PRIVACY
★ how we look after your information ★
The short version
- We collect only what the arcade needs to work: your player, your scores and a grown-up's email.
- No ads. No tracking. No analytics. We never sell or share your information.
- The grown-up's email is only for account help, like confirming the account or resetting a lost password.
- You can delete your account yourself, any time, in ⚙ Settings.
Who we are
Joel's Arcade is a small games website and app made by Joel and his dad, Matthew Sweet, in Australia. When this page says “we”, it means us.
This page covers the website at arcade.freedomgeneration.com and the Joel's Arcade apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
What we collect
| What | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Your username | We make it for you (like SneakyPanda42) so you can log in. It isn't your real name. |
| Your player name and robot | You pick these from our lists. They show on leaderboards and your home screen. You can't type your own player name, so nobody can put their real name or anything rude on a leaderboard. |
| Your password | To keep your account yours. We store it scrambled (hashed), so nobody – not even us – can read it. |
| A grown-up's email | Only for account emails: a link to confirm the account, and a link to reset a forgotten password. We don't send newsletters or ads. |
| Scores and game play | Your scores, when you played, and your settings (like skill level and save slots), so we can show leaderboards and your average. |
| Game ideas you send | If you send us an idea for a new game, we keep it so Joel and Matthew can read it. |
We don't ask for your real name, age, address, phone number, photos, contacts or location.
Accounts made for family and friends by Matthew don't have a grown-up's email at all.
Things we use for a short time
Your internet address (IP address)
When you log in, sign up or ask for a password reset, we use your internet address for a short time to stop people guessing passwords or making lots of fake accounts. We don't use it to find out who or where you are.
Visit logs
Like most websites, Cloudflare keeps a short log of each visit, including your internet address and rough location. It keeps the log for up to 7 days so we can fix problems. We don't use it for anything else.
One sign-in cookie
When you log in, we save one small cookie on your device so you stay logged in. It lasts up to 30 days, or until you log out. It isn't used for tracking or ads.
The app on a Mac or Apple TV
On a Mac or Apple TV, the Joel's Arcade app saves your username and password in the device's secure Keychain, so you stay signed in. They stay on that device, and signing out removes them.
Settings on your device
Your device also remembers a few small things, like your skill level and whether you've closed a welcome message. These stay on your device.
What we never do
- No advertising, and no ad networks.
- No analytics or tracking tools, and no tracking you across other websites or apps.
- No selling, renting or trading your information.
- No chat or messages between players.
Who can see what
- Other players can see your player name, robot and scores on leaderboards. They can't see your password or the grown-up's email.
- Matthew (the admin) can see your username, player name, robot, scores, when you joined and whether the grown-up's email has been confirmed. The admin screens don't show the email address or your password.
- Joel's private games are only open to players Joel or Matthew add. If Joel adds you, he can see your player name and username in his list of players he's let in.
- Blockworld (one of the private games) can let you sign in with your arcade account. When you do, it gets your account number, username, player name and whether you're a player or the admin – nothing else. It never gets your password or the grown-up's email.
Where your information is kept
The arcade runs on Cloudflare, a large internet company. Cloudflare stores our database and sends our account emails for us. They handle it for us under their own privacy and security rules. Cloudflare may store and process information on servers outside Australia.
Your information travels over a secure (encrypted) connection.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account yourself, any time:
- Log in, tap ⚙ Settings, then Delete my account.
- Type your password and the word DELETE to be sure.
We delete your account, scores, settings, ideas and the grown-up's email straight away. You can't undo it.
For up to 2 days we keep a scrambled code made from the grown-up's email (not the email itself). It stops the sign-up form being used to send lots of emails to one person.
We keep nightly backups in case something breaks. Old backups are deleted after 30 days, so your information is fully gone from them within 30 days.
If Matthew made your account, you can also ask him to delete it.
For kids and grown-ups
Joel's Arcade is made for kids and families. That's why we:
- make the username for you and only let you pick a player name from our lists;
- ask for a grown-up's email when you make an account, and email that grown-up so they know;
- have no ads, no chat and no tracking.
Grown-ups: if a child has made an account with your email and you don't want them to have it, you can delete it from Settings with the child's password, or contact us and we'll delete it for you.
Questions or requests
To ask a question, see the information we hold, fix something, or ask us to delete an account, email us at:
[contact email coming soon]
We'll reply as soon as we can. If you're not happy with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Changes to this page
If we change how we use information, we'll update this page and change the date below.
Last updated: 27 September 2026