Terms of Service

1. Eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service.
• You must have the legal capacity to enter into binding agreements in your jurisdiction.
• You must not be on a sanctions list maintained by the EU, UK, US, UN, or any other applicable authority.
• The Service is not directed at residents of jurisdictions where its use would be illegal. If your jurisdiction prohibits this type of game, do not use the Service.

2. Your Account

• You're responsible for the activity on your account. Keep your credentials secure.
• One account per person. Multi-accounting is prohibited (see §7).
• The display alias and handle you choose must not impersonate, harass, or violate the rights of others.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms — see §9.

3. The Service is a fantasy game, not gambling

• The Service is provided free of charge.
• All in-game currency ("DW Dollars") is virtual — has no real-world cash value, cannot be deposited, withdrawn, transferred between users, or exchanged for anything of value.
• Game mechanics that resemble gambling (bribes, odds, bets) are part of the satirical premise of the Service. No real-money wagering occurs.
• If you become aware of any path that would allow real-money value transfer, please report it as a bug: bugs@dirtywhistle.com.

4. Acceptable use

You may use the Service for personal, non-commercial enjoyment. You agree NOT to:

• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code (except as permitted by applicable law for interoperability)
• Scrape, harvest, or otherwise extract data from the Service in bulk without our consent
• Use automated systems (bots, scripts) to play the Service or interact with the API outside published rate limits
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service without our authorization (we run a Security Disclosure Policy — see §11)
• Use the Service to harass, threaten, or defame others
• Upload or transmit malware, spam, or unlawful content via account features (alias, support messages, etc.)

5. Prohibited use

• Creating multiple accounts to manipulate leaderboards or game outcomes
• Sharing your account credentials with another person
• Coordinated play to artificially fix outcomes (collusion)
• Participating if you are an active federation-bound official, player, or coach whose participation could create the appearance of a conflict of interest (see FAQ)
• Using the Service if access from your jurisdiction is illegal

6. Intellectual property

• The Service, including its visual design, illustrations, characters (e.g. Phil Mypockets), text, and code, is owned by the Dirty Whistle team and is protected by copyright and trademark law.
• Real-world entities (FIFA, UEFA, team names, player names where displayed) are the property of their respective owners. We use them under fair-use principles for nominative reference only; nothing in the Service should be read as endorsement by these entities.
• You retain ownership of any content you submit (e.g. your alias, feedback) but grant us a worldwide, royalty-free license to use it as needed to operate the Service.

7. User-generated content

You're responsible for content you submit (display alias, feedback, bug reports). We may remove content that violates these Terms or applicable law. We don't actively pre-moderate all content but do react to reports — flag issues to support@dirtywhistle.com.

8. Service availability

• We aim for high uptime but do not guarantee uninterrupted availability.
• Scheduled maintenance is announced in advance when possible.
• If a match cannot be settled due to a technical issue, we'll communicate timeline and outcome publicly and make players whole where possible.
• We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue features at any time. We won't delete in-progress tournaments unless legally required, and we'll communicate timelines.

9. Suspension & termination

We may suspend or terminate your account for:

• Violation of these Terms
• Suspected fraud, abuse, or activity that threatens the integrity of the Service
• Legal obligation (court order, etc.)
• Extended inactivity (over 24 months without sign-in)

You can close your account anytime — see Privacy §6.3. On termination, your access ends and your data is handled per the Privacy Policy.

10. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that all data will be preserved.

Nothing in this section limits any non-excludable warranties or consumer rights you have under your local law (e.g. consumer protection statutes in the EU, UK, or your state).

11. Security disclosure

Found a vulnerability? Please report it responsibly: security@dirtywhistle.com. We commit to:

• Acknowledge your report within 3 business days
• Not pursue legal action against good-faith security researchers
• Publicly credit you (with permission) once a fix is deployed

We do not yet operate a paid bug bounty but plan to launch one. Until then, our gratitude and a public credit is what we can offer.

12. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER THE DIRTY WHISTLE TEAM NOR ANYONE INVOLVED IN RUNNING THE SERVICE WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

The Service is free of charge. To the extent any direct liability is found, our total liability to you is capped at €0. This limitation does not apply to liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law (e.g. gross negligence, willful misconduct, or consumer protection rights).

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Dirty Whistle team from claims, liabilities, and expenses arising from your violation of these Terms or misuse of the Service, except to the extent caused by our gross negligence or willful misconduct.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes are announced via email or in-app notice at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

15. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the EU member state in which the project team is established, excluding conflict-of-laws rules. We'll always try to resolve disputes informally first — write to legal@dirtywhistle.com. Nothing in these Terms limits the rights applicable consumer law grants you in your country of residence, including the right to bring proceedings there.

For EU residents: you may also access the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

16. Contact

Legal notices: legal@dirtywhistle.com
General inquiries: hello@dirtywhistle.com
See Contact for our postal address.