Hard G Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 12, 2026
Last updated: August 13, 2026

Hard G ("Hard G," "we," "us," or "our") is a browser-based multiplayer GIF party game available at https://hardg.app. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Hard G website, game, authentication features, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). The Privacy Policy below explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information connected with the Service.

Please read both documents carefully. By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and acknowledge the practices described in the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Questions, support, or privacy requests: mail@hardg.app

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Terms of Service

1. Eligibility

Hard G is intended only for people who are at least 18 years old. By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 and legally able to agree to these Terms. Do not use Hard G if you are under 18.

2. Private rooms and multiplayer play

Hard G lets players create and join private game rooms using a room code. A room code is an access credential, but it is not a guarantee of confidentiality or security. Do not post a room code publicly or share it with anyone you do not want in the room.

Other participants in a room may see your display name, avatar or assigned guest glyph, prompt votes, GIF submissions when revealed, judging or voting choices when the game reveals them, score, round results, and final game result. In Majority Rules, the results screen may identify which players voted for each GIF.

You are responsible for deciding who receives a room code and for your interactions with other players. Hard G does not conduct identity verification or background checks on room participants.

3. Guest play and third-party sign-in

You may play as a guest by entering a display name. Guest players receive a randomly generated glyph and color combination. Guest play does not include persistent cross-session career statistics.

You may optionally sign in with Discord or Google. If you do, Hard G receives the identity information described in the Privacy Policy and uses your email address to associate and maintain career statistics. If the same normalized email address is returned by Discord and Google, Hard G may treat those sign-ins as the same statistical account.

You are responsible for:

• providing a display name that does not impersonate another person or entity;
• protecting your device, browser session, and third-party account;
• using Discord or Google in accordance with that provider's terms and policies; and
• activity occurring through your Hard G session.

We may refuse, reclaim, or change a display name that violates these Terms or creates impersonation, confusion, or safety concerns.

Signing out of Hard G ends the authenticated browser session and returns you to the initial sign-in screen. Signing out does not, by itself, delete career statistics already associated with your email address. See the Privacy Policy for deletion requests.

4. Game rules, scoring, and statistics

A standard game consists of 10 rounds. Each round winner receives one point. At the end of round 10, the Service displays a final leaderboard. Players tied for the highest score may be treated as co-winners.

Hard G currently supports two game styles:

• Rotating Judge: The designated judge reviews the submitted GIFs and chooses the round winner.
• Majority Rules: All eligible players submit and vote, but a player cannot vote for their own GIF. If the top vote is tied, a server-selected random result is presented using a coin animation for a two-way tie or a spinning wheel for a tie involving three or more players.

The game server is authoritative for room membership, prompts, submissions, judging, votes, scoring, tie-break results, timers, and final results. We may correct, reset, or invalidate a game, score, statistic, room, or outcome affected by an error, abuse, disconnection, technical issue, or violation of these Terms.

Career statistics are provided for entertainment and convenience. We do not guarantee that statistics will always be complete, accurate, available, or recoverable. A completed authenticated game ordinarily records one game played and either a win or a loss for each authenticated email represented in the game. Co-winners may each receive a win. Guests do not receive persistent career statistics.

The Service does not award cash, prizes, or anything of value and may not be used for wagering or gambling.

5. Acceptable use

Use Hard G for friendly, lawful social play. You may not use the Service to:

• violate applicable law or another person's rights, including intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity rights;
• harass, threaten, stalk, bully, discriminate against, exploit, or encourage harm toward anyone;
• search for, submit, distribute, or display unlawful, sexually exploitative, excessively graphic, hateful, or otherwise abusive material;
• impersonate anyone, use a misleading display name, or misrepresent an affiliation;
• interfere with, disrupt, overload, reverse engineer, probe, scrape, or bypass the Service or its security and game controls;
• use bots, scripts, automation, cheats, or other means to manipulate rooms, submissions, votes, scores, timers, statistics, or outcomes, except through Hard G's built-in test modes;
• collect information about other players outside the ordinary operation of a room;
• access or attempt to access a room without authorization; or
• use the Service for spam, commercial solicitation, advertising, or unlawful gambling.

Humor is subjective, but that does not excuse abusive or unlawful conduct. We may suspend or terminate access, reset game data, or take other reasonable action if we believe a user or activity violates these Terms, threatens the Service or another person, or creates legal or security risk.

6. GIFs, searches, and third-party content

Hard G uses KLIPY to provide GIF search results. GIFs, related media, search results, and associated metadata are supplied by third parties and may be governed by KLIPY's terms, licenses, restrictions, moderation decisions, and availability. We do not own third-party GIF content and do not guarantee that it is accurate, appropriate, available, non-infringing, or suitable for every audience.

You are responsible for your search terms and the GIFs you select or submit. Do not use material in a way that violates law, another person's rights, or these Terms. We may remove or disable access to content when appropriate, but we are not obligated to review every search, GIF, or submission.

If you believe material available through the Service infringes your copyright or other rights, contact mail@hardg.app with the subject line "Copyright Notice" and include enough information to identify the material, explain your claimed rights, and allow us to contact you. If Hard G becomes subject to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act's designated-agent requirements, the operator should register and publish the required agent information before relying on the DMCA safe-harbor process.

7. Third-party services

The Service may integrate with or link to Discord, Google, KLIPY, Railway, and other third-party services. Their services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services, content, security, availability, or conduct.

You may revoke Hard G's access through the applicable Discord or Google account controls. Revocation may prevent future sign-in but does not automatically delete information already retained by Hard G, such as email-based career statistics. To request deletion from Hard G, follow the process in the Privacy Policy.

8. Intellectual property and feedback

Hard G and its licensors retain all rights in the Service, including its software, design, text, prompts, branding, and other materials, except for third-party content. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, and non-commercial right to access and use the Service for its intended purpose.

You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, publicly display, create derivative works from, or otherwise exploit the Service or its content except as permitted by law or with our written permission.

If you send us feedback, ideas, or suggestions about Hard G, you grant us a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free right to use them without compensation or obligation to you.

9. Availability and changes to the Service

The Service may change, experience errors, become unavailable, or be discontinued at any time. We do not promise uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or permanent operation, including continued availability of any room, game record, statistic, session, database, GIF provider, or authentication integration.

We may add, remove, or change features, rules, providers, or technical requirements. Where a change materially affects these Terms or our privacy practices, we will provide notice as described below.

10. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HARD G DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, SECURITY, AND AVAILABILITY.

We do not control and are not responsible for players, user conduct, third-party GIF content, Discord, Google, KLIPY, Railway, or other third-party services. You use the Service and interact with other players at your own risk.

11. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HARD G AND ITS OWNERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AFFILIATES, AND LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HARD G'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID HARD G FOR THE SERVICE DURING THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM OR (B) US $100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so some of the provisions above may not apply to you.

12. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hard G and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, affiliates, and licensors from claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from your use of the Service, your content or conduct, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

13. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or end access, remove content, or reset game data where reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms or protect players, the Service, or third parties.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including provisions concerning intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, governing law, and dispute resolution.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the revised Terms with a new "Last updated" date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice through the Service or another reasonable method before it takes effect, unless an earlier change is reasonably necessary for legal, security, or operational reasons.

Your continued use of the Service after updated Terms take effect means you accept them. If you do not agree to an update, stop using the Service.

15. General terms

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Hard G concerning the Service. If a provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign ours as part of a merger, acquisition, restructuring, financing, or transfer of all or part of the business.

16. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact mail@hardg.app.

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Privacy Policy

1. Scope and controller

This Privacy Policy explains how Hard G handles information about people who visit or use the Service. This policy does not govern the independent practices of Discord, Google, KLIPY, Railway, or other third parties.

2. Information we collect

The information we collect depends on whether you play as a guest, sign in through a third-party provider, and how you use the Service.

We do not request or store your Discord or Google password. OAuth access tokens are used transiently to retrieve the approved profile information and are not intentionally retained by Hard G after sign-in. We do not request access to Discord messages or servers, Google Drive, Gmail, contacts, calendars, payment cards, government identification, precise geolocation, health information, or other unrelated account data.

Do not place sensitive personal information in a display name, GIF search query, or support message.

3. Information visible to other players

Other players in your room may see:

• your display name;
• your Discord or Google profile image, or your assigned guest glyph;
• whether you are the host, judge, or a connected player;
• your score and leaderboard position;
• GIF submissions when revealed;
• the round and final winners; and
• in Majority Rules results, which player avatars voted for each GIF.

For Google sign-in, Hard G ordinarily shortens the public game name to a first name and last initial. For Discord sign-in, Hard G displays the Discord name returned by Discord. Guest names containing a first name and a full surname are ordinarily shortened to a first name and last initial.

Your email address, provider account identifier, and career-statistics record, including the full provider name retained for administration, are not intended to be displayed to other players. However, your provider profile image may be loaded from Discord's or Google's image servers when shown to room participants.

4. How we use information

We use information to:

• provide, operate, synchronize, and secure private game rooms and gameplay;
• authenticate optional Discord and Google sign-in;
• display provider profile names and images that you authorize;
• associate wins, losses, games played, and win rate with a normalized email address;
• provide an access-controlled administrative dashboard showing authenticated player activity and career statistics;
• allow the same email used through Discord and Google to access a shared career-statistics record;
• maintain signed-in and reconnectable browser sessions;
• process GIF searches through the Hard G server without exposing the KLIPY API credential to players' browsers;
• enforce game rules and prevent cheating, misuse, fraud, and security incidents;
• troubleshoot, maintain, and improve the Service;
• measure public-page traffic, usage, and engagement through Google Analytics;
• respond to support, privacy, copyright, and legal requests;
• comply with law and enforce our legal rights; and
• produce aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify a person.

We do not use Discord or Google account information, email addresses, profile images, or gameplay statistics for targeted advertising or to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

5. Legal bases for processing

Where applicable law requires a legal basis, we rely on one or more of the following:

• Contract: Processing necessary to provide the Service you request and enforce these Terms.
• Consent: Processing based on choices you make, such as choosing to sign in through Discord or Google. You may withdraw consent where applicable, although withdrawal does not affect earlier lawful processing.
• Legitimate interests: Operating, securing, troubleshooting, and improving the Service; preventing abuse; and maintaining basic game statistics, where those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: Processing required to comply with law, legal process, or regulatory duties.

6. When we disclose information

We may disclose information in the following circumstances:

• Other players in your room. We disclose the room information described in Section 3 as part of the intended multiplayer experience.
• Discord. If you choose Discord sign-in, Discord handles authentication and provides the approved account identity, email, and avatar information.
• Google. If you choose Google sign-in, Google handles authentication and provides the approved account identity, verified email, name, and profile-picture information.
• Google Analytics. On public Hard G pages, Google Analytics processes usage, device, browser, approximate-location, referrer, and interaction information to provide aggregate traffic and engagement reports. Hard G does not intentionally send your account email or provider account ID to Google Analytics.
• KLIPY. Hard G sends GIF search requests through its server. KLIPY receives the search query and technical request data needed to return results. Hard G does not intentionally send your email address, provider account ID, or room code to KLIPY as part of a GIF search.
• Hosting and database providers. Railway hosts the Service and its PostgreSQL database and may process technical information, session traffic, and stored statistics as necessary to provide infrastructure and security.
• Professional advisers and contractors. We may disclose information to advisers or contractors who need it to provide services to Hard G and are subject to appropriate obligations.
• Legal, safety, and security purposes. We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law or legal process; protect the rights, safety, and security of Hard G, players, or others; or investigate fraud, abuse, or a security incident.
• Business transfers. Information may be transferred in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or part of the business or its assets.
• Your direction or consent. We may disclose information when you ask or authorize us to do so.

Hard G does not sell personal information for money and does not knowingly share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. If those practices change, we will update this policy and provide any legally required choices before the change takes effect.

7. Google user data

Hard G's use and transfer of information received from Google is limited to providing user authentication, displaying the profile information you authorize, and maintaining your Hard G game statistics and account session.

Hard G does not use Google user data for advertising, does not sell Google user data, and does not permit humans to read Google user data except when you expressly authorize it, when necessary for security or support, when required by law, or when the data has been aggregated or de-identified. Hard G does not request access to Gmail, Google Drive, contacts, calendars, or other Google product content.

8. Cookies and local storage

Hard G uses cookies and browser local storage to provide authentication, security, identity, and game functionality and to measure public-page traffic and engagement.

Hard G uses Google Analytics for basic audience measurement and does not use Google Analytics for targeted advertising. We will provide consent or opt-out controls where required by applicable law.

Most browsers allow you to remove or block cookies and local storage. Doing so may sign you out or prevent you from joining, remaining in, or reconnecting to a game room.

9. Data retention

We retain information for the periods reasonably necessary to provide the Service, maintain security, respond to requests, enforce our agreements, and comply with law. Current practices are:

• Authenticated session cookie: Up to 30 days unless you sign out or clear it sooner.
• Temporary OAuth cookies: Approximately 10 minutes.
• Email address, full provider name, public game display name, authentication source, activity timestamps, and career statistics: Stored in the Hard G database until you request deletion, the record is no longer reasonably necessary, or the Service is discontinued, subject to any legal obligation requiring longer retention. The career-statistics database currently stores normalized email, the latest full provider name and public game display name, authentication source or sources, first-seen and last-seen timestamps, wins, losses, games played, and an update timestamp.
• Provider ID, profile-image URL, guest glyph, and live player profile: Used in the signed browser session and active server memory. They are not intentionally stored in the career-statistics database.
• Room and gameplay state: Ordinarily retained in active server memory for game operation and not intentionally written to the career-statistics database. It may remain until an operational cleanup or service restart.
• KLIPY result cache: A limited cache of returned GIF metadata may be held in server memory to support active gameplay. Hard G does not intentionally retain a history of GIF search queries in the career-statistics database.
• Infrastructure and security logs: Retained according to our operational needs and the configuration or retention practices of our infrastructure providers.
• Google Analytics information: Retained according to Hard G's Google Analytics settings and Google's applicable retention practices. Aggregated reports may be retained longer.
• Support and legal communications: Retained as reasonably necessary to respond, document the request, resolve disputes, or comply with law.

Signing out clears the Hard G session cookie and locally saved Hard G identity data used by the interface, but it does not automatically delete the email and aggregate statistics stored in the database. You may request deletion as described below.

10. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. These include signed, HTTP-only, secure authentication cookies; short-lived OAuth state cookies; server-side enforcement of game rules; server-side handling of provider credentials; and storage of persistent statistics in a database rather than in the public client.

No internet service or storage system is completely secure. Keep room codes private, protect your third-party accounts and devices, and notify us promptly if you believe your Hard G session or information has been accessed without authorization.

11. Your choices

You may:

• play as a guest without providing Hard G an email address;
• choose whether to sign in through Discord or Google;
• sign out through the account menu;
• revoke Hard G's third-party access through your Discord or Google account settings;
• clear Hard G cookies and local storage through your browser; and
• block or clear Google Analytics cookies using your browser settings or available Google opt-out tools; and
• request access, correction, or deletion using the process below.

Revoking a provider connection or signing out does not automatically delete information already retained by Hard G. Contact us if you want Hard G's stored record deleted.

12. Privacy rights and requests

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a portable copy of certain personal information; to object to or restrict certain processing; to withdraw consent; or to appeal a denied request.

To submit a request, email mail@hardg.app with the subject line "Privacy Request." Describe your request and provide enough information for us to identify the relevant record and reasonably verify that the request concerns you. Because statistics are keyed by email, we may ask you to verify control of the relevant email address. We will use verification information only to process and document the request.

We may deny or limit a request where permitted by law, including when we cannot verify the request, when fulfilling it would adversely affect another person's rights, or when information must be retained for legal or security reasons. If applicable law gives you a right to appeal, reply to our decision with the subject line "Privacy Appeal."

13. U.S. state privacy notice

The categories of personal information collected during the preceding 12 months, their sources, business purposes, and disclosure categories are described in Sections 2, 4, and 6. Depending on how you use the Service, these categories may include identifiers, internet or electronic-network activity, account login information, and inferences consisting of game statistics.

Hard G does not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Accordingly, Hard G does not currently offer a sale/sharing opt-out mechanism. We do not discriminate against a person for exercising an applicable privacy right.

Residents of states that grant consumer privacy rights may submit requests as described in Section 12. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, but we may require proof of authorization and identity verification.

14. Children's privacy

Hard G is intended only for users age 18 or older and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that personal information was collected from a child under 13 without legally required consent, we will delete it as required by law.

If you believe a child has provided personal information to Hard G, contact mail@hardg.app with the subject line "Child Privacy."

15. International users

Hard G is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, information may be processed and stored in the United States and other locations where our service providers operate. Those locations may have data-protection laws that differ from the laws where you live.

Where required, we will use an appropriate legal mechanism for international transfers. You may contact us for more information about safeguards applicable to your information.

16. Third-party privacy policies

Third-party services have their own privacy practices. You can review them here:

• Discord Privacy Policy
• Google Privacy Policy
• Google Analytics privacy and data safeguards
• KLIPY Privacy Policy
• Railway Privacy Policy

These links are provided for convenience and do not make their policies part of this Privacy Policy.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised version with a new "Last updated" date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent where required by law.

18. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, contact: mail@hardg.app