Privacy Policy
Effective October 28, 2026
Highpass Studio operates Sheepshead Club, including sheepsheadclub.com and the Sheepshead Club iOS app. This policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, how long we keep it, and how you can delete it. The same account system may also be used by Bid Whist Live and Optimal Felt, so deleting a shared Highpass game account removes it across those services.
What we collect
- Account information: your player name, email address, password hash, account creation date, and session tokens. We never store your password in readable form. Email is used for account recovery and service messages, for a club’s game night emails only if you turn them on for that club (or for one night’s reminder when you say you’re in, as below), and for the monthly recap only if you ask for it. It is never shown to other players.
- Sign in with Google: if you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and Google account ID. We use them only to sign you in (your first name becomes your starting player name, which other players see), and we never share them.
- Gameplay and social information: scores, results, event participation, trophies, recent-hand links, clubs, game night answers (I’m in or can’t make it) and your choice about game night email, friends, lobby chat, hands shared with a club, and preferences tied to your account.
- Support information: text you send through the feedback form. If you attach a screenshot or PDF, it is validated and forwarded by email but is not saved in the game database or on the game server.
- Operating and security information: a random device identifier created by the app, referral source, connection times, mobile or desktop status, and a coarse country-region value such as US-WI. The server receives your IP address to make a connection, but does not store the raw address. It stores a one-way keyed hash for abuse detection.
- Usage counts: first-party, self-hosted GoatCounter page analytics and anonymous daily feature totals, including how many times each front-page button is pressed, counted in aggregate with no per-person record. Your browser keeps a small flag saying it has visited before, so first visits can be counted. We do not use advertising identifiers.
How we use information
We use this information to authenticate accounts, recover passwords, run multiplayer tables, calculate stats and event standings, support clubs, game nights and chat, reconnect interrupted games, investigate abuse or collusion, answer support requests, verify fair dealing, fix defects, and understand whether the service works. We do not sell personal information, serve targeted advertising, or track you across other companies' apps or websites.
When information is shared
Player names, table activity, standings, badges, and chat can be visible to other players as part of the game. Club-only messages, shared hands, and a club's season record are visible to members of that club. Moderators may observe tables and chat to enforce rules and investigate abuse.
We use service providers only to operate the service. Resend processes password-recovery email, emailed feedback, the club game night emails members turn on, and our mailings: the monthly recap and win-back notes for players who ask for the recap, and occasional announcements, every one with a one-click unsubscribe. Hosting and network providers process traffic needed to serve the game. On the website only, Stripe processes optional supporter payments under Stripe's own privacy policy. The iOS app does not offer those external purchases. Providers are expected to protect information consistently with this policy and may use it only to provide their contracted service.
Retention
- Account information and account-linked scores are kept while the account exists, then deleted when you delete the account.
- Lobby chat is automatically deleted after seven days. In-memory table chat disappears when its table closes.
- The link between a signed-in player and a hand is kept for seven days, then deleted. The one exception is a club's own tables: a club keeps a season record by default. While it is on and the club keeps playing, the link between a club member and a hand played at that club's own tables is kept, and only that club's members can see or download those results. The club's owner can turn it off, which deletes it, and a year with no hands at the club's tables deletes it too. Every other hand keeps the seven-day rule. The deal record itself contains no human player names or user IDs. It is kept in full, every card played, for twelve months, for replays, fairness verification, replay integrity and defect analysis. After twelve months it is trimmed to a summary (the deal, its published fingerprint, the table rules and the result), which is kept so any deal can still be proven fair. The same rules apply to every Highpass game.
- We keep running yearly totals for each account (hands, points, picks and the like, plus how many trump and queens you were dealt) to show your deal odds and for year-end awards; they are counts, not a list of hands, and deleting your account deletes them.
- Connection and table-attempt telemetry linked to an account or random device identifier is automatically deleted after 90 days.
- Game night emails are opt-in, per club: a member gets none until they turn them on from that club's card, and every one carries a one-click link that turns them off without signing in. Outside the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, saying you’re in for a game night also sends you that one night’s reminder with the table link (unless you have turned that club’s game night emails off), with the same one-click stop link. A results email can carry a link that replays the night's best hand without signing in. It is made for one member, opens only a hand that member could already replay from their own recent hands, and stops working when that hand's seven-day link is deleted. Your game night answers and the record of which game night emails were sent to you are deleted after 60 days, or sooner if your account or the club is deleted.
- The monthly recap is opt-in: you get it only if you tick the box when you sign up, switch it on beside your player name, answer Yes when the site asks, or press the Yes link in one of our emails. It comes on the 1st of the month with your hands, your best hand and what is new. If you have the recap on and stop playing, we send one note after a month away and one more after three months, then nothing until you play again. Now and then we may send an announcement about the site to every account. Every one of these emails carries a one-click unsubscribe link that works without signing in, and the same unsubscribe through your mail app’s own Unsubscribe button where it offers one; unsubscribing stops all of them, and password reset emails still come when you ask for one. You can also switch the recap off beside your player name. We keep your choice, when and where you made it, and a record of which of these emails were sent to you, so none is ever sent twice; all of it is deleted with your account. Every mailing shows our postal address.
- Password reset links expire after one hour. Sessions remain until logout, password reset, account deletion, or administrative invalidation.
- Feedback text is kept until it is resolved and no longer needed, or until the associated account is deleted.
- Anonymous aggregate counts may be kept because they cannot be connected to an account, device, session, or hand.
- We keep backup copies of the site's data so it can be recovered after a failure or a mistake.
Delete your account and data
While signed in, choose delete account beside your player name. Enter your current password and type your player name to confirm. An account that signs in only with Google has no password, so you just type your name. Deletion is immediate and permanent.
Deletion removes your credentials, email, sessions, scores, event records, chat, feedback, friends, memberships, shared-hand links, telemetry links, and clubs you created across the shared Highpass account system. It also removes the link between you and recent hands immediately. Anonymous deal records remain, but they contain no human identity. You may also contact support@sheepsheadclub.com with a privacy question.
Your choices
You can play Sheepshead Club and Bid Whist Live as a guest without creating an account. Guests do not receive server-side stats or cross-device history. You can clear local preferences and guest history by clearing the app or browser storage. You can stop future collection by deleting your account and stopping use of the service.
Children
The service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a child has provided account information, contact us so it can be deleted.
Security
Connections use TLS. Passwords are salted and hashed. Access to player records is limited to operating and moderating the service. No online system can guarantee absolute security, but we design collection to be limited and remove identifying links when they are no longer needed.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy when the service changes. The effective date above identifies the current version. Material changes will be announced in the service. Highpass Studio is the operator and data controller. Contact support@sheepsheadclub.com for privacy questions or requests.