This Privacy Policy explains what information CardShark ("we," "us," or "our") collects when you use our Discord bot, the CardShark Activity at play.cardsharkbot.com, and the website at cardsharkbot.com (together, the "Service"), how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
1. Information We Collect
From Discord
When the bot is used in a Discord server we receive from Discord's API:
- Your Discord user ID, display name and avatar
- The server ID where you play (chips are kept per server)
- The channel and the button presses and slash commands that run a game, or — in the
CardShark Activity at play.cardsharkbot.com —
the voice channel and the Activity instance you launched it from
The bot never receives ordinary messages in your server: it is not subscribed to them at all. It only handles the slash commands and buttons that are part of a game it is running.
The CardShark Activity
The CardShark Activity at play.cardsharkbot.com is the same game, embedded inside Discord. Signing in uses Discord's own sign-in flow (OAuth) with two permissions: your basic Discord identity (identify) and your server nickname (guilds.members.read). The one-time code that flow produces is kept only in our server's memory, never written to disk or a log, and used solely to block it being reused. We use the identity Discord returns to issue our own short-lived session token (15 minutes by default, renewable while you keep playing) that lets your browser talk to our game server; that token is not stored on our server past the request that issues it and is never written to a log. Sitting at a table also updates the display name on your CardShark account to whichever of your server nickname, Discord display name or username Discord reports for that session — the same name already shown on our leaderboard and player pages. The Activity uses the same chip balance as the bot — sitting at a table and standing up move chips the same way /poker in a text channel does.
Generated by play
- Your chip balance per server and the time of your last daily bonus
- Game sessions: the game type, its settings, who took part, and the outcome
- A chip ledger: every change to a balance with its amount, reason and time
- Game results and ratings: for each finished game of Spades, Hearts, Bid Whist, Pinochle, Euchre and Go Fish, who played, their place and score and whether they left early, and each player's rating in each of those games. Results, ratings and the chips won at each game are shown on our public leaderboards and player pages with your Discord display name, like chips today.
- Tournament results: for each finished Hold'em tournament with real players only (practice tournaments with computer players are never written down), who played, each player's place, the board's points and the hand they went out on. Shown on the public Tournaments board with your Discord display name, and deleted with the rest of a player's records on request.
- Poker hand history: for each hand at a CardShark Activity poker table, the cards shown at the showdown and the result (the board, who won what, who folded), kept 7 days to answer questions about a hand. Folded cards, and any hand that was not shown at the table, are never stored.
- Table nicknames: if your play at a server earns one of the friendly nicknames CardShark's bots use at the table (for example "River Rat" or "Steady Hand"), which nickname it is, the server and when you earned it. It is worked out from the game records above.
- Table settings you choose: whether you have turned bot talk off, hidden reactions or turned on bigger text in the CardShark Activity, so the choice stays the same next time you play.
- Table pictures: the rendered table is stored on our website for at most 24 hours (15 minutes for demo games) at an unguessable address so Discord can show it, then deleted
- Usage events: which commands and buttons are used and game events (for example a game started or a table opened), with the server, the time and, where there is one, the Discord user ID of whoever used it, to fix problems and improve CardShark. A command is recorded by its name only, never what was typed into it, and no message content is ever recorded. Usage events are kept 90 days.
- Standard web server logs (IP address, browser, time) kept for about five weeks for security, debugging and counting how many people visit the website (we keep only the monthly totals). When you reach the CardShark Activity through Discord (the normal way), the address our server logs there is Discord's own proxy address, not necessarily your device's — though our server is also reachable directly by its own address, where a real visitor IP would be logged the same as on the rest of our website. Our server logs may also record your Discord user ID, server ID, and — around a hand you're seated in — the chip amounts involved, for troubleshooting and abuse investigation.
2. How We Use Information
- To run the games and keep score
- To show leaderboards and player pages
- To detect and address abuse or violations of our Terms
- To see how the Service is used, so we can fix problems and improve it
3. Sharing of Information
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with:
- Discord, which is required for the Service to function
- Our hosting provider (DigitalOcean), which runs the bot and website
- Law enforcement or other parties only when required by law or to protect the rights, safety or property of CardShark or its users
Public information, such as your display name, chips, ratings, game results and rank on a leaderboard or player page, is visible to anyone who visits those pages. At the table itself — in a Discord channel or in the CardShark Activity — your display name and Discord avatar are shown to every other player and spectator seated at or watching that table.
4. Cookies
The public website sets no cookies. A private admin area used only by CardShark's own staff sets one sign-in cookie for staff who sign in to it; visitors never get it. The public website has no login, no advertising and no tracking code: visits are counted from the server logs above and only the monthly totals are kept (the usage events above come from the bot and the Activity, not from your visits to this site). Every file a page loads, the typefaces included, comes from our own server; a page makes no third-party requests.
Our own code in the CardShark Activity does not set cookies or use browser storage — your session token lives only in the page's memory for as long as you're playing. (This does not cover Discord's own Embedded App SDK or the surrounding Discord client, which we don't control.)
5. Data Retention
- Chip balances, game results and the chip ledger are kept indefinitely so leaderboards remain meaningful over time.
- Game results and ratings are kept for as long as the rest of a player's records are, and are deleted with them on request.
- Table nicknames and table settings are kept for as long as the rest of a player's records are, and are deleted with them on request.
- Table pictures are deleted automatically within 24 hours.
- Usage events are deleted automatically after 90 days.
- Poker hand history (the cards shown at a showdown and the result) is deleted automatically after 7 days.
- Server logs are deleted after about five weeks.
- Warnings and errors from our own services (grouped, with anything that looks like a password or key blanked out; they can include a Discord user or server ID) are deleted automatically 30 days after they last happened.
- CardShark Activity session tokens expire automatically after a short time (currently 15 minutes) and are never stored on our server past the request that issues them.
6. Your Rights and Choices
You can ask us to show, correct or delete the information we hold about you. Email support@cardsharkbot.com with your Discord user ID so we can find your records. You can also stop using the Service at any time, or ask a server administrator to remove the bot from a server.
7. Children's Privacy
The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used the Service, contact us so we can remove the relevant data.
8. International Users
The Service is operated from the United States. By using it, you understand that your information may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country where we or our service providers operate.
9. Security
All website traffic uses HTTPS and the database is not reachable from the internet. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, and you use the Service at your own risk.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be announced through the website or the bot.
11. Contact
For privacy questions or requests, contact support@cardsharkbot.com or join our community Discord.