What we keep, and what we never show.

This is a plain-English product description of how Texas 42 works today. It is not a lawyer-stamped contract, and it is not a claim that every processor is live.

Effective September 8, 2026. If we change a practice in a way that matters, we will update this page. Questions: contact form.

We collect only what we need to run a table and, when you ask us to, to reach you about opening day.

• Account email: your login address. Only you can see it. Other members never see it, not even masked or partial. Friends, waiting-room, and profiles show a display name and an optional photo.
• Play / session: the hand on this device (rules, seats, solo engine), and at a live private table the session data needed to keep your chair there. Not a public scoreboard of your inbox.
• Waiting list (closed): before signup opened we collected an email address and an optional name from people asking to be told when Texas 42 opened. We no longer offer that list, creating an account replaced it, and we still hold the addresses people gave us then. No phone. Email only, not an SMS product.
• Suggestions: the note you send, optional name, optional reply-to email, optional page context, and an optional screenshot of the current screen if you check that box while playing. No phone field on the suggestions form. Runtime logs keep a short metadata line (id, category, page), not the message body, name, reply-to, screenshot bytes, or browser agent.
• Display name and optional photo / real name: you choose. Photos and real names stay optional for everyone.
• Personal stats and recent hands: only you can see them on this device and on your chair. Guest stats stay local-only on this device and are labeled as such. We do not put stats on public profiles. Shared screens stay display name and optional photo. Anything we share never includes your email. This device tally does not feed the annual board.
• Annual human-only season board: a list we keep on our server of marks from live private tables and tournament tables where all four chairs are human accounts. Solo and any AI chair are excluded. The board shows display names only, never emails. It is gated to chairs with qualifying marks this season.
• Hand replay: finished hands can be stepped through on this device. Sharing is opt-in with a private link that doesn't have your name in it (private by default). Anyone with the link can watch that hand. A shared replay view shows display names only, never an email. Guest replays stay local-only.

We do not sell your information. We do not run ad networks or advertising cookies on these pages. Technical storage (this device’s local settings, a service-worker cache after a visit) is for the table, not for tracking you across the web.

Email is never visible to other members: not on a profile, not in a waiting room, not to friends, not even masked. Other players see a display name and an optional photo only. Your address lives on account settings, for your eyes.

When mail goes out (verify, reset, a report copy, a note about Texas 42), it is email only. No SMS. No Twilio. Site contact: use the contact form.

The default for every account is private. Private chairs are not searchable. While private, you stay in private rooms only, no stranger waiting-room join.

Public is available only after email verification and an explicit public choice. Never the default. Parents can set up kids without public exposure: an unverified chair cannot be found and cannot be set public.

• Public accounts may add friends in-game (request, then accept on-site).
• Private accounts always verify friends via email, no in-game-only friend accept while you are private.
• If someone invites a private account to be friends, it goes straight to email. There is no in-game notification until they accept from the email link.

We do not connect this account to the parent’s account in any way. We do not attach a child to a parent login, and we are not building a “manage my child’s account” panel. Each child gets a normal, separate account: own password, own visibility, own friends.

Parents use email plus-addressing (the `name+kid@gmail.com` trick) on a mailbox they already keep, so mail still lands in the parent’s inbox:

• Gmail: parent+sam@gmail.com
• Outlook: parent+alex@outlook.com
• Proton: parent+sam@proton.me / parent+alex@protonmail.com

Each alias is a distinct account identity. Verification mail arrives in the parent inbox; verify from that inbox when you are ready. Keep the chair private until ready. Full walkthrough: Setting up a child’s account.

Children of any age may play, including under 13. Child chairs use signup path (B): a parent or legal guardian sets up the account. We address parents and guardians only on path B, not minors. A guardian may purchase full paid membership for that child chair. Self-serve paid signup without a guardian remains 18+ only. Under-13 COPPA posture is unchanged.

Responsibility sits with the guardian. On path B they must be authorized to set up and supervise the chair, take full responsibility for their charges (minors), and to the fullest extent permitted by law they do not hold Texas 42 / operators liable for the minor’s use of the service. They agree to the Terms of Use · Parents & guardians and this Privacy Policy on behalf of the setup. Checkboxes on path B record what they told us. Not lawyer-stamped legalese.

When the child is under 13, product posture (COPPA-shaped; counsel may refine): parent email (plus-address OK) so mail lands in the parent inbox; minimal profile data; no kid-directed marketing; default private / not searchable / private rooms only until email verify and an explicit public choice; photo and real name remain optional. There is no parent-link dashboard.

• Chat is friends and in-game table chat only: not an open stranger lobby.
• While in a game: only the shared table chat among everyone at that table. No private/side DMs with a friend or partner mid-hand (keeps the table honest).
• Outside a game: chat stays friends-only.
• Block and report are part of Texas 42. Reports are recorded. Email copies to the reporter are not sending yet.

Creating an account is how you tell us to write to you about Texas 42, and your email is kept on your chair for that. There is no separate list to join. Addresses given to the old waiting list, before signup opened, are still held and used for the same purpose and nothing else. No phone. No SMS.

Suggestions are filed so we can read them. If email sending is switched on, we may notify our mailbox; if it is not, we still store the note when a lasting inbox is available and will not pretend a letter went out. Runtime logs keep a short metadata line (id, category, page), not the message, name, reply-to, or browser agent. We do not publish a log-retention clock on this page.

Security-style mail (verify, reset, email-change) is always on. Optional play-ping / “someone wants a game” mail is opt-in, default off, and still email only. Report copies to the reporter are not sending yet.

Some screens on this site are unfinished screens: they show the intended path on this device. Accounts and membership card checkout are live. Private tables are live: a member opens one and other people sit down with the code. There is no live moderation desk yet. Personal stats stay on this device. The annual human-only multiplayer board is a separate list we keep on our server from live four-human tables — solo and AI chairs do not count.

• Hosting (when deployed): Vercel. texas42.live is the site address.
• Email: Account mail (verify, reset) is email only. Contact: use the contact form.
• Payments: We take payment for membership by card checkout at Membership. When billing is not live, that page says Card payments aren't switched on for this site yet. We never see or store a card number. Paid memberships are non-refundable (see Terms of Use). Membership money and night money are kept completely separate. Tournaments may charge a run, hosting, or entry fee when that product is live. Those fees run the event and are not a prize pot funded by entrants. There is no cash-out or gambling checkout. See Tournament Terms.
• Accounts: email + password is the login. Creating a chair, signing in, verifying your email, and resetting a password are live. There is no third-party identity provider in the middle: we keep the login ourselves and never hand your email to one.
• SMS / Twilio: not used. Not planned as a product channel.
• Live private tables: create or join with a code. The hand lives on the Texas 42 server so a friend on another device can sit a chair.
• This device: solo play, house rules, unfinished friends screens, and host-night slates may live on your device.

Use the contact form. That is how to reach us for privacy questions, account questions, and human contact. We will not ask you for a password by email.

We will keep this policy honest as unfinished screens go live. Accounts, membership checkout, and live private tables already are. The date at the top is when this wording took effect.