do not post content that is abusive, threatening, racist, harassing, sexual, infringing, promotional, or that contains someone else's personal information, and do not impersonate anyone.

You can flag an objectionable room chat message with the Report button next to it. The message is hidden from your own view straight away, the report reaches the administrator, and the message is removed if it breaches these terms.

We may remove content, reset scores or block access for anyone who breaches these terms, without prejudice to any other remedy. Report a breach to shahar@rotshtein.com.

6. Geographic data — accuracy, errors and borders

City names, coordinates, country names and the borders drawn on the map come from third-party sources. They may contain errors, transliteration differences, cities sharing a name, approximate coordinates, and representations of disputed borders that do not express any political or legal position of ours.

The game is not an authoritative source for navigation, measurement, planning, border determination, research or advice of any kind. Do not rely on a result, a distance or a score to make a practical decision.

Scores, rankings and achievements are game elements only; they are not a professional assessment or a measure of real knowledge.

7. The service is provided "as is" — no warranty

The service is provided as is and as available. To the fullest extent permitted by law we give no express or implied warranty, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, continuous availability, freedom from errors, data retention or game outcomes.

The service may be suspended, changed or discontinued, and game data (scores, history, achievements) may be lost. You are responsible for keeping a copy of what matters to you — the "My data" page lets you download a full copy at any time.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law we are not liable for any indirect, consequential, incidental, special or punitive damage, nor for loss of data, loss of profit, loss of goodwill or distress, arising from use of, or inability to use, the game.

Where the law requires liability that cannot be excluded, our total liability for all claims — whether the claim is in contract, in tort or under statute — will not exceed the amount you actually paid for the service in the 12 months before the event — and the service is free, so that amount is zero — or NIS 100, whichever is higher. Claims arising from the same act or omission count as a single claim for this cap.

These limitations do not apply to liability for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, to liability under product liability law, to knowingly false information we provided, or to any liability that cannot be excluded by law. Nothing in these terms reduces mandatory consumer rights (Israel, the European Union, the United Kingdom or any other country).

9. Indemnity

If a claim or demand (including reasonable legal costs) is brought against us because of your use of the game in breach of these terms, content you posted, or your infringement of another's rights, you will indemnify us for it, subject to applicable law and the extent of your responsibility.

10. Intellectual property and third-party attribution

The code, design, logo, wording and unique compilation of the game belong to the operator. They may not be used without written permission.

• Satellite imagery and base map: © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics and the GIS User Community — used under Esri's licence.
• Map tiles on the globe and flat map: CARTO (Voyager), with attribution to CARTO and OpenStreetMap; map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL.
• City catalogue: world-cities-json, built on GeoNames — © GeoNames, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
• Country flags: Unicode flag emoji supplied by the operating system.
• Rubik typeface: SIL Open Font License.
• Attribution notices inside the map or on this page may not be removed, hidden or altered. Reuse of third-party data is governed by their licences alone.

11. Copyright notices and content removal

If you believe content in the game infringes your rights, send a notice to shahar@rotshtein.com identifying the work, the location of the allegedly infringing content, your contact details, a statement of ownership or authorisation, and a good-faith statement that the use is unauthorised. We handle notices under the US DMCA and Article 11 of the EU Digital Services Act.

We may remove content, notify the person who posted it, and publish a contact point for reports of harmful content.

A notice sent with knowledge that it is false may expose the sender to liability for the harm it causes.

12. Privacy

We do not sell personal data, show ads or build advertising profiles. How data is collected, kept and deleted is described in the Privacy Policy, and the "My data" page lets you download a full copy, see what is stored and delete the account with every profile in it.

13. Accessibility

We work to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA, the European standard EN 301 549, Israeli Standard 5568, the European Accessibility Act and the US ADA. Full detail, known limitations and contact routes are in the Accessibility Statement.

14. Third-party services

The service relies on third-party hosting, sign-in (including Google), map tiles and fonts. Their use is also subject to their own terms and policies, and we have no control over their availability, content or faults.

The game includes a smart assistant powered by a third-party language model. Its answers may be wrong, incomplete or out of date, they are not professional advice of any kind, and they should not be relied on to make a decision. The assistant does not provide answers, hints or locations in the games.

15. Changes and discontinuation

We may update the service and these terms. An updated version is published on this page with its update date, and a material change is shown in the game before it takes effect. Continuing to use the service after an update means you accept the updated version. We may discontinue the service at any time, in which case you will still be able to download your data.

16. Israel — governing law and jurisdiction

These terms and your use of the game are governed by the laws of the State of Israel, and the competent courts in Tel Aviv-Yafo have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory law.

The Israeli Consumer Protection Law 5741-1981 and the Standard Contracts Law 5741-1982 apply to these terms. Nothing here waives a right that cannot be waived by law, and a term found to be unfair is void while the rest of the terms remain in force.

We send no marketing mail, so the Israeli anti-spam provisions on unsolicited advertising do not apply; operational messages (such as a password reset) go only to whoever requested them.

17. European Union and United Kingdom

If you are a consumer in the EU or the UK, your rights under local law — including consumer protection, data protection (GDPR / UK GDPR) and the European Accessibility Act — are fully preserved, and no clause here reduces them. Clauses limiting liability or claims are read as narrowly as the law requires.

Nothing here waives your right to complain to a data protection authority, a consumer authority, a Digital Services Act contact point, or a court where you live. We do not impose arbitration on EU or UK consumers.

Our contact point for users, supervisory authorities and consumer bodies in the EU and the UK is the contact address above. Our processing is limited in scope, not systematic and involves no special categories of data; if appointing a representative under Article 27 GDPR ever becomes necessary, one will be appointed and the details published on this page.

18. United States

The service is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data (COPPA). A parent who finds such data should contact us and it will be deleted.

For states with privacy laws (such as the CCPA/CPRA in California): we do not sell or share personal information for value, we run no targeted advertising and build no advertising profiles. Rights to know, download, correct and delete are available on the "My data" page.

Subject to applicable law: any dispute will be resolved in individual arbitration under the AAA Consumer Rules, not in a class or consolidated action — except small-claims actions in the local court, injunctive relief, and claims that cannot be arbitrated by law. You may opt out of arbitration by written notice to shahar@rotshtein.com within 30 days of first use. Accessibility is assessed against WCAG 2.2 AA and the ADA.

Arbitration is individual only. If the class or consolidated action restriction is ever held unenforceable, only that provision falls away and individual arbitration stands, subject to applicable law.

19. Safe use, your responsibility and assumption of risk

Do not play while driving, riding, crossing a road or doing anything where a distraction could put you or others at risk. Playing during such an activity is your responsibility alone.

The game includes animations, flashes, confetti and sounds. If you are sensitive to flashing light or have photosensitive epilepsy, turn on the reduce-motion setting, lower the sound or do not play. Your use of the screen, the sound and the animation is at your own risk.

You are responsible for your password, for your device's security and for all activity on your account. Report suspected misuse immediately to shahar@rotshtein.com. A parent or guardian is responsible for supervising a minor in their care, as the law requires.

Subject to any mandatory law, we are not liable for personal injury, nuisance, property damage or third-party damage arising from unreasonable use of the game or from ignoring these warnings.

20. No prizes, no gambling and no reliance on rankings

The game is not betting, a lottery or a game of chance, and it involves no payment, purchase or chance to win money or anything of monetary value.

Tournaments, leaderboards and achievements are game features only: they carry no monetary value, cannot be exchanged or transferred, and create no commitment as to placement, ranking or prize.

We may correct, reset or remove a score, ranking or achievement at any time — including after an error, a fake result or a breach of these terms — and doing so is not a breach of any commitment to you. We are not obliged to publish, keep or display any leaderboard.

Map-game scores are calculated and verified on the server against targets the server chose, while a multiplayer room score is calculated from coordinates the host sends and never enters the leaderboard. The leaderboard is therefore a game feature, not a certified ranking, a professional assessment or proof of knowledge.

21. Force majeure, maintenance and downtime

We take reasonable care to run the service continuously, but we do not warrant availability, uptime or response time.

We are not liable for delay or downtime caused by events beyond our control, including failures at hosting, sign-in, map or font providers, internet disruption, a cyber attack, force majeure, strike, war, epidemic or a decision of a competent authority.

We may carry out maintenance, change the service or discontinue parts of it, and on a full discontinuation we will let you download your data beforehand where practical.

22. Limitation period, survival and no third-party beneficiaries

To the fullest extent permitted by law, a claim or demand relating to the service or these terms must be brought within 12 months of the event giving rise to it; a later claim is barred. This does not apply to a right that cannot be limited or waived by law.

The sections on intellectual property, user content, the accuracy of geographic data, "as is", limitation of liability, indemnity, safe use, dispute resolution, governing law and the general clauses survive the end of your use or the discontinuation of the service.

Nothing in these terms gives a right to a third party who is not a party to them, and nothing here creates a partnership, agency, fiduciary or employment relationship.

23. General

If any clause is found void or unenforceable it will be narrowed to what is required and the rest stays in force. Not enforcing a clause is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms without our consent; we may transfer our rights as part of transferring the service.

These terms together with the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us. The Hebrew and English versions have equal standing; in case of conflict the Hebrew version prevails.

24. Contact and complaints

For any question, complaint or request: shahar@rotshtein.com. We answer personally, usually within 30 days. Privacy complaints may also go to the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority, to your national data protection authority in the EU or the UK, and to a consumer authority.