Welcome, Word Nerd 👋

Hello, and congratulations on finding the Terms & Conditions page. You're either a very responsible person, a lawyer, or you've accidentally clicked something. Either way, we're delighted you're here.

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms", "the small print", "this page you're definitely skimming") govern your use of INGRAIN, the word puzzle game available at ingrainwordgame.com ("the Site", "the Game", "our little corner of the internet"). INGRAIN is operated by us ("we", "us", "our", "the people who lose sleep over which words should be in the dictionary").

Legal entity: CORDAGE & CO LTD (company number 17142359).

By using INGRAIN, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, that's completely fine — but we'll miss you, and so will the puzzles.

1. Who Can Use INGRAIN

INGRAIN is open to anyone who:

• Is aged 13 or over (if you're under 13, please go outside and experience the world — you can come back when you're older)
• Has access to the internet (which, given you're reading this, seems likely)
• Is a human being (we're not ready for AI players yet; they win too quickly and it's demoralising)

By using this Site, you confirm you meet these requirements. We'll take your word for it — which feels appropriate, given the nature of this game.

2. Use of the Site

You may use INGRAIN for personal, non-commercial enjoyment. You may not:

• Attempt to reverse-engineer, copy, or reproduce the game or its puzzles without our permission
• Attempt to access, interfere with, or disrupt the Site's servers or infrastructure
• Use the Site for any unlawful purpose under the laws of England and Wales or your local jurisdiction

We reserve the right to restrict or terminate access to anyone who misuses the Site, at our sole discretion. We promise we won't abuse this power — we just want people to play fairly and have fun.

3. Referral programme

INGRAIN may offer a referral programme that lets registered players invite others using a personal link (for example ?ref= followed by your username). If someone creates a new account after following your link, we may attribute that sign-up to you and, while Pro subscriptions are offered, grant you a limited period of complimentary Pro access as described on the Site.

Referral rewards are subject to a maximum number of credited sign-ups per referrer (currently 25), and we may change the programme, the reward, or the cap at any time. We may decline or reverse rewards where we suspect abuse, duplicate accounts, or behaviour that breaches these Terms (including the fair play rules in section 4).

Referral links identify your public username only. Do not misrepresent your relationship with INGRAIN or spam third parties; use your link in line with ordinary courtesy and applicable law.

Attribution and rewards depend on how our systems record visits and sign-ups — browsers, cookies, blockers, private browsing, multiple devices, timing, and human error on either side can all affect whether a referral credits correctly. We do not guarantee that every invite will be tracked or rewarded. If a link does not work, a reward does not appear, or something does not credit as you expected, that is not something we accept liability for — we will try to run the programme fairly, but we cannot troubleshoot every edge case, and we are not obliged to adjust or backdate rewards except where we choose to in our discretion.

4. Fair Play — No Bots or Cheating

INGRAIN is meant to be solved by you, as a human, using your own judgment. You agree not to cheat and not to use automation or unfair assistance. Without limitation, you must not:

• Use bots, scripts, crawlers, macros, or any automated or semi-automated tool to interact with the Site, submit answers, scrape data, or gain an advantage
• Use software, solvers, or services that solve or effectively solve the puzzle for you (looking words up in a dictionary for your own curiosity is one thing; piping the game into a solver is another)
• Exploit bugs, glitches, race conditions, or anything unintended to obtain scores, streaks, or results you could not get through normal play
• Coordinate with others to manipulate leaderboards, share accounts to inflate scores, or otherwise game competitive features dishonestly
• Misrepresent how you played — including claiming you solved unaided when you used any of the above

We may investigate suspected abuse, and we may adjust or remove scores, restrict features, or terminate accounts if we believe you have breached this section. Fair play matters; please don't spoil it for everyone else.

5. Intellectual Property

All content on INGRAIN — including but not limited to the game mechanics, puzzle design, branding, graphics, copy, and the general vibe — is our intellectual property and is protected under applicable UK copyright and intellectual property law.

You are welcome to share your results on social media, tell your friends, challenge your colleagues, or post your score with passive-aggressive implications that they could never beat it. What you may not do is reproduce, redistribute, or commercially exploit any part of the Site without prior written permission.

"INGRAIN" and its associated branding are our own. Please don't create a suspiciously similar word game and call it "ENGRAYN." We'll notice.

6. Privacy & Cookies

We take your privacy seriously. Our full Privacy Policy is available separately on the Site and forms part of these Terms. Please read it — it's shorter than this, and it tells you exactly what data we collect (not much), why we collect it (good reasons), and what we do with it (nothing sketchy).

In brief: we may use cookies and similar technologies to make the Site work properly and understand how it's being used. By continuing to use the Site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable UK law, including the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

INGRAIN is provided "as is" and "as available". We do our very best to keep the game running smoothly, but we cannot guarantee:

• That the Site will be available 100% of the time (the internet, like life, is occasionally unreliable)
• That the Site will be free from bugs or errors (we're working on it)
• That every word in the puzzle set will be to your personal taste (we're sorry in advance for the day you get a word you've never heard of)
• That playing INGRAIN will improve your performance at Scrabble, pub quizzes, or arguments with family members — though we have high hopes

To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, express or implied, in relation to the Site and its content.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, INGRAIN shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss or damage arising from your use of the Site — including but not limited to lost productivity, strained relationships caused by competitive gameplay, or existential crises triggered by not knowing a five-letter word.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other matter that cannot be excluded by law. (We have to say this. It would be very bad if we didn't.)

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from your use of the Site shall not exceed the amount you paid to use it. Since INGRAIN is free, you can do the maths.

9. Third-Party Links

INGRAIN may from time to time contain links to third-party websites. These are provided for your convenience and do not imply our endorsement of those sites or their content. We have no control over third-party sites and accept no responsibility for them. Click away, but do so knowingly.

10. Changes to the Site and These Terms

We may update the Site, the game, or these Terms at any time. If we make material changes to these Terms, we'll let you know — probably with a small notice on the Site, or possibly via carrier pigeon if our development budget takes a hit.

Continuing to use the Site after changes are posted means you accept the updated Terms. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect when changes were last made.

11. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms or are otherwise causing harm to the Site, other users, or the general concept of fair play.

You may also stop using the Site at any time, for any reason, no questions asked. We'll be sad, but we'll understand.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Site shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

If you're based in Scotland or Northern Ireland, nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights under the relevant devolved legal frameworks — we just really like the phrase "courts of England and Wales" and wanted to use it.

13. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable — or removed entirely if it can't be saved. The rest of these Terms shall continue in full force and effect, unbothered.

14. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and INGRAIN regarding your use of the Site. They supersede any previous agreements, understandings, or conversations you may have imagined having with us.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, a complaint, a suggestion, a fun word you think we should include, or simply want to tell us how your streak is going, you can reach us at:

Email: support@ingrainwordgame.com Website: ingrainwordgame.com Company: CORDAGE & CO LTD (17142359)

We're a small operation, but we read everything. We may not reply immediately, but we will reply — usually after we've done today's puzzle.