Terms of service

Hearthhold beta · last updated 15 October 2026

These are the rules of Hearthhold, a cozy castle-strategy game that you play in your browser. By signing in you agree to them. If you do not, please do not play. They are short on purpose.

What this is

Hearthhold is a free game. It is in beta: it is not finished, and the people who run it (“the stewards”, “we”) are still building it. Nothing in it costs real money, and nothing in it has real-world value.

Your account

• You sign in with a Google account. One Google account is one lord in a realm.
• One account per person. Do not share your account, do not make a second one to help your first, and do not sell, trade or give accounts away.
• You are responsible for what is done with your account. Keep your Google account secure.
• You must be 13 or older, or the age at which your country allows you to use an online service with a Google account.
• What we keep about your account, and why, is in the privacy policy.

Fair play

• No bots, scripts, macros or other programs that play for you or give you an edge a person at the keyboard would not have.
• No exploits. If you find a bug that gives you something you should not have, do not use it: tell the stewards and we will be glad you did.
• Do not attack the servers, probe them for weaknesses, overload them or scrape their data. If you find a security problem, write to us.
• Do not cheat in other ways, such as pushing resources between your own accounts.

To keep the game fair the stewards look at technical signals such as which networks accounts are used from and how commands arrive (see the privacy policy). Such signals only raise a question; people decide.

Manners

The game is for everyone, so keep it kind and family-friendly in chat, letters, notices and in every name (lord, town, alliance). No harassment, hate, slurs, sexual content, scams, spam, threats, other people’s private information, or pretending to be a steward. Names and messages are filtered, and a name that is not allowed will be refused.

The stewards

To keep the realm pleasant and fair the stewards may mute you, rename you, remove what you wrote, suspend or ban an account, or remove a lord, with or without notice when these rules are broken or to protect the realm and other players. Where we can, we will say why. If you think we got it wrong, write to us.

A beta world

Hearthhold is still being made. Rules, speeds, buildings and balance will change. Things will break. The stewards may reset or wipe the beta world (towns, troops, items and rankings), restart it, take it offline for a while, or end the beta, at any time. Please play knowing that your progress may not last.

What you write

The names, messages and other things you write stay yours. By writing them in the game you let us store them, show them to the other players they are meant for, check them, and remove them when the rules ask for it. Only write what you have the right to write.

What is ours

The game, its art, its music and its code belong to us or are used with permission. You may play it in your browser for yourself. Please do not copy it, sell it, or pass it off as yours.

No warranty

The game is offered “as it is” and “as available”, without a promise of any kind: not that it will always be running, that it will be free of errors, or that your progress will never be lost. We make backups, but we cannot promise them.

Our liability

As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for any loss that comes from playing or not being able to play, including lost progress, towns, items, time or access. Nothing here limits any right you have by law that cannot be limited.

Stopping

You may stop playing at any time, and you may ask us to delete your data (see the privacy policy). We may end your access as described under “The stewards”. What these terms say about what you write, about no warranty and about our liability still applies afterwards.

Changes

We may change these terms as the game grows. We will change the date at the top and, for bigger changes, say so in the game’s announcement bar. If you keep playing after a change, you accept it.

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