Privacy

Last updated 28 October 2026

Pin Drop is made by Reviniere, a sole trader in New Zealand. Questions or requests: reviniere@gmail.com.

1. What stays on your device

Pin Drop saves these in your browser's local storage so the game remembers you. They are never sent to us, except a multiplayer room's player token, which your browser sends with each request it makes in that room.

• Settings: units, grid, regions, modifiers, islet mode, Draw the Country preferences.
• Custom games you save, and their names.
• Places you have seen recently, so they do not repeat too soon.
• Which daily games you have played, and your daily scores.
• Whether you have donated, so we can say thank you.
• If you donate and choose Place pin later, the link for placing your donor pin, until you use it or it expires after 30 days.
• The display name you last used in a multiplayer room.
• For each multiplayer room you are in, its code and your random player token, so reloading the page or opening the invite link again brings you back as the same player. Each is removed when you leave the room, or when Pin Drop next opens 2 hours or more after you last joined or rejoined that room (reloading the page in the room counts as rejoining). If the host removes or bans you, your token stays in your browser until then, so a ban recognises it if you try to come back.

To delete all of it, clear this site's data in your browser settings.

2. What our servers see

Every visit

The site is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the United States. Like any website, your browser sends your IP address, browser type and the page requested. AWS uses this to deliver the site and block abuse.

Daily games

Your browser asks our server for the day's game seed. The request carries nothing about you beyond the visit details above, and your score is never sent.

Game statistics

When a game ends, your browser tells our server which game mode it was, how many rounds you played and your score. For a custom game it also sends the list of places, never the name you gave it. We only add these to running totals per day (for example "12 games of Countries scored 20,000 to 20,999"), so no record of your game, or of you, is kept.

When a multiplayer room game ends, our server adds it to the same totals: the game mode, how many rounds were played, how many players took part and each player's final score, plus the list of places for a custom game (never its name). Names, tokens and answers are never added.

Like the website, our game server receives your IP address and browser type with each request. Its request log keeps them for 14 days to block abuse, and they are never linked to the totals.

Multiplayer rooms

When you host or join a room we store:

• the display name you type (1 to 25 characters; please do not use your full real name),
• your pins, drawn lines and scores, and how long each answer took,
• a scrambled copy (a hash) of your random player token, so your browser can act as you in that room; the token itself is never stored,
• the room's settings, its code, its list of places, and a random key for its live updates, which changes whenever a player is removed or banned or the code is replaced, so they stop receiving the room's updates,
• the IP address of whoever opened the room, so that address's open-room limit (below) is freed when the room closes,
• if the host bans a player, that player's name and the hash of their player token, so the ban holds if they come back. Never their IP address.

Everyone in the room sees your name, whether you are the host, whether you are still connected, and your pins, drawn lines and scores. In an At the end game, where each player goes at their own speed, they also see which round you are on, and your total once you finish. The host also sees the names of banned players. Nobody else sees your token or IP address.

To stop code guessing and room spam we also count requests per IP address: rooms opened in the past hour, and joins and code changes in the past minute. We also keep a list of the rooms each address has open, up to 20.

How long each is kept:

• A room (its settings, code, places and the opener's IP address): 10 minutes after its last activity while the host is alone, 2 hours after its last activity once someone else has joined, 15 minutes after the final leaderboard unless the host starts another game, or 10 minutes after the host ends the room.
• Your name, token hash and scores: deleted when you leave or are removed, otherwise 2 hours after your page last checked in with the room. Each pin or line is kept 2 hours after you placed it. Both can outlast the room by up to 2 hours.
• A banned player's name and token hash: 24 hours after the ban, or until the host lifts it.
• Request counts: up to 2 hours for rooms opened, up to 2 minutes for joins and code changes. The list of open rooms: 2 hours after that address last opened or closed a room.

Room requests go to the same game server as the game statistics above, so its request log keeps your IP address, browser type and the kind of request (for example, joining a room) for 14 days. It never records the room code, your name, your token or your answers. Its error log, also kept 14 days, records what went wrong, never names, tokens or answers. Live game updates reach your browser over a separate AWS connection, which we do not log.

Past games are not kept: once these periods end there is no record of the room, its players or their scores beyond the anonymous game statistics above, and the room data has no backups. The game stops reading each item as soon as its time is up, but AWS can take a few days to finish removing deleted data.

Donor pins COMING SOON

If you donate, Ko-fi or PayPal tells our server about the payment so we can send you a one-time link for placing a pin. A Ko-fi donation's email address is used once to send that link and is not stored. A PayPal donation is checked with PayPal using its transaction ID. We keep each donation's Ko-fi or PayPal transaction ID so its link is issued only once, but never your email address, payer name or the amount.

When you place a pin we store its location, rounded to about 20 km, the date, and the message (up to 140 characters) and name (up to 25) you choose to add. The pin shows on the map for everyone. Your message and name show only after we approve them; until then, and if we reject them, the pin shows without them. Our moderators see new messages and names in a private Discord channel and in our admin page. Pins stay until we remove them; email us to have yours removed.

Donor pins use the same game server as the game statistics above, with the same 14-day request log.

3. Other companies

• AWS hosts the site and our game server, stores the data above and sends donor emails.
• Google Fonts supplies the fonts, and cdnjs (Cloudflare) and jsDelivr supply the map drawing code. Each receives your IP address and browser type when the page loads.
• Ko-fi and PayPal handle donations on their own sites under their own privacy policies. We never see your card or bank details.
• Discord hosts our community; joining is under Discord's policy. Donor pin messages and names are also posted to a private Discord channel for our moderators.
• Source links on a place's info card (the Sources row and the history behind the Est. badge) go to the pages its figures, dates and facts come from: mostly Wikipedia, the World Bank and the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), plus Britannica and the other sites listed below. Nothing is sent to them when the card opens. Only if you tap a link does that site open in a new tab and receive your IP address and browser type, under its own privacy policy. The links do not tell the site which page you came from.
• Share saves a picture of your score to your device. Nothing is sent anywhere; you choose where to post it. Daily share pictures hide the place names.

The info card's source links go to: Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); the World Bank (data.worldbank.org, wits.worldbank.org, api.worldbank.org); OEC (oec.world, api-v2.oec.world); Britannica (www.britannica.com); Guinness World Records (www.guinnessworldrecords.com); national statistics and government sites (www.abs.gov.au, www150.statcan.gc.ca, www.cbs.nl, www.insee.fr, www.iedom.fr, www.gov.je, www.bvifsc.vg, niuestatistics.nu, www.tokelau.org.nz, www.nps.gov); reference, research and museum sites (www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com, research-information.bris.ac.uk, idsa.in, www.institutigap.org, foodpackagingforum.org, www.tcmuseum.org, trendeconomy.com, gisgeography.com); and travel and news sites (explore-mag.com, hiddeneurope.eu, news.mongabay.com, eng.lsm.lv, www.bailiwickexpress.com, www.panamaamerica.com.pa, www.iwnsvg.com, fr.allafrica.com, www.app.com.pk, www.taiwannews.com.tw, www.wantedinrome.com).

We do not sell or share your information with anyone else.

4. Cookies

Pin Drop sets no cookies for players. The local storage in section 1 only makes the game work and is never used to track you. Our admin page, which only Pin Drop staff can log in to, sets one sign-in cookie in the staff member's browser. It holds a random session code, ends after 24 hours or at logout, and is never set for anyone playing the game. To limit password guessing, the admin login keeps a count of failed attempts per network address for 30 minutes.

5. Children

Pin Drop is for all ages and needs no account. Children should use a nickname, not their real name, in multiplayer rooms, and need a parent's permission to donate.

6. Your rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete information we hold about you by emailing reviniere@gmail.com. Most of it is already deleted within hours; in practice a request will be about a donor pin. You can also complain to the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner or your local data protection authority. We follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.

7. Changes

We update this policy whenever a new feature changes what we collect, and change the date at the top.