Terms of Service

1. About Synapse

Synapse is a web game: a quiz with a live host. Players gather in a room, the host picks questions from the board and judges answers. The service runs at synapse-game.com.

Synapse is a private game project, not a company. It currently has no separate legal entity, registration number or tax number. If that changes, this document will be updated and you will see a new version.

2. What these Terms cover

These Terms apply to all use of Synapse: guest play, accounts, creating and publishing packs, social features and contacting the administration.

The Community Rules, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Copyright Policy apply alongside these Terms. All are available in the Legal section.

3. Age: 13+

You may create a Synapse account if you are at least 13 years old. You confirm this with a separate checkbox during registration.

We do not ask for or store your full date of birth: a confirmation is enough for this rule.

4. Your country may require more

13 is our minimum product requirement, not a claim that this age is sufficient everywhere.

Some countries require a higher age for using online services independently, or require a parent or guardian to be involved. Where such a requirement applies to you, that requirement is what you must follow.

5. Playing without an account

Part of Synapse works without registration: a guest can join a room and play in supported modes.

Features that inherently require an account are not available to guests: your own packs, rating and statistics, friends, private messages, pack ratings and contacting the administration.

6. Creating an account

An account needs an email address, a login, a nickname and a password. Login and nickname are separate fields: the login is used to sign in, the nickname is what other players see.

Use an email address you actually control: it is how you reset your password and confirm account deletion.

7. One person, one account

Each person should have one main account.

Using multiple accounts to inflate rating, evade penalties, add ratings to your own packs, fake support, or flood other players with requests and reports is prohibited.

We do not track you through hidden device fingerprinting to find second accounts. Decisions are based on ordinary account signals and the evidence in a case.

8. Email verification

After registration we send a confirmation link to your address. The link is valid for a limited time and works once.

You can sign in before confirming, but some features may be limited until your address is verified. You can request the email again; the rate of such requests is limited so that nobody can flood someone else's mailbox.

An account that stays unverified and unused for a long time is deleted — we do not keep addresses nobody confirmed.

9. Account security

Your password is yours. Do not share it, and do not reuse a password from other sites.

Actions taken from your account are treated as yours. If you suspect someone else has access, change your password: this ends every previous sign-in on every device.

The administration never asks for your password — not by email, not in chat, not in a ticket.

10. Login and nickname

Logins and nicknames are unique and compared case-insensitively: “Player”, “player” and “PLAYER” are the same taken name.

Misleading names are not allowed: impersonating Synapse administration or moderation, impersonating another player, or names that are offensive or break the Community Rules.

11. Changing account details

You can change your login and nickname in profile settings. This does not create a new account: rating, statistics, packs, friends and game history stay the same.

The internal account identifier never changes — all your data is attached to it, not to your current name.

12. Rooms

Games take place in rooms. Whoever creates a room becomes the host: they choose the pack, open questions and judge answers.

The number of rooms that can exist at once, and the number one person can host, are limited by technical service limits.

13. Conduct during play

Hosts must judge honestly, and players must not disrupt the game. Insults, harassment and deliberately ruining a match are prohibited and handled under the Community Rules.

The host can see the answers — that is part of the role, not an advantage to exploit in a rated game.

14. Rated and casual games

Some matches count towards rating. To qualify, a game must meet conditions: a minimum number of players with accounts, a minimum number of questions played and a minimum duration.

Matches that do not qualify stay casual and do not change rating. This is neither an error nor a penalty.

15. Rating integrity

Rating is calculated by the server only. A given pack raises your rating on your first rated playthrough only: replaying a convenient pack in a loop achieves nothing.

Repeated matches with the same line-up count with a reducing factor.

16. No circumventing game mechanics

• arranged matches and deliberate losses to boost someone's rating;
• using secondary accounts to inflate results;
• automating play or any software that plays on a person's behalf;
• exploiting service bugs instead of reporting them;
• attempting to interfere with the server or other players' connections.

17. Packs

A pack is a set of questions: rounds, categories, questions, answers and media. Packs are created in the Synapse editor.

A published pack version is immutable: running matches play that exact version, so editing a draft does not break someone else's game.

18. Your content

Everything you create and upload to Synapse — question and answer texts, images, video, audio, titles and descriptions — remains your content.

Synapse does not become the owner of your content and does not claim rights that belong to you.

You are responsible for what you upload, and you confirm that you hold the necessary rights or permissions to use those materials.

19. Images

Images are checked by file content, not by extension. Formats, sizes and resolution are subject to technical limits.

Image metadata, including location tags, is stripped on upload — it should not travel to other players with the picture.

20. Video

Video is limited in size and duration. A question may use a fragment; players cannot seek within it.

21. Audio

Audio is limited in size and duration in the same way as other media.

22. Copyright responsibility

By uploading material you confirm you are entitled to do so: it is yours, or you have the rights holder's permission, or the use is permitted by the law that applies to you.

Synapse does not pre-check every uploaded file for your rights — that is technically impossible and does not replace your responsibility.

Upon a substantiated report we may restrict access to material or remove it. The procedure is described in the Copyright Policy.

23. The licence the service needs

So that Synapse can operate, you grant the service a limited right: to store your content, technically copy it for backup and resilience, process it, display it and deliver it to participants inside Synapse.

This right lasts while the relevant pack or material is available in Synapse and exists solely to run the service.

We do not claim a perpetual irrevocable licence and do not use your content outside Synapse.

24. Community Rules

The Community Rules form part of these Terms. Breaking them leads to the consequences described below.

25. Friends and social features

Friend requests can be turned off in settings. Private messages are available only between friends.

26. Private messages

Private correspondence is for communication between people and is not a public part of the service.

The administration has no interface for opening and reading someone else's correspondence. How messages are technically stored, and the current limits of that, are described honestly in the Privacy Policy — read that section if this matters to you.

We do not promise or claim that correspondence is absolutely protected.

27. Reports and requests

You can report a violation via “Contact the administration”. If your report concerns a specific message, you may voluntarily include its text — the administration then sees exactly what you attached.

Knowingly false reports, and using reports to harass another player, are themselves violations.

28. Administration

The owner of Synapse runs the service and may appoint moderators. Permissions are granted explicitly and differ: a moderator does not have all the owner's capabilities.

29. Moderation

Moderation handles reports and violations. During review an authorised person may view pack content, including private packs, where necessary to handle a report, ensure safety or enforce the rules.

Access to packs does not grant access to private messages — these are different things and different permissions.

If your content is restricted you will be told what was done and why. Where dangerous or unlawful material must be closed off immediately, access may be restricted first and the notice sent afterwards.

30. Temporary restrictions

A violation may limit access to some features for a period. You will see the reason and the duration, and you can contact the administration.

31. Permanent block

Severe or repeated violations may close access indefinitely. The account is not deleted automatically, and the ability to contact the administration remains.

32. Restricting and removing packs

A pack may be hidden from the catalogue or withdrawn from publication. The pack record and its published versions are kept: already-played matches and other players' statistics depend on them.

33. Account deletion

You can delete your account in settings. It requires your current password and confirmation via a link sent by email.

What exactly is deleted, and what is kept for other players' statistics, is described in detail in the Privacy Policy.

If you are the only owner of the service, self-deletion is unavailable — otherwise the service would be left without administration.

34. Service availability

Synapse is provided “as is”. We work to keep it running but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation.

35. Technical interruptions

There may be interruptions for updates and maintenance, as well as failures. Running matches end when the server restarts: game state lives in server memory.

36. The service is currently free

At this stage, use of the main Synapse features is free. There is no advertising.

37. Possible paid features in future

We do not promise that Synapse will remain entirely free forever.

If paid features appear, their scope and price will be shown before purchase. Under the current decision such features must not grant an advantage in gameplay or rating.

38. Rating has no monetary value

Rating, statistics and leaderboard position are in-game values. They are not exchangeable for money and are not property. Synapse has no cash prizes and no gambling mechanics.

39. Changes to the service

Synapse features may change: some appear, some are removed. We aim to explain significant changes.

40. Changes to these Terms

These Terms may be updated. Each revision has a version number and an effective date.

When material changes are made to required documents, a new revision is published with an updated version and effective date. Where the nature of a change or applicable requirements call for separate notice or acknowledgement, it will be provided in an appropriate manner.

Records of accepting earlier versions are kept — they remain facts.

41. Applicable law

The jurisdiction applicable to the service is not currently determined, and we do not state one arbitrarily. As a user, the law of your own country applies to you to the extent it is applicable.

Nothing in this document limits rights granted to you by law that cannot be limited by agreement.

Synapse's liability is limited to the extent permitted by applicable law. We do not claim to bear no responsibility whatsoever under any circumstances: such a claim would be unenforceable.

42. How to get in touch

The main route is “Contact the administration” in the profile menu. Your message reaches the service administration and you will see the reply in your profile.

If you have lost access to your account, use password recovery or the public contact form.

Emails from Synapse come from a technical address whose inbox is not monitored — replying to them achieves nothing.