Slime Stoppers Privacy Notice

Who we are

Slime Stoppers is made by 61 West Labs Ltd (“61 West Labs”, “we”), a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17425611, registered office 46 Trelawney Road, Hainault, IG6 2NH. We decide how Slime Stoppers’s data is used, so we are its “controller” under UK data protection law. For anything about this notice or your data, email hello@61westlabs.co.uk.

This notice covers the Slime Stoppers app only. Our other games have their own notices (see the games privacy policy), and this website is covered by our website privacy policy.

The short version, for grown-ups

• Online features are optional. The game asks “Play online?” the first time a player opens the leaderboards (Ranks), the Weekly Siege or Endless, once straight after they first beat level 10, and if they switch Online on in Settings. If they say no, nothing is sent to us.
• No account details. We never ask for a name, email address, phone number, photo, age or location.
• No typing. There is no chat, no messaging and no free text anywhere in the game.
• Optional one-time purchases. Extra level packs, looks and a seasonal Fort Pass can be bought, always after a grown-up check. No subscriptions, no ads and no random rewards (no loot boxes). Apple or Google take the payment; a purchase service, RevenueCat, keeps track of what this copy of the game owns. It only starts once someone uses the Shop. See In-app purchases.
• No ads, no analytics, no tracking. No advertising ID, no third-party analytics or crash-reporting tools, and we don’t sell data or share it for advertising. If online features are on, the game sends our own server an anonymous report when it hits a bug. If it hits one while online is off or there’s no signal, the short report waits on your phone (at most 10, for up to 14 days) and is only sent if online is on at a later launch; otherwise it’s simply dropped.
• Online, we keep only game data under a random id: a made-up name, scores and a copy of the progress. It is deleted automatically after 24 months without play.
• Delete it any time from the app, or by email. See how to delete Slime Stoppers data.

What goes to our server, and why

Only after a player says yes to online features. This is everything our server stores:

Moving to a new phone: in Ranks → Account a player can get a one-time code (8 letters and numbers, valid for 24 hours). Entering it on the new phone moves the account there; the old phone stops being linked to it. We store only a scrambled copy of the code. The next time the old phone tries to connect, it turns online features off and says the account has moved; it doesn’t quietly start a new account. Nothing more is sent from it unless someone says yes to online again. Purchases move separately, with Restore purchases (see below).

Internet addresses (IP addresses): our server sees the phone’s IP address when it connects, like any website does. It uses it only for a short time, in memory, to stop anyone flooding the server with requests or guessing transfer codes. It never writes it to the database or its logs. The secure proxy in front of the server keeps no access log; its error log can occasionally record the IP address of a connection that fails before reaching the game server. Those entries aren’t linked to any player and are deleted after at most 30 days.

Server logs record events such as “a player registered” or “a run was verified”, with the random player id and the score. They don’t contain IP addresses, names or progress.

What stays on the phone

Campaign progress, settings (sound and music) and the choice about online features are saved on the phone. If online features are on, a copy of the progress is kept as the cloud save described above. The random install code, the Purchase ID and the list of what has been bought are also saved on the phone, so bought extras work offline. If the phone’s own backup is switched on (Google backup on Android, iCloud on iPhone) these may be included in your Google or Apple account. That backup belongs to you and is handled by Google or Apple; we can’t see it.

In-app purchases

Slime Stoppers is free to play, and the whole campaign can be played without paying. Some optional extras can be bought, each as a one-time purchase: expansion level packs, looks for the defenders, a Starter Pack, an Everything Bundle, and a Fort Pass for each season. There are no subscriptions, no ads and no random rewards (no loot boxes): you always see exactly what you get before you buy. Before anything is bought, the game shows a grown-up check, and then Apple or Google ask for confirmation in their usual way (including Ask to Buy or Family Link approval if a parent has set it up).

Who handles purchases

• Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play) take the payment, under their own terms and privacy policies. We never see card details, names, email addresses or billing addresses.
• RevenueCat, Inc. is a purchase service that works for us. It checks with Apple or Google which purchases this copy of the game owns, so the game can unlock them and you can get them back with Restore purchases (Settings → Purchases) on a new phone or after reinstalling. It doesn’t use the data for its own purposes, for advertising or for tracking.

What RevenueCat receives, and when

Nothing, unless the phone uses the store. RevenueCat only starts once someone on that phone opens the Shop or the Fort Pass screen, buys something or taps Restore purchases (or the phone already owns something). A player who never does any of these sends nothing to it. This doesn’t depend on the “Play online?” choice, because buying and unlocking need it. After that, the game checks with it each time it starts, so a purchase a parent approves later unlocks, and when the Shop shows prices. It receives:

• A random Purchase ID, like bf_ followed by 16 letters and numbers, made up on the phone. It is shown in Settings → About → Purchase ID. It is not linked to a name, email address or phone number, and it is not the same as the online player id: our game server never receives it, and RevenueCat never receives the online player id, name, scores or progress.
• Purchase records from Apple or Google: which items were bought, when, the price and currency, and the store’s receipt or purchase token.
• Basic technical details needed to talk to it: the type of phone system and its version, the game version, the language and store country, and the phone’s IP address (as any server sees). The game doesn’t send it any advertising ID or device ID.

The “on sale” badges in the Shop come from our own server, and the game only asks for them when online features are on. That check sends nothing about the player.

Where it’s processed, and for how long

RevenueCat is based in the United States, so this purchase data is processed there. The transfer is made under safeguards required by UK data law, such as standard contractual clauses, in our agreement with RevenueCat. We keep the purchase record for as long as it’s needed to unlock and restore what was bought, or until you ask us to delete it. Apple and Google keep their own record of purchases under their own policies.

Deleting purchase data

Deleting your online data in the game doesn’t delete purchase records, so bought extras aren’t lost. To have them deleted, email hello@61westlabs.co.uk with the Purchase ID from Settings → About (tap Copy). We’ll ask RevenueCat to delete it and confirm within one month. After that we can’t help restore those purchases, though Apple or Google may still hold their own record.

Children

Slime Stoppers is made for all ages. It collects as little as possible: no sign-in, no typed names, no chat, no ads, no tracking, no location, no contacts, no camera or microphone. Friends are added only by swapping a code in person; there is no chat and no searching for players. Leaderboard names are made up from word lists we have checked, so they can’t reveal who anyone is. Buying something and opening a web page (like this one) both need a grown-up check first. We don’t ask anyone’s age, because we don’t collect anything that would need it. If you have any concern about your child’s data, email us and we’ll help.

Where data is kept, and who helps us

The game server and its database run on a server we manage at IONOS in London, United Kingdom. All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). The database is backed up every night; backups are encrypted with our own key before they leave the server, stored in Google Drive (Google can’t read them) and deleted after 30 days.

Our service providers are:

• IONOS (UK): server hosting.
• Google: app distribution (Google Play) and storage for our encrypted backups.
• Apple: app distribution (App Store).
• Apple and Google: taking payment for in-app purchases, as independent companies under their own privacy policies.
• RevenueCat, Inc. (United States): keeping track of in-app purchases, only once the store has been used (see In-app purchases), under safeguards required by UK data law for data processed outside the UK.

We don’t share Slime Stoppers data with anyone else, unless the law requires us to.

How long we keep things

• Player id, made-up name, cloud save and weekly, monthly and all-time leaderboard places: until you delete them (in the app or by email), or automatically 24 months after the game last connected to our server.
• Individual run scores and daily leaderboard places: deleted 13 months after the run.
• Run moves: replayed to check the score, then thrown away, except each player’s best Weekly Siege run of the week, which is kept for up to two weeks so friends can watch it. Weekly Siege runs also leave a fingerprint (a hash of the moves) for 30 days to stop copied runs.
• Friends list and friend code: until a friend is removed, the code is changed, or you delete your data.
• Leaderboard trophies (won by finishing in the top 100 of a weekly or monthly board): 400 days after they were awarded, or when you delete your data.
• Runs that failed the check: a note that the run was rejected (no moves) is kept for 30 days to spot cheating.
• Transfer codes: 24 hours, or until used.
• Error reports: 30 days after the error was last seen.
• Backups: 30 days, so anything deleted is gone from the backups within 30 days too.
• Purchase records at RevenueCat (Purchase ID and what was bought): as long as they’re needed to unlock and restore purchases, or until you ask us to delete them.

Deleting your data

1. Open Slime Stoppers and tap Ranks.
2. Tap Account.
3. Tap Delete my data and confirm.

This deletes the player id, made-up name, all scores, friends, the cloud save and any unused transfer code from our server straight away and turns online features off on that phone. Progress on the phone itself stays, so the player can keep playing offline. (Settings → Online → Account & data leads to the same screen.) You can also email hello@61westlabs.co.uk with the player name shown in the game. Full details are on how to delete Slime Stoppers data.

Purchase records are kept separately so bought extras aren’t lost. To delete those too, email us the Purchase ID from Settings → About (see In-app purchases).

Why we are allowed to use this data

UK data protection law needs a reason (a “lawful basis”) for each use:

• Leaderboards, checking scores are genuine, cloud save, moving to a new phone and keeping the server safe: our legitimate interests in running a fair, secure game that doesn’t lose players’ progress, for players who have chosen to use online features. We have weighed these against players’ interests, with extra care because many players are children, and keep only what these features need. We don’t rely on a child’s consent.
• Unlocking and restoring purchases (RevenueCat): to provide what was bought, under the purchase agreement with the person who paid, and our legitimate interest in making sure bought extras keep working and can be restored.

Families in the United States

Slime Stoppers doesn’t collect personal information such as names, email addresses, photos, voice or location from children. It uses two random identifiers, neither linked to a real person: the online player id described above, used only to run the game for that player (to keep scores and saved progress, check scores are genuine and keep the service secure), and, once the store has been used, the Purchase ID, used only to unlock and restore purchases through our service provider RevenueCat. We never use either for advertising, to build a profile of a player, or to contact anyone, and we don’t disclose them to anyone else. We keep them only as long as those uses need, as set out in “How long we keep things” above. A parent can review or delete their child’s data at any time as described above.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), you, or a parent or carer on a child’s behalf, can ask us to show you the data we hold, correct it, delete it, send it to you in a common format, or stop using it. Email hello@61westlabs.co.uk with the player name from the game (and, for purchase records, the Purchase ID from Settings → About). We reply within one month. If you’re not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator.

Changes to this notice

If Slime Stoppers starts handling data differently, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change reaches the game, and mention anything important in the game’s release notes. We won’t start collecting anything new without updating this notice first.