YAOKU

Terms of Service

Effective date: upon first publication on playyaoku.com.

YAOKU at playyaoku.com is operated by Elijah Maxwell. These Terms govern your use of the website, puzzles, and sharing features (the “Service”). “YAOKU,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Elijah Maxwell as the operator of YAOKU. By using the Service, you agree to these Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. Questions may be sent to terms@playyaoku.com.

1. Eligibility

YAOKU is for people age 13 and older. We do not knowingly allow children under 13 to use our services. Children under 13 must not use the Service, even with parental permission. If you are at least 13 but have not reached the age of legal majority where you live, you must have a parent’s or guardian’s permission, and they should review these Terms with you.

The website does not currently verify ages or provide a parental-consent process. This minimum-age rule is not a promise of technical age enforcement.

2. The game and your saved records

YAOKU provides a fixed Collection of 1,000 numbered puzzles and Free Play puzzles generated in your browser. The current Service does not require a player account or offer payments.

Puzzle state, entries, notes, elapsed time, hints, completion records, best times, recent undo history, and preferences are saved locally in your browser. They are not automatically synchronized between devices or backed up to a YAOKU account. Changing devices, using private browsing, browser storage limits, or clearing site data may make those records unavailable. We do not guarantee their preservation or recovery.

Difficulty labels are provisional estimates, not guarantees of difficulty or suitability. Availability of a puzzle, shared link, feature, or storage capacity is not guaranteed.

3. Sharing puzzles

Collection links identify existing numbered puzzles. For a new Free Play puzzle, opening the Share dialog starts uploading the puzzle definition to create a six-digit link, even if you do not send it. Definitions include the solution, fixed numbers, clues, cards, generation seed, and difficulty; they do not include your entered numbers or notes.

Shared definitions are stored using Cloudflare Durable Objects. A person who has or guesses a valid code can retrieve the definition, including its solution. Shared links are public puzzle identifiers, not private credentials. The registry currently has no automatic expiration or player-facing deletion control. Do not treat sharing as a confidential messaging feature. See the Privacy Policy for details and how to ask about removal.

4. Permission to use the Service

We give you a limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable permission to use the Service for personal, noncommercial purposes in accordance with these Terms and applicable law. You may use the built-in sharing features and share links to YAOKU. This permission does not transfer ownership of Service content or grant rights in material belonging to others.

Except as permitted by law or with the relevant rights holder’s permission, do not copy, sell, redistribute, or commercially exploit the Service’s content. For licensing or business-use questions, contact business@playyaoku.com.

5. Acceptable use

Do not use the Service unlawfully, infringe another person’s rights, introduce malicious code, attempt unauthorized access, or disrupt, overload, or interfere with its operation or security. Do not use automated requests in a way that harms availability or attempts to bypass reasonable security restrictions. Ordinary assistive technology and accessibility use are not prohibited by this rule.

We may take reasonable, proportionate steps to address misuse or protect the Service, including restricting access where reasonably necessary.

6. Ideas and feedback

If you submit puzzle ideas, feedback, or suggestions, you retain any ownership rights you have in them. You give us a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to evaluate and use the submission to develop and improve YAOKU. Do not submit confidential information or material you do not have permission to share. This permission does not transfer ownership of your other content or override the Privacy Policy.

7. Privacy and other services

Our Privacy Policy describes browser storage, puzzle sharing, hosting, fonts, and correspondence. The site uses Cloudflare infrastructure and loads fonts from Google Fonts. Their services and any third-party sites you choose to visit may be subject to separate terms and privacy policies.

8. Availability and warranties

We may change, suspend, or discontinue features or the Service for operational, security, or other reasonable reasons. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or suitable for a particular purpose. We disclaim implied warranties and conditions only to the extent that the law allows.

Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty, consumer guarantee, or other right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

9. Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive losses, or loss of data, arising from use of or inability to use the Service. This limitation does not apply where the law prohibits it and does not exclude mandatory consumer rights or remedies. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

10. Changes and ending use

We may update these Terms prospectively by posting the revised wording with an effective date before the changes take effect. Where the law requires additional notice or agreement, we will not rely on posting alone. Continuing to use the Service after revised Terms take effect constitutes acceptance only to the extent permitted by applicable law.

You can stop using YAOKU at any time; there is no player account to close. If you do not accept revised Terms, stop using the Service. Provisions that by their nature should continue, including permissions concerning submitted ideas and legally valid limitations, continue as applicable.

Mandatory rights and protections under applicable law remain unaffected. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent permitted by law. These Terms do not select a particular governing jurisdiction or require arbitration.

11. Contact

Operator: Elijah Maxwell, operating YAOKU.