These terms are a contract between you and Matthew Travis (“we”, “us”), who operate Football Squares (the “Service”). Please read them. If you do not agree with them, do not use the Service.

1. What this service is, and what it is not

Football Squares is a tool for organising and keeping track of a squares pool. It draws a grid, records who has claimed which square, draws the numbers, and works out which square each period's score lands on.

We never take, hold, transmit or pay out any money staked in a pool. Any amount a player pays for a square is arranged and settled directly between that player and the person running their pool. We have no involvement in it, no visibility of whether it was actually paid, and no responsibility for it. Marking a square as paid inside the Service is a note the organiser makes for their own records; it is not a payment, a receipt, or evidence of one.

The only money that ever passes through us is the fee you pay us to activate a game, described in section 5.

2. Who may use it

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract. You may not use the Service if doing so would breach any law that applies to you.

Laws on contests, pools and gaming differ enormously between countries, and between states within a country. Some prohibit activities that are unremarkable elsewhere. Deciding whether your pool is lawful where you and your players are is entirely your responsibility, not ours. We do not give legal advice and nothing in the Service should be read as a view on whether your pool is permitted. If you are not sure, take advice before you run one.

3. Your account

You are responsible for what happens under your account, and for keeping your password to yourself. Give us accurate details and keep them current. Tell us promptly at support@runthesquares.com if you think someone else has got into your account.

One person, one account. Do not share logins.

4. Organisers and players

The person who creates a game is its organiser. Being an organiser means you are the one who:

• decides the price per square, the payout split and the rules;
• collects money from players and pays winners, outside the Service;
• decides who to admit, and who to remove;
• resolves any disagreement about a pool you are running.

If you join someone else's pool, you are dealing with that organiser, not with us. We do not vet organisers, guarantee that anyone will be paid, or step into disputes between you. If an organiser fails to pay a winner, that is a matter between you and them. We can tell you what our records show; we cannot recover money for you, and we have no power to compel anyone.

Organisers: the personal information you can see about your players is given to you for the purpose of running that pool. Do not use it for anything else, and do not pass it on.

5. Fees and refunds

Creating a game costs a one-off fee, shown before you pay. Players pay us nothing. Payment is handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card details. Prices are in US dollars and exclude any tax that may apply.

The fee buys activation of a single game. Once a game has been activated the fee is non-refundable, because the thing you paid for has been delivered — but if something went wrong, write to us and we will look at it properly. Nothing here affects any refund right you have under the law where you live, which we do not attempt to exclude.

If you reverse a charge without contacting us first, we may suspend your account and close any games attached to it.

6. Things you must not do

• Break the law, or help anyone else break it.
• Run a pool as a commercial gambling operation, or hold yourself out as licensed to do so.
• Impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your connection to anyone.
• Use any team, league or competition name, logo or branding in a way that suggests they endorse or are connected with your pool.
• Try to get into accounts, games or data you have not been given access to, or work around any limit or access control.
• Scrape, spider or bulk-extract data, or put load on the Service beyond ordinary use.
• Upload anything unlawful, abusive, hateful or deceptive.
• Use the Service to send unsolicited messages.

7. Content you provide

Game names, team names and anything else you type stay yours. You give us permission to store and display that content as far as is needed to operate the Service for you and the people you invite.

You are responsible for what you submit, and you confirm you have the right to submit it. We may remove content that breaks these terms.

8. Our rights

The Service itself — the software, the design, the name and the branding — belongs to us and stays ours.

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any sports league, team, broadcaster or governing body. Any such names that appear in a pool were typed in by the person who created it, and any trade marks referred to belong to their respective owners.

9. Third parties

We rely on other companies to run the Service, including Stripe for payments, our hosting provider, and an email provider. They are listed in the Privacy Policy. Their own terms apply to what they do, and an outage or failure on their side may affect the Service.

10. Availability

We try to keep the Service running and correct, but we do not promise it will be uninterrupted, error-free or available at any particular moment — including during a game. Keep your own record of who has paid and who has won. Do not rely on us as your only copy.

11. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service is lawful for you to use where you are, that it will meet your requirements, or that results obtained from it will be accurate.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, nor for lost profits, lost data, or money lost in or connected with a pool — including any amount an organiser failed to pay a winner.

Our total liability to you for any claim connected with the Service is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose, or twenty US dollars.

Some places do not allow certain exclusions, in which case the limits above apply only as far as the law permits, and nothing here excludes liability for fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded.

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses and reasonable legal costs arising from your use of the Service, your breach of these terms, or any pool you organise or take part in — including any claim that a pool was unlawful.

14. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time from your settings. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, or where we are required to. If we close your account without cause, we will refund fees for any game not yet activated.

Sections 1, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 16 survive the end of this agreement.

15. Changes

We may update these terms. If a change materially affects you, we will give reasonable notice — by email or a notice in the Service — before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the new terms.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the State of Michigan, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. The courts of the State of Michigan, USA have exclusive jurisdiction, except that either of us may seek injunctive relief anywhere.

If you live somewhere whose consumer law gives you the right to bring proceedings locally, or to rely on mandatory local protections, this section does not take that away.

Please contact us first. Most problems are settled quickly by email and neither of us wants a court.

17. General

These terms, with the Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between us. If a provision is found unenforceable, the rest stands. Not enforcing something is not giving it up. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours to a successor if the business changes hands.

18. Contact

Matthew Travis
support@runthesquares.com