1. Introduction

Welcome to Sinkships ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website sinkships.com and play our online Battleship game.

By accessing or using Sinkships, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this policy, please do not access or use our services.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device and browsing behavior, including:

• Device Information: Browser type and version, operating system, device type (mobile, tablet, desktop), screen resolution, and unique device identifiers
• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, click patterns, game statistics (games played, win/loss ratio, difficulty levels attempted), and interaction with game features
• Technical Data: IP address, geographic location (country and city level), referring website, access times and dates, and error logs
• Cookie Data: Information collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies (see our Cookie Policy for details)

2.2 Game Data

During gameplay, we may store information locally in your browser using localStorage and sessionStorage, including:

• Game preferences (difficulty level, sound settings, language preference)
• Game progress and statistics
• High scores and achievement data
• Ship placement patterns for analysis and game improvement

This data is stored locally on your device and is not transmitted to our servers unless you explicitly choose to share statistics or feedback.

2.3 Information You Provide

We may collect information that you voluntarily provide when you:

• Contact us through our contact form or email
• Participate in surveys or provide feedback
• Report bugs or technical issues
• Subscribe to newsletters or updates (if applicable)

This information may include your name, email address, message content, and any other information you choose to provide.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for various purposes, including:

• Providing and Maintaining Service: To operate and maintain the game functionality, ensure technical stability, and fix bugs
• Improving User Experience: To analyze user behavior, understand how players interact with the game, and make improvements to gameplay mechanics and user interface
• Personalization: To remember your preferences (language, sound settings, difficulty level) and provide a customized experience
• Analytics and Research: To conduct statistical analysis, understand player behavior patterns, and improve our AI opponent algorithms
• Advertising: To display relevant advertisements through Google AdSense and measure ad performance (see Section 5 for third-party services)
• Communication: To respond to your inquiries, provide customer support, and send important updates about our service
• Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations, enforce our Terms of Service, protect our rights, and prevent fraud or abuse
• Security: To monitor and enhance the security of our platform, detect and prevent malicious activities, and protect user data

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Consent: When you have given explicit consent for specific purposes (e.g., cookie usage, newsletter subscription)
• Legitimate Interests: When processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving our service, preventing fraud, and ensuring security
• Contractual Necessity: When processing is necessary to provide you with the service you requested
• Legal Obligations: When we must process data to comply with legal requirements

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may collect and process your data:

5.1 Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to analyze website traffic and user behavior. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit our site, what pages they visit, and what other sites they used prior to coming to our site. We use this information to improve our service and understand user needs.

Google Analytics uses cookies and may collect IP addresses. You can opt-out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

5.2 Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our website. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to Sinkships and/or other sites on the Internet.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or aboutads.info.

5.3 Cloudflare

Our website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Cloudflare may collect certain technical information for security and performance purposes. Please refer to Cloudflare's Privacy Policy for more information.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience on our website. Cookies are small text files stored on your device that help us remember your preferences and understand how you use our service.

For detailed information about the cookies we use and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

• Usage and Analytics Data: Retained for 26 months in accordance with Google Analytics default settings
• Local Storage Data: Stored on your device until you clear your browser data or delete it manually
• Contact Form Data: Retained for up to 2 years or until you request deletion
• Log Files: Retained for up to 90 days for security and troubleshooting purposes

8. Your Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have the following data protection rights:

• Right to Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: You can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Erasure: You can request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
• Right to Restrict Processing: You can request that we limit how we use your data
• Right to Data Portability: You can request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format
• Right to Object: You can object to our processing of your data for certain purposes
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You can withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent to process your data

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the email address provided in Section 12.

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmission
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Access controls and authentication mechanisms
• Secure hosting infrastructure through Cloudflare
• Regular monitoring for security vulnerabilities

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children's Privacy

Our service is intended for general audiences and is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us, and we will take steps to delete such information from our systems.

For users in the European Union, we do not knowingly collect data from individuals under 16 years of age without parental consent.

11. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

If you are located in the EEA and your data is transferred to countries outside the EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will notify you of any material changes by:

• Posting the new Privacy Policy on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date
• Displaying a prominent notice on our website
• Sending you an email notification (if you have provided your email address)

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information. Your continued use of our service after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Additional Resources

For more information about our policies and practices:

• Terms of Service - Learn about the rules and guidelines for using our service
• Cookie Policy - Detailed information about cookies and tracking technologies
• About Us - Learn more about Sinkships and our mission
• Contact Us - Get in touch with our team