LEGAL
Privacy Policy
Arcade 84 is a free browser game. There are no accounts, no ads and no tracking cookies, and nothing you do in the arcade is tied to you as a person. This page says exactly what the site does and does not keep.
Who runs the site
Arcade 84 is a product name of, and is operated by, Elowin Labs LLC ("we", "us"). References to "Arcade 84" mean Elowin Labs LLC doing business as Arcade 84. You can reach us at hello@elowinlabs.com.
What stays in your browser
The arcade keeps a few things in your browser's local storage so it feels the same on your next visit. We cannot read them, and apart from the two things you choose to send (below), they stay on your device:
arcade84:scores:*: your high-score table for each cabinet.arcade84:scheme:*: which control scheme you picked for a game.arcade84:mutedandarcade84:volume:*: your sound settings.arcade84:legend: whether the walking tip has already been shown to you.arcade84:tip:*: which play tips you have already seen, so they stay quiet.arcade84:last-game: the cabinet you last played, so it is never the one out of order when you come back.arcade84:rink-best-lap: your fastest lap at the roller rink.arcade84:record: the record you left the jukebox playing.arcade84:hexadu:*: HEXADU's own saved game and settings on this device.arcade84:wait:*: the coming-soon cabinets you pressed I'M WAITING for, with the code sent for that press and the place in line that came back (see Waiting for a cabinet).arcade84:session: a tally of how you have used the arcade on this device (visits, credits started, games finished, which cabinets you played, and whether you have opened the jukebox, the rink or the change machine). It is counted only so that a place in line can be told from a button being mashed, and it leaves your device only if you take one (see Waiting for a cabinet).arcade84:stale:*(session storage, gone when the tab closes): that the page reloaded itself once because the version you had open was out of date.
One more small item, a84-consent, records the choice you make in the cookie notice. Clearing your browser's site data removes all of it. The only things that ever leave your device are a score you choose to post, a place in line you choose to take, and an email address you choose to leave with it, all described below.
Cookies
The site sets one first-party cookie, a84_consent, which records the choice you make in the cookie notice so we do not ask again; it lasts 180 days, is mirrored in local storage as a84-consent (above), and holds nothing about you beyond that choice. Your privacy choices in the footer of every page reopens your preferences. There are no advertising, marketing or cross-site tracking cookies.
The cabinets' settings
When the arcade opens, and again when a credit starts, the page asks our server for the settings the cabinets play by (speeds, timings and point values). That request carries the version of the site you loaded and nothing about you; if the version is out of date, the page reloads itself once. Nothing is stored on the server for it.
World high scores
When a credit starts, the site asks our server for a credit token; at game over, if you enter three initials and press SAVE, the initials, the score, the length of the credit and the cabinet are sent to our server and posted on that cabinet's public world board for the day and for all time. Along with them we store a hash of your IP address mixed with a secret and the date, which lets us cap how many scores one place can post in a day; the address itself is never stored, and the hash cannot be turned back into it or matched across days. A posted score is public by design: the initials, the score and the day can be seen by anyone. Pressing SKIP posts nothing, and a score that is never entered leaves nothing on the server. We may hide a score that was not earned in play. Boards are kept in Cloudflare D1, a database in the same hosting described below.
Waiting for a cabinet
The cabinets whose games are not in yet carry an I'M WAITING button. Pressing it sends our server the cabinet and a random code made for that one press, and the server answers with your place in line; the code lets a press that did not get through be sent again without counting twice, and it says nothing about you. How many players are waiting for each cabinet is public, and it tells us which games to open next. Nothing is sent unless you press the button. Your browser keeps its own record of the press (above), which is how the arcade can tell you, on a later visit, that a game you waited for has opened.
Because that line decides what we build, we keep enough beside each press to tell a real player from a script: the date and time, your IP address, the rough location, network and data-centre our host reports for it, your browser's user-agent and language, the page you came from, and the tally of your own use of the arcade described above. The IP address and user-agent are cleared after a limited period; the daily hash described under World high scores stays, and is what caps how many presses one place can make in a day. None of it is published, sold or shared, and none of it is used to follow you anywhere else.
After you take a place in line you are offered the chance to leave an email address. It is optional, the arcade works the same without it, and it is used for exactly one thing: a single message on the day that cabinet opens. Every message carries a one-click link that takes your address off the list, and you can also write to us (below) to have it removed. We do not add it to any other list. The form is checked for bots by our hosting provider; that check sets no cookie on this site.
Analytics
We use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-first, cookieless service, to count visits in aggregate. It sets no cookies, collects no personal data and does not follow you across other sites. You can still switch it off: turn Analytics off in the cookie notice (or later through Your privacy choices in the footer) and the analytics script is not loaded. Alongside page views the arcade sends a handful of named events: Start (a game began, with the game, view and control scheme), Share (the share button), Pad (a controller was picked up, with the controller's product name as your browser reports it), Tip jar (the change machine was opened), Leave (a step of leaving a cabinet, with how it was left and whether a running game was paused first), App link (a store or site link on HEXADU's cabinet was followed, with which one), Wait (the I'M WAITING button was pressed, with the cabinet), Notify (the card after it was shown, and whether an address was left, with the cabinet), Rink (you went through to the roller rink, with whether by the back doors or a /rink link), Walk (you clicked somewhere to walk to, with what was there), Switch (you moved to the cabinet beside the one you were at), Map (the aerial map's setting was changed), Jukebox and Record (the jukebox was opened, and a record picked), Fortune (the fortune teller was used), Line (a credit could not begin because the cabinet's settings did not arrive, with the cabinet and whether the page was out of date) and Tip Click (the coin slot was followed out, with which spot on the page was used: hud, dock, stick or inline). None of these carry an identifier. Plausible's data policy is at plausible.io/data-policy.
Controllers
If you plug in an arcade stick or a gamepad, your browser's Gamepad API tells the page its name and button states so the cabinets can respond. That reading happens in your browser only; apart from the product name in the Pad event above, nothing about it is sent anywhere.
Hosting
The site is served by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare sees the standard request information (your IP address, browser type, the page requested) while delivering the site and protecting it from abuse, and handles it under Cloudflare's privacy policy. Cloudflare's short-lived request logs for the site are used only to find errors; we keep no logs of our own.
Links that leave the site
The arcade-stick page links to controllers on Amazon. When those links carry our affiliate tag, the page says so, and Amazon may pay us a small commission on a purchase at no cost to you; Amazon's own privacy policy applies once you are there. The change machine's coin slot and the arcade-stick page's tip link lead to our Ko-fi page, where Ko-fi and Stripe handle the payment on their own websites under their own policies; we never see your card details. Ko-fi sends us your display name, email address, message and amount so we can thank you and keep accounting records. Nothing from Ko-fi or Stripe loads on this site until you follow the link.
Children
The site is meant for general audiences and collects no personal information from anyone, including children under 13.
Changes
If the site starts storing or sending anything new, this page changes in the same release and the date at the top moves.