1. Who We Are
the blind game (“we,” “us,” “our”) is an independent matching project operated by Heuristic Search Group LLC at theblindgame.com. We are not affiliated with any university. Contact us at [email protected].
Mailing address: Heuristic Search Group LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan, WY 82801 US.
2. Information We Collect
Information you provide directly:
- Account data: First name,
.edu email address, password (stored as a one-way hash), email-verification status, matching status, product-email preference, and signup legal acknowledgments - Signup acknowledgment records: Timestamp, policy versions, IP address, and browser user agent associated with your age, legal, and safety acknowledgments
- Newsletter data: If you choose the optional newsletter signup, we collect your newsletter email address, current subscription status, consent source and policy version, consent and subscription timestamps, and consent records and evidence such as your submitted choices, IP address, and browser user agent
- Profile data: Bio, major, year in school, age, gender identity, gender preference, relationship intent, personality summary, and profile photo if provided
- Survey responses: Answers to personality and values questions used for matching
- Hobbies and schedule: Selected hobbies and weekly availability windows
- Matching records: Compatibility scores, shared hobbies, overlapping schedule slots, conversation topics, date suggestions, match status, photo reveal status, messages, and match outcome responses
- Reports and blocks: Report reason, details, related match context, recent message snapshots for review, and block records
Information collected automatically:
- Server and hosting logs may include IP address, browser type, requested URLs, and timestamps for security and operations
- Authentication cookies and browser local storage used to keep you signed in and run the app
- Browser notification data: If you enable browser notifications, we store the subscription endpoint and encryption keys issued by your browser's push service, your notification category choices, and subscription activity timestamps
3. How We Use Your Information
- Matching: Survey scores, hobbies, and schedule data are used exclusively to compute compatibility and produce weekly matches. This data is never sold or shared with advertisers.
- Communication: Your email is used to send verification links, password reset links, weekly match/no-match notifications, product nudges if you remain opted in, and safety-related alerts.
- Newsletter: Newsletter signup is optional. We use your newsletter email address to send occasional relationship-science notes, product and platform updates, and promotions only after your affirmative opt-in. Having an account or accepting this Privacy Policy does not subscribe you, and we do not send a newsletter for either reason alone.
- Browser notifications: If enabled, we use your browser subscription to send general weekly result, new-message, and match-reminder alerts according to the categories you select. Notification text does not include message content, compatibility scores, or your match's name.
- Safety: Reports, recent message snapshots attached to reports, and block data are used to moderate the platform and protect users from harassment, scams, and abuse.
- Service improvement: Aggregated or de-identified match and outcome patterns help us improve the algorithm and user experience.
- Legal compliance: We may disclose information to law enforcement when required by law or to prevent imminent harm.
- Eligibility: We use your 18+ acknowledgment to enforce our age requirements for account creation and service access.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your data for advertising targeting.
We do not conduct criminal background checks, identity verification, or independent age verification. Any information used for safety review is limited to operating and protecting the service.
4. Who We Share Information With
- Your match: When a match is created, your first name, compatibility context, and profile photo if revealed are visible to your match. Individual survey answers are not shown to other users.
- Infrastructure providers: We use Supabase for database and file storage and Railway for cloud hosting. These providers process data so the service can run.
- Email delivery: We use Resend as our email delivery processor for transactional, product, and newsletter emails. Your email address and email content are transmitted to Resend for delivery.
- Browser push delivery: Your browser's push service processes the subscription endpoint, encrypted notification payload, and delivery metadata needed to deliver an enabled browser notification.
- Law enforcement: We may disclose information to comply with a valid legal process, protect the rights and safety of our users, or prevent fraud.
5. Data Retention
We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, account-linked profile, survey, schedule, hobby, message, and match records are deleted from the live database, except where retention is required by law or where limited records are needed to resolve disputes, investigate reports of abuse, prevent fraud, enforce bans, or protect user safety.
Safety reports may keep report details, involved account identifiers, and limited message/profile snapshots after an account is deleted so that we can review abuse, fraud, and safety issues. Aggregated or de-identified match outcome data may be retained to improve the algorithm.
Browser subscriptions are deactivated when you disable notifications on that browser or sign out after the browser can be reached. Expired endpoints are deactivated when the push service reports them as gone. Account deletion removes account-linked browser subscriptions from the live database.
We retain the current newsletter subscription state and append-only consent evidence to document your signup, activation, and opt-out choices. We also retain related delivery history and minimal suppression records needed to honor newsletter-only and all-marketing opt-outs and meet compliance obligations.
For a standalone public newsletter subscription that is not linked to an account, you may request deletion or other handling by contacting us with a Privacy Request. We process that request subject to applicable legal retention requirements, including records needed to document consent and continue honoring opt-outs.
Account deletion removes the link between your account and newsletter subscription and unsubscribes the linked address. The detached subscription state, append-only consent evidence, and minimal suppression records needed to honor the opt-out and document compliance are preserved; account deletion does not claim to erase that evidence.
6. Your Rights (CCPA / U.S. Privacy)
If you are a California resident or resident of a state with applicable privacy laws, you have the right to:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Correction: Request correction of inaccurate information
- Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal retention requirements)
- Opt-out: We do not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising. Product emails include an unsubscribe link.
- Newsletter choices: Newsletter-only opt-out stops newsletter messages. All-marketing opt-out stops newsletter and outreach messages. Product email preferences remain separate. Transactional, security, verification, safety, and legal emails are not disabled by either choice.
- Non-discrimination: We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights
To exercise these rights, email [email protected] with the subject line “Privacy Request.” We will respond within 45 days.
7. Data Security
We use industry-standard security practices including password hashing (bcrypt), HTTPS for all data in transit, and access controls on our database. No system is perfectly secure; in the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.
8. Age Requirements and Children's Privacy
the blind game is intended only for users 18 and older. Users must confirm during signup that they are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected information from a minor, we will delete it promptly, subject to any legal or safety retention obligations. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us at [email protected].
9. Cookies
We use authentication cookies and browser local storage to keep you logged in and run the app. We do not use third-party tracking cookies or advertising cookies. If the notification setup card is dismissed or completed, that choice is also stored in local storage for that browser.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as the service evolves. We will notify you of material changes by email. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.