Privacy Policy

Pokédle is a free daily Pokémon guessing game run as an independent fan project. This page explains, in plain language, exactly what happens to your data when you play. The short version: there are no accounts, we never ask for your name or email to play, and everything about your games is kept in your own browser. The longer version follows.

Who runs this site

Pokédle is operated by a small independent team of Pokémon fans and is not affiliated with Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc., or The Pokémon Company. If you want to reach the people behind the site, use the contact page or email partygooseyt@gmail.com.

What we do not collect

We do not have user accounts, so we never collect a name, email address, password, date of birth, or payment details in order to let you play. We do not build advertising profiles ourselves, we do not sell or rent data to anyone, and we do not run email newsletters or send marketing messages. If you email us voluntarily, we only use that message to reply to you.

Local storage on your device

Your daily game progress, guess history, streaks, saved Draw That Pokémon cards, theme preference, and cookie choice are stored in your browser's localStorage. That data stays on the device you played on. It is never uploaded to a server, so it does not sync between your phone and your laptop, and it is not visible to us.

Because it is stored locally, you are always in control of it. Clearing your browser's site data for pokedoodle.com erases every streak, saved card, and in-progress puzzle immediately and permanently. Using a private or incognito window means nothing is kept once the window closes.

Drawings you make

In Draw That Pokémon, the sketch you draw is scored and turned into a card. The drawing is sent to a scoring service only for as long as it takes to return a score, and the finished card is then saved to your browser's local storage. Drawings are not published, shared with other players, or added to a public gallery.

Analytics

We use privacy-friendly aggregate analytics to see how many people visit, which games are popular, and roughly which country and device type visitors come from. These reports are counts and totals. They do not identify you as an individual and we cannot use them to look up a specific person's activity.

Cookies and consent

Pokédle itself does not need cookies to work; the game runs on local storage. Cookies only enter the picture through advertising. When you first arrive you are shown a consent banner, and the advertising script is not loaded at all until you accept. If you decline or ignore the banner, no ad cookies are set.

You can change your mind at any time by clearing site data for pokedoodle.com, which resets the banner so you can make a fresh choice.

Advertising

We display ads served by Google AdSense to keep the game free. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site or other sites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info. Opting out does not remove ads, it only makes them less tailored to you.

Third-party services

Pokémon sprites, cries, and Pokédex text are fetched from public community data sources such as PokéAPI and a public content delivery network. Loading an image or a sound from those services means your browser makes a request to them, which involves your IP address in the same way that loading any image on the web does. Those services have their own privacy practices, which we do not control.

Your rights

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or a US state with a comprehensive privacy law such as California, you have rights over personal data held about you, including the right to access it, correct it, delete it, and object to certain processing. Since we hold no account data, the practical way to exercise deletion is to clear your browser's site data, which removes everything we have any connection to. For anything relating to advertising cookies set by Google, use the opt-out links above or contact us and we will point you in the right direction.

Children

Pokédle is a general-audience game and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If our data practices change, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Meaningful changes, such as introducing a new category of data collection, will be reflected here before they take effect.

Contact

Questions about privacy, advertising, or data on Pokédle can go to partygooseyt@gmail.com or through the contact page. See also our terms of service.