Privacy policy

The short version

• No account is needed. Without one, your progress stays in your browser.
• Anonymous usage data and error reports help us fix bugs and make the game load and run better. They never include your name, callsign, email or invite links, and you can turn them off.
• Ranked games publish your callsign and score on public leaderboards.
• Some visitors may see Google AdSense ads. Google can use cookies to show and measure ads, and asks for consent first in the EEA, UK and Switzerland.
• We do not sell your personal information.

Anonymous usage data

When usage data is on (the default), the game sends short anonymous event records to our server: for example that the game loaded, a game started or ended, a round was reached, or a setting changed. Each record can include:

• The game version, the mode (solo or co-op), the map and the graphics preset.
• Your browser family (such as Chrome or Firefox), device type (desktop, phone or Chromebook) and graphics chip maker (such as Intel or NVIDIA). Your full browser string is never stored.
• Play time, round, kills, downs, how you went down (hit direction, what hit you), loading times and stages, frame rate and other performance numbers.
• The weapons you use and the character, camo, title, card and wardrobe you pick, and how often you emote or spray.
• Where the visit came from as a category (for example a search engine, Reddit or another page of this site) and a campaign tag from our own posts, never the full link you came from.
• Your approximate country, which our host Cloudflare works out from your connection. We do not store your IP address with this data.
• For co-op, connection quality and how many players used voice chat; never any audio or chat content.
• Whether an ad was shown and whether it filled, and clicks on links to the game's own Discord or X pages.

The anonymous browser key

To count visits and returning players without knowing who you are, your browser makes a random key (nacht-anonymous-v1 in its local storage) and sends it with these records. It is not linked to your name, callsign or account. It is replaced with a new one every 90 days, and it is deleted as soon as you turn usage data off. Each page visit also gets its own random session number, which is never stored.

The same key also decides, inside your browser, which group of an ad test you are in; only the group name is sent.

While usage data is on, the game also counts “online now” players (with a random id for each open page that expires after 90 seconds) and daily play totals (with no identifier at all).

The records are stored in Cloudflare Workers Analytics Engine, which keeps them for about three months (90 days) and then deletes them. We read them only as totals and trends.

Error and bug reports

When error reports are on (the default), a crash or loading failure sends the game version, the type of error, where in the game's own code it happened and a few fixed diagnostic codes. Error messages, names and invite links are not included. We keep only the most recent 50 reports.

If you choose to send a bug report, it includes your description (with email addresses, links, IP addresses and passwords stripped out), the game version, browser family, graphics setting, mode, screen size and round, and a screenshot of the game only if you attach one after seeing it. Bug reports are posted to a developer channel on our Discord server so we can fix them. No name, IP address, chat or logs are attached.

Turning sharing off

• Open Privacy under the main menu (in the game or on the play page) and untick Share anonymous usage data and/or Share anonymous error reports. Your choice is saved in this browser.
• Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control are honored. If your browser sends either signal, the game turns both kinds of sharing off, and our server also discards any record that arrives with the signal.
• Turning usage data off also deletes the anonymous browser key and any saved creator link.

Some things still reach our server because the game needs them to work: publishing scores, saving progress, co-op rooms, signing in, checking for updates and any bug report you send. These switches do not control Google's ads; see Advertising for those choices.

Optional accounts

You can play without an account. If you create one, your progress follows you to other browsers and devices. We never ask for or store your email address. Depending on how you sign in, we keep:

• Passkey: the passkey's id and public key, which address it was made on and when it was last used. Your fingerprint, face or device PIN never leaves your device.
• Username and password: your username and a salted, slow hash of your password (PBKDF2 with 100,000 rounds), never the password itself. After 10 wrong passwords the username is locked for 15 minutes.
• Discord or Google (when offered): the account id, display name and avatar picture link that service gives us. We only request your basic profile, never your email.
• A display name and a copy of your progress: level, stats, unlocks and cosmetics, and your device settings only if you choose to sync them.

Signing in sets one cookie, __Host-nacht_session, which keeps you signed in for up to 90 days after your last visit (a short-lived __Host-nacht_oauth cookie is used for 10 minutes during a Discord or Google sign-in). The game sets no other cookies of its own.

You can download your account data or delete your account from My stats or Character › Identity. Deleting removes the account, its sign-in methods, sessions and cloud save. Published scores and your public profile line (callsign, level, XP and run count) stay on the leaderboards; email us if you want those removed too.

Without an account, your progress is tied to a random profile key in your browser. Our server stores only a scrambled (hashed) form of it. The restore code shown in the game is that key: keep it private, because anyone with it can play as you.

Leaderboards and callsigns

• Ranked games publish your callsign and score automatically: round, kills, points, time, mode, number of players, rule set and date. Players can look up public player pages and the “Top survivors” list (callsign, level, XP, runs, title and card).
• New top-10 scores may be announced in our Discord server with the callsign, round, kills and points.
• Callsigns pass a word filter; offensive names are replaced with “Survivor” and a number. Players can report a name or score, and we can hide or rename entries.
• Scores are kept as a permanent record. Your callsign is whatever you type, so do not use your real name if you prefer not to.

Co-op and voice chat

• Our room server sees your callsign, cosmetics and in-game actions, and relays the game between players. Quick chat uses fixed phrases only.
• To enforce kicks and spectator limits it keeps scrambled (hashed) forms of your connection address and a random device id for that room only. Rooms and everything in them are deleted within 8 hours.
• Public squads show the host's callsign and country, the round, player count and an estimated ping; spectators see the players' callsigns and game state.
• Voice chat is push-to-talk and goes directly between players (peer to peer). It is never recorded and never passes through our server. If a direct connection is impossible, Cloudflare's relay may carry the encrypted audio. Your microphone opens only when you first press push-to-talk.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

To help pay for hosting, some visitors may see ads from Google AdSense: banners on the menu, loading and results screens, the solo pause menu, the score archive and content pages, and an ad between solo games (never over live play, and never the first game over). Ads are switched off for streamer mode and may be off entirely or shown only to some visitors while we test.

When an ad loads, Google and its partners may use cookies, device identifiers or similar storage to show ads, limit how often you see them, measure them and prevent fraud. Third-party vendors, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this and other websites. Google's advertising cookies let it and its partners show ads to you based on those visits; these are personalized ads.

• How Google uses this data: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
• Turn off personalized ads from Google: Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some other vendors' personalized ads at aboutads.info.
• Blocking or clearing cookies in your browser also limits them.

Google receives your IP address and browser information when it shows an ad. We do not share your callsign, account or anonymous browser key with Google.

Consent in the EEA, UK and Switzerland

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, a consent message provided through Google's certified consent management platform asks for your choice before ad cookies are used for personalized ads. If you do not consent, Google may still show non-personalized or limited ads, which use cookies only for things like frequency capping, measurement and fraud prevention. You can change your choice at any time from the privacy and cookie link that the consent message adds to the page.

Rewarded ads

A solo results screen may offer an optional ad you choose to watch for double XP on your next ranked game. It is never required. Our server only records that a reward was earned (up to three a day, at least 10 minutes apart) so it can apply the bonus once.

Creator links (?c=)

Streamers and video makers can share a link like /?c=name. When you first arrive through one, the game remembers that creator's handle in your browser (nacht-creator-v1) and sends one anonymous record so the creator can be credited with visits and games. Only the first creator link counts. Nothing about you is shared with the creator except totals. It follows your usage data choice: nothing is sent when sharing is off, and turning sharing off deletes the saved handle.

What stays in your browser

The game saves your settings, callsign, unlocks, records, privacy choices, the anonymous browser key and your profile key in your browser's local storage, so they are there next time. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them (and, without an account or restore code, your progress). If you used the old address (zombies.bitcoinsapi.com), the game carries your profile and privacy choices over to the new address inside the link itself; the anonymous browser key is never carried over.

Third parties

• Cloudflare hosts the game, its server, the co-op rooms and the anonymous usage data, and supplies voice chat connection help. Like any host, it processes your IP address to deliver and protect the site. Cloudflare's privacy policy.
• Google serves ads (see above) and, when offered, Google sign-in. Google's privacy policy.
• Discord hosts our community server. Links to it are ordinary links; the game posts release notes, top scores and the bug reports you send to our server there. Discord sign-in, when offered, is optional. Discord's privacy policy.
• Ko-fi (support the game), X and GitHub are plain links. We only count that the link was clicked; what those sites collect is up to them.

How long data is kept

• Anonymous usage data: about 90 days. The anonymous browser key: replaced every 90 days.
• Error reports: the latest 50 only. Bug reports: kept in our Discord channel until we clear them.
• Co-op rooms: deleted within 8 hours.
• Accounts: until you delete them. Sign-in sessions: 90 days after your last visit.
• Published scores and leaderboard entries: kept as a permanent record unless removed on request.

Your choices and requests

You can turn sharing off, download or delete your account, and clear this site's data in your browser at any time. Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EEA and UK, or state laws in the US such as California's), you may also have the right to ask what we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it or to object to its use. The anonymous data is not linked to you, so we usually cannot find your records in it. For anything else, email us and we will reply within 30 days. We do not sell or share personal information for money.

The game is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. No account or email is needed to play. If you believe a child has created an account or a public callsign that identifies them, email us and we will remove it.

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: bortstheboat@gmail.com.