Privacy policy
Last updated: 2 October 2026
Who we are
Bokdle is run by Gary Kahn (sole proprietor), trading as GOAT Sports ("we"), the responsible party under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Our Information Officer is Gary Kahn (sole proprietor), trading as GOAT Sports, contactable at [email protected].
The short version
- You don't need an account, and we don't ask for your name or email to play.
- Your game progress stays on your own device, unless you choose to sign in so your history follows you and you can play in groups with friends.
- Ads are provided by Google, which uses cookies and similar technology. That is the main personal information processed when you visit.
What we collect and why
- Game progress, statistics and streaks are kept in your browser's local storage so you can pick up where you left off. They aren't sent to us. Clearing your browser data deletes them.
- Your guesses are sent to our server to work out the clues. If you aren't signed in, we don't link them to you or keep them after answering.
- If you create an account (optional), we keep only:
- your email address, to sign you in (it's never shown to anyone);
- the nickname you choose;
- your games in each of our games: which players you guessed, hints used, the result and when you played;
- the groups you're in, and your choices (below);
- your sign-in sessions (a random code and its expiry date) and the date you last used the site.
- How everyone did: when you finish a daily puzzle we add one to an anonymous count of results for that day (how many guesses and hints, nothing else), to show the spread of scores and the average. No IP address, cookie or identifier is stored with it.
- Server logs: like any website, our server and hosting provider briefly record technical details of each request (IP address, browser type, time and page) to keep the site running and secure. Logs are deleted automatically after a short period.
- Visit statistics: we use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count page views and see which pages and countries visits come from. It uses no cookies, doesn't track you across sites and doesn't build a profile of you. We only see totals.
- Advertising: Google AdSense shows ads on the site. Google and its partners may use cookies, device identifiers and your IP address to show ads, limit how often you see them, measure them and detect fraud. Where allowed, ads may be personalised based on your visits to this and other websites.
We process this information because it's needed to provide the game, and because we have a legitimate interest in funding the free game through advertising. Where the law requires your consent (for example personalised ads for visitors in the EU, UK and Switzerland), we ask for it first.
Your choices about ads
- Turn off personalised ads at Google Ads Settings or aboutads.info.
- Visitors in the EU, UK and Switzerland see a consent message and can change their choice at any time.
- You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The game still works without them.
- Read how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Who we share information with
- Google (advertising), which processes data in the United States and other countries.
- Cloudflare, which delivers the site, protects it from attacks and provides our visit statistics. It processes visitors' IP addresses, including outside South Africa.
- Our hosting provider, which runs the server the site lives on, and Turso, which stores the anonymous daily result counts.
- Google (if you choose "Continue with Google"), which confirms your email address to sign you in. Google also sends your name and picture; we discard them.
- Resend (United States), which delivers sign-in emails, and so processes your email address.
- Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks the sign-in form is used by a person, not a bot, without cookies for tracking.
- Authorities, if the law requires it.
We don't sell your personal information. Some of these providers process information outside South Africa. Where they do, we rely on them being bound by data protection laws or agreements that give protection comparable to POPIA (section 72).
Photos and player data
Player facts come from public sources (Wikidata and Wikipedia). Photos load from Wikimedia Commons, which receives your IP address when your browser fetches them, under the Wikimedia privacy policy.
Security and retention
The site is served over HTTPS, and the server is kept patched and firewalled. We keep the little information we hold only as long as needed for the purposes above.
Children
Bokdle is a general-audience game and is not aimed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. Accounts are for people aged 18 or over, or younger players with the consent of a parent or guardian. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.
Your rights
Under POPIA you may ask whether we hold personal information about you, ask for a copy, and ask us to correct or delete it. If you have an account, you can download a copy of your data, change your nickname and delete your account yourself on your account page. You may also object to processing, including for direct marketing. Email [email protected]. Our PAIA manual explains how to request records formally.
If you're unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za, [email protected]. Visitors in the EU or UK may also contact their local data protection authority.
Changes
We'll update this page when the site changes, for example when we add an ad-free subscription. The date at the top shows the latest version.