Privacy
Policy

Who We Are

Sanshui is made by Sportella and published by ARDS Workup & Affiliated Products, 107 S Lane St #1003, Blissfield, MI 49228, United States, which is responsible for your data under this policy. It covers the Sanshui website on every address it is served from and the Sanshui Android app, which shows the same game.

What We Collect

When you visit. Anonymous counts of page visits: the page, which of our web addresses it was on, your country, whether you use a phone or a computer, the site or ad campaign that sent you, and, when we are trying out two first pages, which one you were shown. In the Sanshui app for Android, the app’s version is noted with each visit and the app tells us once when it is first opened on a device (a single mark it keeps on the device), so we can count installs; your country is not recorded at all, and the app’s language follows your phone’s own setting. Unique visitors are counted with a short-lived one-way code that changes every day, so visits cannot be linked over time; your IP address is never stored. Some short links we share on our web addresses are counted the same way when opened: when, your country, phone or computer and the site that sent you, before sending you on to where the link points. To learn which links and ads bring new puzzlers, we count how many of a day’s visitors from each one made an account or joined the 5000 club that same day, using only that same daily code and nothing about the account. In the same way, when a device solves its first puzzle, and its tenth, it tells us only that, so we can see which links bring puzzlers who play: never the puzzle, your level or your account. On a first visit the steps before that first puzzle (opening the game, the welcome, the first puzzle shown, the first move) are counted the same way, once a device, so we can see where newcomers lose their way. Each puzzle shown in Puzzle mode, the tutorial’s included, is counted the same way too: what kind of puzzle and level it was, whether it was solved, skipped or left, how long it took and how many moves were made, how many puzzles had been solved on that save before it, and whether you were signed in; never the cards, the answer or your account. These counts wait on the device and are sent together, a few at a time. Your country also picks the language the site opens in and ThreeHeart’s welcome, until you choose a language yourself, and which holidays the little F.T. Clubs dresses up for, and is not kept for any of these. In the app she reads your phone’s own time zone for that instead, on the phone, and nothing is sent. The time zone your connection comes from is read the same way, only so your Cipher Daemon’s window is light by day and dark by night where you are, and is not kept either; in the app the phone’s own clock is used. We also keep technical error reports and a record of requests our automated checks turn away, so the game keeps working and stays fair.

If you sign in. Signing in is optional, with your Google account or by a passkey. We keep your save file (the game calls it your Cipher Daemon: your progress, including a running read of how your timed puzzles went that shapes your Puzzle mode training if you turn that on, your settings and controls, and the pet Cipher Daemon you raise with the things you put in its window). If you give your pet Cipher Daemon its secret name, we keep that name as a single number with your account, so no two daemons ever share one; only you see it, and it goes when you delete your account or start again), a summary of each finished Shen battle, timed puzzle and daily challenge puzzle (the mode, the result, the hands you made, your time and stars or points, and your daily challenge rank; the daily summaries also help us build better puzzles), running totals, any marks your play has earned, and your leaderboard entry: your table name and Presence, which other signed-in puzzlers see on the leaderboard once you keep or choose your table name. Signing in with Google does not keep your address: Google tells us your email address and confirms it is yours, and we keep only a secure one-way code made from it, so the same address opens the same save, never your Google password or anything else from your Google account. A passkey stores only its public key; your fingerprint, face or PIN never leave your device. If you print the sheet from the game’s data page, your browser sends us only a one-way fingerprint of the sheet, and we answer with a short code made from it and your account, so the sheet can be shown to be yours; the sheet itself never leaves your device.

Information from Google. Signing in with Google asks Google only for basic sign-in. Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with it; we use only your confirmed email address, keep the one-way code made from it to sign you in and the address itself, encrypted, on our list of accounts (and with your 5000 club place while the club is open), and ask nothing else of your Google account: no Gmail, contacts, files or calendar. We use it only to sign you in to your Sanshui account, never for advertising, and never sell or share it. Sanshui’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

If you duel. A duel is one battle the game deals and keeps so that everyone who opens its link meets the same cards. We keep the duel, who dealt it, and for each puzzler who plays it their points and how the battle went, never their cards. Everyone who has played a duel sees the table names (or Nameless) and points of the others who played it.

If you sit at the Shared Table. A table is a live game between two puzzlers. While it is open we keep its cards, moves and points so both devices can play it, and we never send your cards to the other puzzler before the showdown. When a match ends we keep the two accounts, the points and how each hand went, never the cards, so each of you sees your record against the other. Both of you see each other’s table name (or Nameless). If you wait in the table’s pool to be matched, we keep that you are waiting, the match you asked for and your table rank only while you wait (you can keep puzzling while you wait; the game itself asks for your place while it is open on your screen, and nothing is sent to your device as a notification); ranked matches from the pool move a table rank we keep with your account, which only you see. If you keep a Cipher Daemon, the other puzzler at your table sees it swim: only how it looks that day (its colour, stage, and the suit and number or face you chose for it), nothing else about your play.

If you make or join a circle. A circle is a private board for you and the friends you invite. We keep the circle’s name, who made it and who is in it. Its members, and nobody else, see your table name (or Nameless), your Presence and the stars you took on that day’s daily challenge. You can leave a circle at any time; deleting your account takes you out of every circle.

If you swim Dice of Death’s shared dice. The first swim you finish each day on the dice everyone shares is kept with your account: the day, the floors you survived, the bones you carved and how long it took, never your cards or dice. Other puzzlers who swim that day’s dice see it beside your table name (or Nameless).

If you post on the puzzlers’ blog. Puzzlers on the leaderboard can write short posts, public feedback and replies, and upvote, on the blog. We keep what you write, when, and your account with it, nothing else; your table name is shown beside it to other puzzlers on the leaderboard, while everyone else reads it unsigned. A small tag beside it shows every reader when you hold a 5000 club place or are a tester. The blog turns away links, email addresses, phone numbers and handles, so please never post personal information about yourself or anyone else. New posts and replies are also shared, without your table name, on the blog’s public Telegram channels (one for posts, one for public feedback).

If you give us your email address. We keep the address itself, encrypted, when you sign in with Google (on our list of accounts, which also places you as a tester or in the 5000 club while those are open), or when you choose to take a place in the 5000 club or ask to join the testers. An account made with a passkey alone gives us no address. If a sign-in with Google cannot go through on our side, we keep the address Google gave us only until we have written to say sorry, then delete it. It is also kept when Sanshui’s creator sends it an invitation to play (so no one is invited twice and an unsubscribe always holds), or gives it the full game as a guest. A guest invited by a private link instead needs to give no address at all: we keep only that the link was taken, by which account, and when. An email we cannot deliver straight away (a 5000 club or tester message, a reminder or a message you sent through the Feedback form) is held, with its address, only until it can be sent. Every email address we keep is stored encrypted, with the key kept apart from the database, and is opened only to send you the email it is kept for, or by Sanshui’s team to keep the list of accounts; everything travels between you and Sanshui encrypted too.

Addresses we receive from others. Some invitations go to email addresses supplied by a marketing list provider, Vetta Marketing (2192 Martin, Suite 235, Irvine, CA 92612, United States). From that list we keep only the address and what we keep for every invitation; nothing else about you comes with it. If you got an invitation and never gave us your address, that is where it came from: unsubscribe with one click, or ask us to delete it (section 09).

If you buy the full game. The purchase is made through Google Play. The app passes us Google Play’s purchase token, which we check with Google and link to your puzzler account so the full game opens wherever you sign in. We never see your Google account or payment details. On the website the purchase is made through Paddle, which sells it to you as the merchant of record and handles the payment, tax and receipt: Paddle collects your email address and payment details under its own privacy notice, and tells us only that your puzzler account bought the full game (and of any refund). We never see your card.

If you contact us. Private feedback from the blog’s Feedback panel and emails sent to Sanshui’s addresses are passed on to the team’s inbox, with any email address you include so we can reply. They are not stored on our servers, except briefly when the email cannot be delivered straight away. If you are signed in and message Sanshui’s creator on the blog, we keep the conversation, when each message was sent and read, and your account with it; only you and the creator can read it, and the team’s inbox is told of each message with your table name.

What We Don’t Collect

No passwords, names, phone numbers or postal addresses. No IP addresses. No location, microphone, camera or contacts: the app asks for no permissions beyond what Google Play purchases need. No cards or individual plays. Nothing at all is sent about the demo you play without signing in. Sanshui contains no tracking SDKs, Meta Pixel or Google Analytics.

How We Use It

To run the game and keep your save across devices (to provide the service you ask for); to run the leaderboard and keep it safe from loss and cheating, protect sign-in and fix errors (our legitimate interest in a working, fair game); to send the emails you ask for (5000 club, tester and release-day messages, and replies to your feedback); to send occasional invitations to play, including to addresses from the list provider above, each with a one-click unsubscribe that always holds (our legitimate interest in telling people about Sanshui, where the law allows it); and to see in totals how many people visit and play (our legitimate interest in improving the game). The site owner sees these only as totals and averages, never as a profile of you. Where the law needs your consent, such as joining the 5000 club or the testers, you give it by choosing to, and you can withdraw it at any time.

AI-written invitations. The opening lines of some invitations are written by an AI model. It is told only the time of day, the day and the season, never your address or anything else about you.

Who Helps Us

We share data only with the services that run Sanshui for us, under their own privacy terms: Netlify (hosting, file storage, backups and the AI Gateway, which passes invitation-wording requests to Google’s Gemini model); Neon (the database that holds accounts, saves and the leaderboard); Resend (sending and receiving email, with a backup email service that takes over only if Resend cannot send); Paddle (the merchant of record for the full game bought on the website); Google (Google Play purchases, signing in with Google if you choose it, the testers’ Google Group if you ask to join it, the Google Ads measurement tag, and Google Fonts); and Telegram (private alerts to the team about the site’s health and the leaderboard, which may name table names and Presence but never email addresses, and the puzzlers’ blog’s public channels, which share blog posts and public feedback without puzzlers’ table names). These services are in the United States, so your data is processed there; where the law requires, they protect it with standard contractual safeguards. We never sell your personal information.

Cookies & Browser Storage

Sanshui keeps your progress, settings, the language you choose and, if you sign in, your session (which lasts while you keep playing and ends after 30 days unused) in your browser’s local storage, along with a note that you passed the human check (which runs only on your device) and when you last left the table, so the game opens where you left off and a quick return takes one tap. Play without signing in stays on your device. In a browser the game plays at thepokerpuzzle.com: opened at another of our addresses, it moves there, and what your browser kept at the old address (your progress, settings and sign-in) passes through our servers for a moment to come with you, then is deleted. Visiting the game or the 5000 club’s page sets one small cookie, holding only the number 1, for seven days, so returning visitors go straight to the game. Google’s ad tag may set its own cookies (section 07). To play without a connection, or while our servers are down (Connection safety), the game also keeps its own files (its code, music and sounds) in your browser’s storage; they hold nothing about you. Signed in, your device keeps the last answer about which parts of the game are yours, so you play as you are while offline, and your play goes up when the connection returns. Clearing your browser’s site data removes everything Sanshui stored there.

Inside the Sanshui app for Android you may switch on a once-a-day reminder when the daily challenge turns. It is scheduled on your phone itself, needs only the app’s notification permission, and sends us nothing.

Advertising

Sanshui’s web pages (not the Sanshui app for Android, which never loads it) load Google’s ad measurement tag so we can count how many people reach the game from our ads and how many go on to sign in. Google may set cookies and receive your IP address, browser information and the page you visit, under Google’s privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy); you can limit ad personalisation at adssettings.google.com. When you sign in with a passkey, the tag is told only that a sign-in happened; Sanshui sends it nothing about who you are, your play, email or save file.

How Long We Keep It

Visit counts, error reports and security records: 90 days. Sign-in checks: minutes, deleted soon after. Emails waiting to be delivered: until they go out, a few days at most. Hand summaries: a limited number of your most recent games. Duels: a few weeks, then they are deleted. An open Shared Table: a day after its last move; the record of a finished match: until you delete your account. Dice of Death’s shared days: until you delete your account. Circles: your place in one until you leave it or delete your account; a circle goes when its last member leaves. Blog posts and replies: until you take them down, we remove them for breaking the blog’s rules, or you delete your account. Messages with the creator: until you delete your account. Your save file, totals and leaderboard entry: until you ask us to delete them; leaderboard backups and backup copies of the database are kept for a limited time, only to restore the game after a failure, and a deleted account is never restored from them. Email addresses for the 5000 club, testers, invitations and guests: until you ask us to delete them (an unsubscribed address is kept only so it is never emailed again).

Your Rights & Deletion

Wherever you live, you can ask to see the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or object to how we use it, and in the EU and UK to restrict it or take a copy, without being treated any differently for asking. California residents have the same rights to know and delete. To start again from nothing while keeping your account, press #INTOTHECROWD below while signed in: after your passkey or Google sign-in, we delete everything you have played (your save file, totals, history, duels, Shared Table matches and table rank, circles, Dice of Death’s shared days, Presence and leaderboard entry, table name, and blog posts, replies and messages) and keep only your sign-in, passkeys, any 5000 club or tester place and purchase link. To delete your account, press Delete account below while signed in on this browser, tick the box to confirm and press OK: we permanently delete your save file, totals, history, duels, Shared Table matches and table rank, circles, Dice of Death’s shared days, leaderboard entry, blog posts, replies and messages, passkeys, sign-in, any 5000 club or tester place, guest invitation and purchase link (your Google Play or Paddle purchase itself is between you and them), sign you out everywhere and clear what Sanshui stored in this browser; to play signed in again you start a new account. You can also ask through the game’s Feedback form while signed in, with your table name. For an email address, use the Feedback form or reply to any email we sent it. Deleting a 5000 club place gives up its free full game. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

Sanshui is not directed at children under 13 (under 16 in the EU and UK), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. Children can play the demo without signing in, which sends us nothing. If you believe a child has given us an email address or signed in, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes & Contact

If what Sanshui collects or how it uses it changes, this page is updated and the effective date above changes with it.

Contact. Questions about this policy or your data: message Sanshui’s creator from the Feedback panel on the puzzlers’ blog. You can also email Sportella@ThePokerPuzzle.com or call +1 757 SANSHUI (+1 757-726-7484).