Terms of service

Who we are

Hunchbox is a trading name of Chief Technology Limited, registered in England and Wales, company no. 16532368, registered office 36a Hiltingbury Road, Eastleigh, SO53 5SS. “We” and “us” in these terms means that company.

These terms are a legal agreement between you and us, whether you play as a guest or with an account. By playing Hunchbox, or making an account, you agree to them and to our community guidelines. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Hunchbox.

Who can play

You must be 13 or over to play Hunchbox or make an account.

You must be 16 or over, and signed in, to be recorded or to get video replays.

A few countries’ laws need older players, so there these ages apply instead. A guest goes by the country they’re playing in, and an account by the country it was made in.

Before a guest plays on video, we ask how old they are. Under the age to play on video, you can still play in person. An account plays on video from the higher of the video ages where it was made and where it is now.

Hunchbox isn’t offered in Brazil or Vietnam. Please don’t use it there.

When you make an account, or tell us your age before video, it must be your own and true. If it isn’t, we may close the account or remove the player.

Your account

You can play as a guest, or make an account with your email address. We sign you in with a code we send to that address, so keep access to your email to yourself.

An account is for one person. Don’t sign in as someone else or let someone else use your account.

A guest is remembered on the device it played on. If you clear your browser, or use another device, a guest’s games can’t come with you; an account’s can.

If you think someone else has used your account, email [email protected].

Playing fair

You play Hunchbox with people you invite, or who invite you. Follow the community guidelines whenever you play, in person, on video and in anything you type.

Hunchbox is for playing for fun. Don’t use it to advertise, sell things or run a business, unless we’ve agreed that with you in writing.

Don’t try to cheat, break, overload or get around how Hunchbox works, or use it to do anything illegal.

How we keep players safe

Never allowed, in a game, on video or in anything you type: sexual content of any kind involving anyone under 18; grooming, or asking anyone for anything sexual; pornography or nudity; sending or showing sexual images to someone who didn’t ask for them; sharing, or threatening to share, intimate pictures or videos of anyone; threats, harassment, stalking or bullying; hate against anyone for their race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexuality, disability or age; encouraging or showing suicide, self-harm or eating disorders; violence, gore or cruelty to animals; dangerous stunts or challenges; terrorism, or supporting or promoting a proscribed organisation; and selling or promoting drugs, weapons, scams or anything else illegal.

How we keep it off Hunchbox: you only ever play people you invited, or who invited you, with no strangers, chat, profiles or matchmaking; a game is recorded only if both players are 16 or over, signed in and agree; we act on every report; and we can end a game, remove what someone put in, and suspend or close an account.

The word filter: before anyone else sees the words you type for a game, a name or a league, they’re checked automatically against lists of offensive words, and words that match are refused, so you’re asked for others. The same lists mask those words in a video replay’s captions. A filter can’t understand meaning, so it will sometimes refuse something harmless or miss something that isn’t, which is why the other player also has to accept what you typed. If it refused something you think it shouldn’t have, email [email protected] and we’ll look at it, and change the lists if we got it wrong.

What you put in

What you type for what’s in the box, and what you say and show on video, belongs to you. You’re responsible for it, so only put in what’s yours to use and doesn’t break anyone else’s rights, such as their copyright or privacy.

You give us permission, free of charge and wherever the other player is, to use it only as needed to run the game: to show what you typed to the other player, to carry the live call, and, when everyone agrees, to record rounds, add captions and make video replays, which we then delete as our privacy notice explains.

What you type passes a word filter first, and the other player has to accept it. We may refuse or remove anything that breaks these terms or the community guidelines.

Video replays

A video replay is only made when both players agree. Agreeing to a replay means either of you can save it and share it.

Once a replay has been shared, neither of us can pull it back. Think before you agree, and before you post.

Never record, screen-record or share a video of someone without their agreement, and never post a replay to embarrass or hurt someone.

Anyone your camera or microphone catches is in the call too. Before you play on video, check anyone nearby is happy to be filmed, or play somewhere they won’t be.

We delete every replay 10 minutes after making it, or once you’ve both saved it, whichever comes first, and keep no copy.

What you play for

What a game is played for, a prize or a forfeit, is agreed between the players. Hunchbox only shows it.

Hunchbox never takes a stake, holds money, pays anything out or charges to play, and we don’t enforce what players agree. Anything you agree to do or give is settled between you, outside the game, and it’s your responsibility. Never play for anything unsafe or illegal.

Never play for money, or for anything that works like money, such as gift cards, vouchers or cryptocurrency, or for paying for or buying something. Hunchbox refuses what you type if it names money, and asks you to play for something else. Hunchbox isn’t a betting service: don’t use it to take bets from other people or run betting for others.

Reporting a player or a problem

If someone breaks these terms or the community guidelines, or anything on Hunchbox worries you, tap Report a player or a problem in the game’s menu, use the form on our Safety page, or email [email protected]. Tell us what happened, and the game code if you have it; from the game’s menu, the game is filled in for you.

We read every report and reply within 2 working days. If you give your email, we email you straight away to say we’ve got it. Anything suggesting a child is at risk is acted on the same day, and we report it to the police or the National Crime Agency where the law needs us to.

We never tell the player you reported who reported them.

We don’t watch games as they happen and can’t send help. In an emergency, call 999, or your local emergency number outside the UK.

What we do when the rules are broken

If someone breaks these terms or the community guidelines, we may warn them, remove what they put in, suspend their account, close it, or remove a guest’s player. What we do depends on how serious it was and whether it has happened before. For something serious, we may act straight away, without a warning, and stop that person using Hunchbox again.

When we act on an account, we tell its player what we did, why, which rule it broke, and how to appeal: by email where we have an address, otherwise in the game.

While a player is suspended, they can’t sign in, start or join a game, or play on video, and any game they were in ends. They can still report something to us, and ask [email protected] for their data or to delete their account.

Where something may be a crime, such as anything that puts a child at risk, we report it to the police or the right authority.

Complaints and appeals

If you’re unhappy with Hunchbox, or with how we handled a report, email [email protected] and tell us what happened. We reply within 2 working days.

If we suspended or closed your account and you think we got it wrong, reply to our email or write to [email protected] within 14 days to appeal, and tell us why. Someone who wasn’t involved, where possible, looks at the decision again, with anything you tell us, within 5 working days, and tells you the outcome and why.

For anything about your personal information, see our privacy notice.

The service

Hunchbox is free to play. We may change, add or remove parts of it, and we may pause it to fix or improve it.

We may add adverts, or paid extras such as a subscription, in the future. We’ll tell you before we do, nothing you’ve been playing for free will start costing you without you choosing it, and anything you buy will have its own terms, shown before you pay.

We work to keep Hunchbox running and safe, but it’s provided as it is, and we can’t promise it will always be available or free of faults.

Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these terms takes away your rights under consumer or data protection law, or limits anything the law says we can’t limit, including our responsibility for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.

We’re not responsible for what players say, do or agree with each other, including what a game is played for, or for videos players share.

We’re not responsible for losses we couldn’t have expected, or for losses to a business.

Otherwise, the most we’ll pay you for anything to do with Hunchbox is £50, or what you’ve paid us in the 12 months before, whichever is more.

Ending

You can stop playing at any time, and delete your account from Account in the game. Our privacy notice says what happens to your information when you do.

We can suspend or close an account that breaks these terms or the community guidelines, as set out above.

Changes to these terms

We only change these terms for a good reason: a new feature, a change in the law, or to keep players safe. We’ll change the date at the top, and tell you in the game or by email what has changed and why before an important change applies.

If you don’t agree with a change, you can stop playing and delete your account before it applies. If you keep playing after that, the new terms apply.

The law that applies

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you keep the protection of your own country’s law, and you can also bring a claim in your own country’s courts.

If you live outside the UK, you keep any protection your own country’s law gives you that can’t be agreed away.