Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Thunder Wars is a free-to-use social arcade entertainment platform operated under the domain gamingthunderwars.com. We are headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and we serve Canadian residents who are 19 years of age or older. We are deeply committed to protecting your personal information and to being transparent about our data practices.

This Privacy Policy describes what personal information we collect from visitors and registered users of our platform, the purposes for which we use that information, how we keep it safe, and the rights you have with respect to your data under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA, S.C. 2000, c. 5) and, where applicable, provincial privacy legislation such as Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25).

By visiting gamingthunderwars.com or using any of its features, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please discontinue your use of the platform. This policy does not apply to third-party websites that may be linked from our pages; we encourage you to review the privacy practices of those external sites independently.

Your trust is our highest priority. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes. Our data practices are designed to be minimal, purposeful, and proportionate — we collect only what we genuinely need to provide a safe and enjoyable arcade experience for Canadian adults.

2. Information We Collect

We collect several categories of personal information depending on how you interact with Thunder Wars. The table below summarises the main data categories, the purpose for collection, the legal basis under PIPEDA, and how long we retain each category.

We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information such as health data, financial account numbers, social insurance numbers, or biometric information. If you believe you have inadvertently provided such information, please contact us immediately at privacy@gamingthunderwars.com so we can arrange for its deletion.

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information through several channels. Direct collection occurs when you voluntarily provide information — for example, when you register for an account, complete a contact form, subscribe to a newsletter, or reach out to our support team. The information you provide in these interactions is collected with your knowledge and, where legally required, with your explicit consent.

Automated collection takes place as you browse and interact with our platform. Our web servers automatically record log files that include IP addresses, browser types, referring/exit URLs, timestamps, and pages viewed. We also use cookies and similar tracking technologies (described in detail in Section 9) to recognise returning visitors and personalise the experience.

Third-party sources may occasionally supplement the information we hold about you. For instance, if you access Thunder Wars through a social login integration or if our analytics provider aggregates non-identifiable demographic data, that information may be combined with what we already have on file, always in accordance with your consent preferences and applicable law.

We collect only the minimum amount of personal information necessary for the stated purposes (the principle of data minimisation). You are never required to provide personal information merely to browse public pages of the platform; account registration is required only to access certain interactive features.

4. Use of Information

Thunder Wars uses your personal information for the following purposes, always within the bounds of the consent you have given and the legitimate interests we have identified:

• Providing and improving the platform: delivering the arcade experience you requested, maintaining technical functionality, and continuously improving features based on usage patterns.
• Account management: creating and managing your user account, verifying your age and eligibility as a Canadian adult aged 19 or older, and enabling account security features.
• Communications: responding to your inquiries, sending service-related notices (such as policy updates), and, where you have opted in, sending optional newsletters or promotional messages about new arcade experiences.
• Safety and security: detecting, investigating, and preventing fraudulent activity, abuse, or violations of our Terms of Service; protecting the rights and safety of our users and our platform.
• Legal compliance: fulfilling our obligations under Canadian law, including PIPEDA, applicable provincial statutes, and any lawful requests from regulatory or law enforcement authorities.
• Analytics and research: understanding how users interact with the platform so we can make data-driven improvements to content and technical infrastructure. Where possible we use aggregated and anonymised data for this purpose.

We will not use your personal information for any purpose other than those described here without first obtaining your consent, unless we are required or permitted to do so by law.

5. Disclosure of Information

Thunder Wars does not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

Service providers: We engage trusted third-party vendors to help us operate the platform — for example, cloud hosting providers, email delivery services, and analytics platforms. These service providers are contractually bound to process your data only on our instructions, to implement appropriate security measures, and to handle data solely for the purposes we specify. We conduct due diligence on all service providers to ensure they meet Canadian and, where applicable, international privacy standards.

Legal requirements: We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority; or where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our legal rights, prevent fraud, or respond to an emergency involving the safety of any person.

Business transfers: In the event that Thunder Wars undergoes a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via prominent notice on our website or via email before your information becomes subject to a materially different privacy policy.

With your consent: We may share information with third parties when you have explicitly consented to such sharing for a specific purpose.

Any third parties with whom we share personal information are required to adhere to privacy standards equivalent to those described in this policy and to applicable Canadian privacy legislation.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. The specific retention periods for each data category are set out in the table in Section 2 above.

When you close your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal information within 90 days, except where we are required by law to retain certain records for a longer period (for example, to comply with tax or anti-fraud regulations) or where we have a legitimate interest in retaining limited data to prevent re-registration by a user who was suspended for conduct violations.

Server log files containing IP addresses are automatically purged after 90 days as a matter of routine. Analytics data is aggregated and anonymised on a rolling 12-month basis. Contact form submissions and support correspondence are retained for up to three years to maintain a complete record of our interactions with users.

Once the applicable retention period has expired, we securely destroy personal information using industry-standard methods — physical records are shredded, and digital data is overwritten or cryptographically erased.

7. Data Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement a comprehensive set of technical and organisational safeguards designed to protect it from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Our security measures include, but are not limited to:

• TLS/SSL encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
• Encryption at rest for databases containing personal information.
• Role-based access controls ensuring that only authorised personnel can access personal data on a need-to-know basis.
• Regular security audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing conducted by qualified professionals.
• Multi-factor authentication required for all administrative access to production systems.
• An incident response plan that includes notification procedures compliant with PIPEDA's mandatory breach reporting requirements.

Despite our best efforts, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. In the unlikely event of a data breach that poses a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law, promptly and with full transparency about the nature of the breach and steps being taken to mitigate its effects.

8. Your Rights Under PIPEDA

As a Canadian resident, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information held by Thunder Wars:

• Right of access: You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you and to receive an explanation of how it is used and with whom it has been shared. We will respond to access requests within 30 days of receipt.
• Right to correction: If the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, you have the right to request that we correct it.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where our processing of your personal information is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal. Note that withdrawing consent for certain essential processing may limit your ability to use some features of the platform.
• Right to complain: If you believe we have handled your personal information improperly, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC). Contact the OPC at www.priv.gc.ca or by calling 1-800-282-1376.

To exercise any of the rights above, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@gamingthunderwars.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not charge a fee for access requests unless the request is manifestly excessive, in which case we will notify you of the fee before proceeding.

9. Cookies and Tracking

Thunder Wars uses cookies and similar technologies to provide, protect, and improve our platform. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your device when you visit a website. We use the following categories of cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies: These are required for the platform to function and cannot be switched off. They include session tokens, authentication cookies, and security identifiers.
• Preference cookies: These remember your choices — such as your language preference, age verification status, and cookie consent decision — so you do not need to re-enter them on every visit.
• Analytics cookies: With your consent, we use analytics tools to understand how visitors interact with our pages, which features are most popular, and where technical issues may arise. This data is used solely to improve the platform.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through our cookie consent banner or through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the platform. For full details about the specific cookies we use, their purposes, and their durations, please read our Cookie Policy.

10. Children's Privacy

Thunder Wars is strictly an adult entertainment platform intended for individuals who are 19 years of age or older and who reside in Canada. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 19. Our age verification modal is displayed to all new visitors to help enforce this requirement.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided personal information to us without your consent, please contact us immediately at privacy@gamingthunderwars.com. Upon receiving such a notification, we will take prompt steps to delete the information from our records and terminate any associated account.

We remind all users that by confirming they are 19 years of age or older through our age gate, they are making a legally meaningful representation. Providing false information to circumvent our age verification process is a violation of our Terms of Service and may have legal consequences.

11. Changes and Contact

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will post the updated policy on this page with a revised "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice such as a banner on our homepage or an email notification to registered users.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of Thunder Wars after a policy update constitutes your acknowledgment of the changes.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact our Privacy Officer:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 10 business days. If your concern is urgent, please indicate this clearly in your subject line.