Terms of Use

1.What this is

The Great Otter Dam (the "site") is a free, browser-based spelling game served at otterdam.app. These terms cover your use of the site. By using it, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

2.Free to play, free of obligation

The Great Otter Dam is provided free of charge for personal, family, and classroom educational use. There are no purchases, no subscriptions, no premium tier. You can use it for as long as you like, on as many devices as you like.

3.What you may do

• Let your kid play the game.
• Use it in a classroom or homeschool setting.
• Tell friends about it, share the URL, take screenshots, post about it.
• Share player cards (those friend-link URLs) with your kid's friends.

4.What you may not do

• Copy the game's content (art, narration, code) and republish it as your own.
• Reverse-engineer the game to scrape word lists, audio files, or characters for commercial reuse without permission.
• Use The Great Otter Dam in any way that's harmful, abusive, illegal, or that would put kids at risk.
• Pretend The Great Otter Dam endorses your product, school, or service when it doesn't.
• Tamper with friend cards to misrepresent another kid's progress in ways meant to deceive or harm.

5.Content & intellectual property

The game art (Pebble, Axel, illustrations, story), narration audio, character voices, and the underlying code are owned by the creator. You don't get any ownership rights to that content by using the site. You're free to look at it, play with it, and enjoy it. Just don't lift it for commercial purposes.

6.Friend cards & user-generated content

Player nicknames are auto-generated by the game from a curated wordlist (e.g., "Brave Otter 042"). Your kid can also set a private nickname locally. You're responsible for ensuring any local nickname is appropriate.

If a friend's player card seems harmful or contains inappropriate content somehow, your kid can remove it from their roster instantly.

7."As-is" — no warranty

The Great Otter Dam is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We don't guarantee:

• That the site will be available at any particular time.
• That it'll be free of bugs or errors.
• That it'll be compatible with every device or browser.
• That it'll teach your child to read by any particular timeline.

We try our best, but kids learn at their own pace, and software has imperfections.

8.Liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law, we (the creator and any contributors) are not liable for any damages — direct, indirect, incidental, consequential — arising from your use of The Great Otter Dam. If the game crashes, if your kid is upset that they can't beat Chapter 7, if a friend card doesn't import — we're not on the hook.

9.Changes to these terms

We may update these terms over time. We'll update the date at the top when we do. Material changes will be flagged on the home page for at least 30 days. Continued use after a change means you accept the new terms.

10.Termination

You can stop using The Great Otter Dam at any time — close the tab, clear your browser data, that's it. We can also discontinue the site at any time, though we'll try to give notice if that ever happens.

11.Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of California, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute that somehow can't be resolved by talking things through is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in California.

12.Contact

If you have questions or concerns about these terms, please reach out. (Contact channel pending — see Privacy Policy §10.)