Studio Terms

Court and arbitration update

This version explains the Studio's option to choose arbitration instead of court. That option applies only after you expressly accept this version with that option brought to your attention. For existing users it cannot take effect before November 30, 2026, and it never applies to a dispute that arose before acceptance. Browsing a page, following a policy link, installing an update or continuing to play is not that express acceptance. Until then, your previously agreed dispute terms continue to apply. In particular, Bloop! players who have not accepted this change keep its previous no-mandatory-arbitration terms.

Who we are

Plinkwick Studios is the trading name of an independent game developer based in California. "We" and "us" on this page mean Plinkwick Studios. You can reach us at [email protected].

What these terms cover

These are the studio-wide terms. They cover this website, plinkwickstudios.com, including its pages, downloads and forms, and every game, app and online service we publish under the Plinkwick Studios name, including future releases. They apply subject to applicable law and the acceptance and transition requirements on this page. Use alone does not establish acceptance of the arbitration option.

These terms are the shared base for our free and paid games, mobile and PC releases, demos, websites and related online services. A game may add a supplement for its actual features, store, purchases or community rules. You can use these Studio Terms for a game without a separate full set of terms. A feature-specific provision applies only when that feature is offered; this page does not promise that every game has accounts, ads, multiplayer, subscriptions or virtual items.

A game supplement prevails only for the game-specific subject it expressly addresses. Its dispute provisions prevail only when it expressly replaces the Studio dispute section and you have accepted that replacement where required. The transition above preserves earlier agreed terms. Signed tester agreements, development contracts, statements of work and financial addenda are separate and prevail on their subject. These public terms do not transfer ownership of a collaborator's work or replace a signed commercial agreement. A store's terms also govern your relationship with that store; mandatory law always takes priority.

A new game can link to these terms from its store listing and in-game legal menu. Any provision requiring express acceptance, including the arbitration option, applies only after that acceptance. Our privacy policy and any game-specific notice explain actual information handling; accepting terms is not consent to optional analytics, research or advertising.

Using the website

You can browse, read, share links to, and download the public material on this website. Please do not:

try to reach parts of the website that are not public, or test its security without our written permission;
disrupt the website, overload it, or collect its content with automated tools at a volume that affects other visitors;
submit forms with someone else's details, or with information you know is false;
use the website to break the law or to harm anyone.

Playing our games

These rules apply to every game unless the game's own terms say otherwise.

Who can play. You must be at least 13. If you cannot legally agree to terms where you live, a parent or guardian must agree for you and approve your use and purchases. Some features have higher age limits or are unavailable in some regions. Answer age questions truthfully.
Permission to play. We give you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable permission to play for your own enjoyment. We and the people who license to us keep all rights in the games, including code, art, music, characters and content. Do not copy, resell, redistribute or exploit protected content, except as the law allows.
Accounts and progress. Keep your device and store access secure. Losing your device or its sign-in can mean losing access to online progress, and we cannot promise to recover every save.
Purchases and virtual items. A game may be free, paid once, or offer optional purchases. The store page and purchase screen identify the price, platform, content and any recurring charge before you buy. Where offered, coins, gems, items, cosmetics and similar content are licensed game content, not money or property with cash value. They work only inside the identified game and cannot be cashed out, resold or traded outside it unless expressly offered. Refunds, cancellation, withdrawal rights and remedies follow the store's rules and applicable law. Nothing here removes mandatory digital-content or consumer rights.
Subscriptions and extra content. Only an offer expressly described as recurring renews automatically. Its billing interval, renewal and cancellation instructions must be shown before purchase. Deleting a game or account does not cancel a store subscription. A one-time game purchase, expansion or season pass does not include future releases or renew automatically unless the offer expressly says so.
Fair play and conduct. Do not cheat, interfere with the game or its servers, abuse reports, or post or promote sexual content, child exploitation, hate, threats, harassment, scams, impersonation, or private information about other people. We may remove content, reset names or scores, or limit online access in proportion to what happened, and you can write to us to dispute a decision.
Updates and availability. We may update, change or stop a game or feature, and we will give notice of material changes where practical and where the law requires it. Services can be delayed or unavailable.
Your rights stay. We aim to provide working games but cannot promise they will always run without interruption. Nothing here removes consumer rights, warranties or remedies you have where you live that cannot be waived.

Our games, characters and art

The games, the Plinks and every other character, along with our names, logos, art, music, writing and code, belong to us or to the people who licensed them to us. Nothing on this website or in a game transfers ownership or gives you a licence beyond what these terms and the game's own terms say.

Press kits. You may use the material in our press kits to write about, review, stream or feature our studio and games. Please do not change the logos, use them in a way that suggests we endorse you, or use the material in ads for something else.

Fan creations. We love seeing fan art of the Plinks. Making and sharing it for free is fine. Ask us first before you sell anything that uses our characters or names.

Ideas and feedback

If you send us ideas or feedback outside of a signed agreement, you are free to share them elsewhere too, and we may use them without owing you anything. We cannot always reply. Testers' feedback is covered by the tester agreement instead.

Sign-up forms and signing

Some pages let you apply or sign an agreement electronically. When you sign, we keep a record of what you signed and the details listed in the matching privacy notice, so that both of us can show what was agreed. Signing an application does not guarantee that we accept it.

Other websites and our community

We link to services we do not run, such as Discord and app stores. Their own terms and privacy policies apply there, and we are not responsible for them. Our Discord has its own rules, posted in the server.

Availability

We work to keep the website running and accurate, but we may change, pause or remove any part of it, and we cannot promise it will always be available or free of mistakes.

Responsibility

The website and our games are provided as they are, except for the promises in a game's own terms. To the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for indirect losses from using them. Nothing on this page limits liability that the law does not allow us to limit, such as for fraud, gross negligence, or death or personal injury caused by negligence, and nothing removes consumer rights you have where you live.

Disputes and governing law

Talk first. Contact us with a description of the dispute and the resolution you seek. We will try to resolve it with you for 30 days after receipt. This does not prevent an urgent application, a small-claims filing, a regulator complaint or action needed to preserve a legal deadline.

Courts by default. California law governs, subject to protections that cannot be waived where you live. Unless the arbitration option below validly applies, disputes are decided by the state or federal courts in Los Angeles County, California, except where mandatory law lets you use a competent court elsewhere, including where you live. The United States Federal Arbitration Act governs an arbitration agreement to the extent it applies.

The Studio's option to arbitrate. Subject to the acceptance and transition requirements at the top of this page, the Studio may choose binding arbitration by written notice before a court begins deciding the dispute on its merits. The notice must identify the dispute and the accepted terms on which the election relies. You cannot require arbitration under this option unless we agree in writing. We cannot use this option to reopen a final decision or remove rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

Procedure and costs. If we validly elect arbitration, one neutral arbitrator will decide the dispute through the American Arbitration Association (AAA), using its Consumer Arbitration Rules for a consumer dispute and the other AAA rules applicable to the relationship otherwise. The arbitrator is selected under those rules, not solely by the Studio. The legal seat is Los Angeles, California, except where mandatory law requires otherwise. Hearings may take place by video or documents, subject to applicable rules and your right to an accessible local hearing. The rules and mandatory law govern filing fees and costs; we pay the business's required share and do not require a consumer to split arbitrator fees equally. Each party pays its own lawyers unless applicable law or a lawful award provides otherwise. The arbitrator may grant remedies available under applicable law, and a competent court may enter judgment on the award.

AAA consumer rules, fees and information

Rights and fallback. Either party may use an eligible small claims court or seek urgent court relief for confidential information or intellectual property. You may complain to consumer or data protection authorities. This section contains no class-action waiver and does not remove non-waivable rights to public injunctive relief or other remedies. A competent court decides whether an arbitration agreement was formed and whether this option is enforceable. If the option is unlawful, unenforceable or declined by AAA, the dispute proceeds in a competent court under the court provision above, unless both parties separately agree to a lawful alternative. The rest of the terms remains in effect.

Changes to these terms

These terms may change as our services and the law change. The date and version above identify this text. We will give notice of material changes through the affected service or an appropriate direct notice before they take effect, and obtain renewed acceptance where required. Posting a new page alone does not establish acceptance of an arbitration change. Changes do not retroactively remove accrued rights or apply new dispute terms to earlier disputes. Signed agreements do not change after signing; changes to those require a separately accepted version or amendment.

Questions

[email protected]