Out of Office
Privacy policy
Last updated 3 November 2026
The short version. We keep what the game needs to work: your email if you sign in, the name you choose, your progress, runs and purchases. We never see your card details. Analytics only runs if you say yes. You can download everything we hold, or delete your account, from the account panel in the game at any time.
Who we are
Out of Office (outofofficegame.com) is run by Ben Crumpton, who is the data controller for your information under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
Contact: hello@outofofficegame.com
Postal address: Available on request from hello@outofofficegame.com
What we collect and why
| Information | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address, if you sign in | To sign you in with one-time codes, keep your progress safe, and send receipts and account notices | Contract |
| The name you choose, your auto-reply, league names | Shown on the leaderboards you take part in | Contract |
| Game progress, daily runs and your choices, streaks, badges | To run the game, the leaderboards and the exit interview | Contract |
| Petty Cash balance, top-ups and purchases | To give you what you bought and handle refunds | Contract; legal obligation (financial records) |
| A sign-in cookie and the times your devices were last used | To keep you signed in, and to let you sign out of all devices | Contract |
| Your IP address, briefly, as a one-way scrambled code | To stop abuse, such as too many sign-in attempts. We never store the address itself | Legitimate interests (security) |
| Error reports from the game | To find and fix bugs. They contain no email, IP address or cookies | Legitimate interests |
| Reports you make about other players | To moderate public names and messages | Legitimate interests |
| Google Analytics data, only if you choose "Allow" | To understand how the game is played and improve it | Consent |
| Reminder settings and, if you turn on notifications, your browser's push address | To send the reminders you asked for | Consent |
You can play as a guest without giving us any personal information.
Payments
Petty Cash is paid for on Stripe's secure checkout. When Stripe acts as merchant of record (Stripe Managed Payments) it is the seller of the top-up and handles tax, using your payment and billing details under its own privacy policy. We never receive your card details; Stripe tells us only that a payment succeeded, its reference and your email address.
Who we share it with
We don't sell your information. We use these services to run the game, under contracts that limit what they can do with it:
| Service | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | Hosting the game and its database | London, UK |
| Resend | Sending sign-in codes, receipts, notices and reminders | USA |
| Stripe | Payments (see above) | UK, EU and USA |
| Google (Analytics) | Visit statistics, only with your consent | USA and elsewhere |
| Your browser's push service (Apple, Google or Mozilla) | Delivering notifications, only if you turn them on | Varies |
Where information goes outside the UK, it's protected by the UK's adequacy arrangements (such as the UK–US data bridge) or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. We may also share information if the law requires it.
How long we keep it
- Your account, progress and runs: until you delete your account.
- Sign-in codes and anti-abuse records: deleted within 2 days.
- Signed-in sessions: end after 30 days unused, and after a year at most.
- Petty Cash records: kept for up to 6 years for accounting, without your name or email once you delete your account.
- Backups: kept for 14 days, so deleted information disappears from them within 14 days.
Cookies and storage
| Name | What it does | Needed? |
|---|---|---|
| __Host-ooo_session | Keeps you signed in | Yes |
| Browser storage (ooo-…) | Remembers your progress on this device, sound and settings, and your analytics answer | Yes |
| _ga, _ga_… | Google Analytics: tells visits apart | No: only if you choose "Allow" |
Change your analytics answer any time with "Cookie settings" on the game's start screen.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct, move or delete your information, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent. Most of this you can do yourself in the game's account panel: change your name and email, download everything we hold, or delete your account. For anything else, email hello@outofofficegame.com; we'll reply within a month.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Children
You need to be 13 or older to create an account. Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian's permission to buy Petty Cash.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change matters, we'll tell signed-in players in the game or by email.