Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Hot & Cold mobile and web app (the “Service”), provided by Lambda 7 Tech LLC (“we”, “us”). By installing, accessing, or using the Service you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

1. The Service

Hot & Cold is a semantic word-guessing game. You guess words; the app tells you how close they are in meaning to a hidden secret word. Endless mode defaults to online play on all platforms. On iOS and Android, you can optionally enable Offline mode in settings after the local word pool is downloaded. Daily and multiplayer (“challenge”) modes require an internet connection.

2. Account access

Core gameplay (Daily, Endless, and Challenge modes) does not require an account. A locally-generated identifier and an optional device-only display name (defaults to Player XXXX) are used for multiplayer presence.

You may optionally sign in with Apple or Google to appear on the public daily leaderboard, sync your stats across devices, and report other players' display names. Sign-in is optional; you can sign out at any time from Settings → Account. See our Privacy Policy for the data we receive from the identity provider and what we store on our backend.

3. License

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for non-commercial purposes, subject to these Terms. You may not:

• Copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Service.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code, except to the extent applicable law prohibits this restriction.
• Use the Service to harass, defame, impersonate, or harm others.
• Attempt to disrupt, overload, or compromise the Service or our backend infrastructure.
• Use bots, scripts, or automation to play or to inflate scores.

4. Display names and user content

The display name you set when signed in is visible to other players on the public daily leaderboard and inside any challenge room you join. By choosing a display name, you confirm that you have the right to use it.

Don't pick a display name that is offensive, hateful, sexually explicit, harassing, infringing, impersonating, or that promotes illegal activity. Pre-registered names tied to brands, public figures, or our own staff identities (for example admin, moderator, support) are reserved.

We screen new and changed display names against an automated filter. Names that pass the filter at sign-up may still be reviewed later if other players report them.

5. Reporting and moderation

Signed-in players can report another player's display name from the leaderboard. Submit reports honestly — abusing the report system to target players in good standing is itself a violation of these Terms.

When enough distinct players report the same display name, we automatically hide that name on public surfaces and replace it with a generic Player #XXXX handle. The affected player can recover by picking a new display name in the app. Hidden names are also added to a permanent banlist; the same name and trivial morphs of it (different capitalisation, added punctuation, leetspeak substitutions, repeated letters, embedded digits, etc.) cannot be used by any account on the Service from that point forward.

We may also hide or ban a display name without a report threshold being reached, or remove a hide / ban that we judge to be a false positive. We may suspend or terminate accounts that repeatedly attempt to circumvent the banlist or that engage in conduct prohibited by §3 or §4.

6. Intellectual property

The Service, including its code, design, branding, and the curated word list, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright and other laws. Third-party open-source software is incorporated under applicable licenses. The dictionary source is derived from publicly-available word lists.

7. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available in your region.

8. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM (WHICH FOR A FREE APP IS ZERO).

9. Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by an updated date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after changes means you accept them.

10. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time by uninstalling it. Signed-in players may also sign out from Settings → Account, or request full deletion of their account and associated server-side data — see our Privacy Policy §11 for details.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, including for violation of these Terms or attempts to circumvent the moderation actions described in §5.

11. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, where Lambda 7 Tech LLC is established, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email [email protected]. Lambda 7 Tech LLC operates the Hot & Cold mobile and web app.