Terms & Conditions

Effective date: [DATE] Last updated: [DATE]

Welcome to Boardgamer.com. These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") are a legal agreement between you and Boardgamer Games, LLC ("Boardgamer," "we," "us," or "our") covering your use of www.boardgamer.com and any content, features, products, or services we offer through it (together, the "Site").

Please read these Terms before using the Site. By visiting the Site, joining our email list, or placing an order, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Site.

1. Who We Are and How to Reach Us

Boardgamer Games, LLC 4142 Adams Avenue, Suite 103-561 San Diego, CA 92116 Email: contactus@boardgamer.com

2. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as our business changes — for example, when we begin selling more games or launch a crowdfunding campaign. When we do, we'll post the revised Terms here and update the "Last updated" date above. If the changes are significant, we'll make a reasonable effort to notify email subscribers directly.

Your continued use of the Site after we post changes means you accept the updated Terms. Orders you already placed are governed by the Terms in effect at the time you placed them.

3. Who May Use the Site

You may browse the Site at any age, subject to our Privacy Policy. However:

You must be at least 16 years old to join our email list or otherwise submit personal information to us.
To place an order, you need to be the age of majority where you live — or have a parent or legal guardian place it for you, which is perfectly fine and how most orders for younger players happen anyway.
You may not use the Site if we've previously banned you or if applicable law prohibits you from doing so.

By using the Site, you represent that you meet these requirements.

4. Our Games Are in Development

Most of the games featured on the Site are still in development. This matters, so we want to be direct about it:

Game titles, artwork, components, rules, player counts, play times, pricing, and release timing are subject to change without notice.
Nothing on the Site is a promise, guarantee, or commitment that any particular game will be completed, produced, published, or made available for sale.
Images, prototypes, and mockups shown on the Site are for illustration. Final products may differ, sometimes substantially.
Any dates, timelines, or plans we mention are forward-looking estimates based on what we know at the time, not commitments.

Please don't make purchasing, financial, or other decisions in reliance on a game being released on any particular schedule or in any particular form.

4.1 Prototype artwork and AI

Our prototypes often use AI-generated artwork. We use it as placeholder art, primarily so we can test how a game plays, reads, and looks at the table before commissioning finished illustration.

It is our intention to replace key artwork with art created by human artists before publishing. Where you see artwork on this Site or in a prototype, treat it as provisional — it may not appear in the finished game, and it is not representative of the final product's art direction. If a published game contains AI-generated art in any meaningful role, we'll say so on that game's page.

5. Email Updates and Marketing

If you give us your email address, you're asking us to send you news about Boardgamer — development updates, game announcements, launch news, and notice of any crowdfunding campaign we run.

Signing up is voluntary. You don't need to join our list to browse the Site or buy anything.
You can leave any time. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also email us at privacy@boardgamer.com and we'll remove you.
Order-related messages are separate. If you buy something, we'll still send you transactional messages (order confirmation, shipping notice, problems with your order) even if you've unsubscribed from marketing, because we need to communicate about your purchase.
Our emails may feature other designers' and publishers' games. We think that's a service to our readers. Those are our own emails; your email address stays with us. See our Privacy Policy for the details.

Our full data practices are described in our Privacy Policy, which is part of these Terms.

6. Limited-Edition Hand-Made Copies

We currently offer a limited number of hand-made copies of certain games — at present, Get Fishy and KIR. Other games shown on the Site are not for sale. These sections apply if you place an order.

6.1 Hand-made means hand-made

Each copy is assembled by hand in small batches. Cards, boards, tokens, boxes, and finishes will vary slightly from copy to copy and from the photos on the Site. Minor variation in cut, color, alignment, and finish is a characteristic of these editions, not a defect. If you want a factory-perfect copy, please wait for a production run.

6.2 Very limited quantities; no restock

Quantities are strictly limited and are not expected to be restocked. When the current batch sells out, we will turn off purchasing — permanently for these editions. Availability shown on the Site is our best effort but is not guaranteed until we accept your order.

6.3 Orders and acceptance

Your order is an offer to buy. We accept it when we send you an order confirmation or ship the item, whichever comes first. Until then, we may decline or cancel any order for any lawful reason, including:

the item sold out or was mispriced
we suspect fraud or reseller activity
we can't verify your billing or shipping information
we can't fulfill to your address

If we cancel an order you already paid for, we'll refund you in full.

You can cancel too. Any order that hasn't shipped yet can be cancelled for a full refund — just email orders@boardgamer.com with your order number. Since hand-assembled orders can sit in the queue for a while, we'd rather cancel it than have you wait for something you no longer want.

6.4 Pricing, taxes, and errors

Prices are in U.S. dollars. The price shown on a product page is the full price of the item — there are no mandatory handling charges, service fees, or other add-ons. The only amounts added at checkout are actual shipping cost and applicable sales tax.

We try hard to keep the Site accurate, but if an item's price or description is wrong, we may cancel the affected order and refund you rather than honor the error.

6.5 Payment

Payment is processed by our third-party payment provider. We don't receive or store your full payment card number. By placing an order you confirm you're authorized to use the payment method you provide.

6.6 Shipping — United States only

We ship to U.S. addresses only at this time. We don't ship to freight forwarders, and we can't ship internationally.

When your order ships. Every product page states how long that item takes to ship, and that stated window is what we're committing to. Hand-assembled editions take longer than factory-produced ones, so read the window on the page before you buy. If a page somehow doesn't state one, federal law fills the gap with 30 days from when we accept your order, and we'll hold ourselves to that.

If we're going to be late. If we can't ship within the stated window, we'll email you before it runs out with a revised date and a plain option to cancel for a full refund. If you don't tell us to go ahead, we cancel and refund you automatically — you don't have to chase us for it, and refunds go out within 7 working days. This is how the FTC's mail-and-internet order rule works, and we'd rather follow it than make you invoke it.

Delivery and loss. Risk of loss passes to you on delivery. If a package arrives damaged, arrives short, or doesn't arrive at all, email orders@boardgamer.com within 14 days of the delivery date (or the expected delivery date) and we'll make it right — we file the carrier claim, not you. Replacement if we still have stock, full refund including shipping if we don't.

6.7 Returns and refunds

Unopened, undamaged items: return within 30 days of delivery for a refund of the item price. You pay return shipping. Original shipping isn't refunded.
Damaged or defective items: email orders@boardgamer.com within 14 days of delivery with photos. We'll replace the item if we have stock, or refund you in full — including shipping — if we don't. You won't pay return shipping on a defective item.
Not returnable: items damaged by use, items missing components, and items returned after 30 days.
Refunds go back to your original payment method and typically post within 5–10 business days after we receive the return.

To start a return, email orders@boardgamer.com with your order number before shipping anything back.

6.8 Age recommendation and safety

Every game we sell lists a recommended age range on its product page and on the box. Please use it — it reflects the reading level, rules complexity, and component size the game was designed around.

Where a game contains small parts, the product page and packaging carry a choking-hazard warning:

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD — Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.

Please supervise young players, and keep components away from children under 3 and from pets.

7. Future Crowdfunding Campaigns

We expect to run a crowdfunding campaign for one or more games. If we do:

That campaign will be hosted on a third-party platform (for example Kickstarter or Gamefound) and governed by that platform's terms, along with any campaign-specific terms we post there.
A pledge on a crowdfunding platform is not a purchase from this Site, and these Terms don't govern it.
Announcing a campaign on this Site or in our emails is not an offer to sell and creates no obligation on either side until you pledge on the platform.

8. Intellectual Property

8.1 What we own

The Site and everything on it — game names, logos, rules text, card and board designs, artwork, illustrations, photographs, video, copy, and the arrangement of it all — is owned by Boardgamer Games, LLC or our licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. "Boardgamer," "Get Fishy," "KIR," and our logos are our trademarks.

One honest exception: as described in Section 4.1, some prototype images are AI-generated placeholder art. We don't claim exclusive copyright in the raw AI output itself. We do claim our own selection, arrangement, editing, and combination of it, along with everything else listed above — and our trademark rights and the rest of this section apply to the prototype presentation regardless.

8.2 What you may do

We grant you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to view and use the Site for your own non-commercial purposes. That includes downloading or printing a rulebook or reference sheet we've made available, for your own play.

We also welcome fan coverage. You may, without asking us:

write reviews, previews, or session reports
post photos and video of our games, including playthroughs and unboxings, on your own channels — including monetized ones
share and link to our pages and images with attribution

8.3 What you may not do

You may not:

reproduce, manufacture, or sell copies of our games or components, including print-and-play versions
create or distribute derivative games, expansions, or apps based on our games without a written license from us
use our names, logos, or artwork in a way that suggests we sponsor or endorse you
scrape, spider, or bulk-download the Site, or use it to train machine learning models, without our written permission
remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice

9. Your Submissions and Ideas

Please read this section carefully before sending us game ideas.

If you send us feedback, suggestions, mechanics, designs, artwork, reviews, comments, or any other material ("Submissions"):

You grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, and display that Submission for any purpose, including marketing.
Your Submission is not confidential and creates no confidential relationship between us. We're not obligated to keep it secret, review it, respond to it, credit you, or compensate you for it.
You confirm the Submission is yours to give and doesn't infringe anyone's rights.
We may already be working on similar ideas independently. Game design is a small space and convergence is common. Nothing in your Submission limits what we can develop.

If you have a game design you'd like us to consider commercially, don't send it through the Site — email us first at contactus@boardgamer.com and we'll tell you whether and how we're accepting submissions.

10. Reviews, Comments, and Copyright Complaints

If we enable reviews, comments, or any other public posting on the Site:

You're responsible for what you post. Keep it lawful, keep it yours, and don't post anything you don't have the right to share.
We can remove anything. We may edit, refuse, or remove any post for any reason, or for none. We don't pre-screen posts and we're not responsible for what other people write.
Disclose freebies. If we sent you a free copy, a discount, or anything else of value, say so in your review. The FTC requires that disclosure, and honestly, readers spot undisclosed comp copies anyway.
No incentivized or fake reviews. We won't offer anything in exchange for a positive review, and we won't post reviews we wrote ourselves as though a customer wrote them.

Copyright complaints. If you believe something on the Site infringes your copyright, email contactus@boardgamer.com with the subject "DMCA Notice" and include: identification of the work, identification of the material you say infringes it and where it is on the Site, your contact information, a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn't authorized, a statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and you're authorized to act, and your signature. We'll investigate and remove infringing material. If we remove something of yours and you think we got it wrong, send a counter-notice to the same address.

11. Acceptable Use

Don't use the Site to:

break the law or infringe anyone's rights
transmit malware, spam, or harmful code
attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, our accounts, or our systems
interfere with the Site's operation, including by overloading it or circumventing security
impersonate anyone or misrepresent your affiliation
harass, threaten, or abuse anyone, including us
collect other users' information
resell or commercially exploit the Site or its content

We may suspend or block access, remove content, and pursue legal remedies if you violate this section.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site links to third-party sites and services — retailers, crowdfunding platforms, social media, partner publishers, and others. We don't control them and aren't responsible for their content, products, terms, or privacy practices. Your dealings with them are between you and them. Read their terms.

13. Disclaimers

The Site and its content are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

We don't warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, timely, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the Site is free of viruses or other harmful components. We don't warrant the accuracy or completeness of any content, including release plans, game descriptions, or availability.

Some states don't allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing here limits any non-waivable warranty rights you have under applicable law with respect to products you purchase.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

Neither Boardgamer Games, LLC nor its members, managers, employees, contractors, or suppliers will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or business interruption, arising out of or relating to your use of the Site — even if we've been advised of the possibility.
Our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Site or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or (b) $100.

Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations, so they may not fully apply to you. These limits don't apply to liability that can't be limited by law, including for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or personal injury caused by a defective product to the extent applicable law provides otherwise.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Boardgamer Games, LLC and its members, managers, employees, and contractors from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Site, your Submissions, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

16. Resolving Disputes

Let's talk first. If you have a problem, email us at contactus@boardgamer.com with a short description of the issue and what you'd like us to do. We'll make a good-faith effort to work it out with you within 30 days. Most issues get resolved here.

Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of them or the Site are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

Where disputes are heard. You and we agree that any lawsuit will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in San Diego County, California, and we each consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. If you're a consumer, nothing here deprives you of the protection of mandatory consumer-protection laws in your home state, including your right to bring a qualifying claim in small-claims court.

Time limit. Any claim relating to the Site or these Terms must be brought within one year after it arises, or it's permanently barred, unless applicable law requires a longer period.

17. General Terms

Termination. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time, with or without notice. Sections 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 survive termination — including your return and refund rights on any order you already placed, which we honor whether or not you can still access the Site.

Electronic communications. You agree that we may provide notices, agreements, order confirmations, shipping updates, delay notices, cancellations, and other required disclosures to you electronically — by email to the address you gave us, or by posting to the Site. You may withdraw this consent by emailing contactus@boardgamer.com, but if you do, we may not be able to sell to you, since we'd have no way to send you the notices the law requires.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the rest stays in effect and the unenforceable provision is modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver of it.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets.

Force majeure. We're not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control — including supply chain disruption, carrier delays, natural disasters, labor disputes, utility or internet outages, and government action.

Entire agreement. These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Site, and supersede any prior understandings.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and don't affect interpretation.

Questions?

Email us at contactus@boardgamer.com. We read everything.

Boardgamer Games, LLC 4142 Adams Avenue, Suite 103-561 San Diego, CA 92116