Terms of Use
These terms are an agreement between you and [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] ("PosSum", "we", "us") about using possum.ing and www.possum.ing, including the treehouse, the games, the Arcade, accounts, and member areas (together, "the site"). By using the site you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.
1. The site and the games
The site is an art project and the home of a brand. It is free to use. The treehouse, Velocity, Wreck Deck, the Arcade cabinets and everything else here may change, break, reset or disappear without notice, because that is how art projects grow. We will try to warn you before removing something you have put time into.
The site needs a modern browser. The 3D parts need WebGL and run better on newer devices.
2. Who can use it
You must be at least 13 to join the mailing list or create an account, and at least 16 in the EEA and UK (or the age your country sets) unless a parent or guardian agrees. To buy something you must be old enough to make a binding contract where you live, or have a parent's or guardian's involvement, as the store's terms require.
3. Accounts applies when accounts are live
- Accounts are optional. You can play without one; your progress then stays in your browser.
- You log in with your PosSum shop account, which Shopify runs. Shopify's terms apply to that login. Keep it secure and tell us if you think someone else is using it.
- One account per person. Don't share it or sell it.
- You can delete your account at any time (see the Privacy Policy). We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms (see section 18).
4. Virtual items and progress
Credits, ships, cargo, scores, goals, discoveries and anything else you earn or find in the games are part of the game. They:
- have no cash value and cannot be exchanged for money, products or anything outside the game, unless we say otherwise for a specific item in writing
- are not your property; we give you a personal, revocable permission to use them while you play
- cannot be sold, traded or transferred
- may be changed, rebalanced or reset, for example when a game is updated or if a save is corrupted
Some discoveries may unlock the chance to buy a real product. The real product is sold under the store's terms (section 5); the discovery itself is still a game item. Velocity credits buy fictional fuel and sandwiches only.
5. Purchases applies when the shop is live
Real PosSum products shown in the games and the vending machine are sold through our Shopify store. When you check out, you are taken to Shopify's checkout. Your purchase is governed by the store's terms of sale, refund policy and shipping policy, shown at checkout and at [SHOP POLICIES URL], and by Shopify's terms for the checkout itself. If anything in these Terms of Use conflicts with the store's terms of sale on a question about an order, the terms of sale win.
Product pictures in the games are drawn or rendered and may differ from the real thing. The product page in the store is the description that counts. If a price is shown wrongly in a game, the price at checkout applies, and we may cancel and refund an order placed at an obvious error.
6. Mailing list and things you send us
If you give us your email address, you agree that we may send you occasional letters about PosSum. Every letter will have an unsubscribe link. How we handle your address is in the Privacy Policy.
If you send us ideas, feedback or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything, and you keep the right to use your own ideas too.
If you contribute to a shared work on the site (a line in the Parlor, for example), you keep the copyright in what you wrote. You give us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, permanent license to store, display, publish, adapt and include it in PosSum works, including printed and sold ones, with credit to the name you gave or to "anonymous hand". You confirm you have the right to give that license. We may remove any contribution, and we will remove the text of yours if you ask.
7. Member areas
Some branches are protected by a password given to members. The password is for you and the people it was given to. Don't post it publicly or share it widely. Don't publish or redistribute what is inside member areas without our permission; much of it is unfinished. We may change the password or close a member area at any time.
Some member areas show separate apps inside a frame. Those apps may have their own terms and notes, which apply when you use them.
8. Acceptable use
Please don't:
- break the law using the site, or help someone else do so
- attack, overload or probe the site's systems except as described in section 9, or get around rate limits, the member password, or any other access control
- use bots or scripts to scrape the site at volume, mass-submit forms, or farm game items
- sign other people up to the mailing list or use someone else's account
- submit content that is unlawful, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, threatening, or that infringes someone else's rights, or that contains someone's private information
- use the site's content, code or AI-written material to train AI models, or to build a competing product, without our written permission
- present yourself as PosSum, or suggest we endorse you when we don't
9. Reporting security problems
If you find a vulnerability, tell us at hello@possum.ing (see also security.txt). Test only against your own data, don't access or change other people's data, don't degrade the site for others, and give us reasonable time to fix it before telling anyone else. If you follow those rules in good faith, we will not pursue claims against you for that research.
10. Our work and our names
The PosSum name, the +Σ mark, the possum characters, and the site's art, writing, music, game design and code are owned by PosSum or used with permission, and are protected by copyright and trademark law. Unless a file or the Open Source page says otherwise, all rights are reserved.
You may share screenshots and short clips of the site and games for non-commercial purposes, such as posts, reviews and videos, as long as you don't suggest they are official PosSum material and you credit possum.ing where you reasonably can. For anything else, including merchandise, ask us first.
Open-source software, fonts and data used on the site belong to their authors and are used under their licenses. They are listed on the Open Source and Credits page.
If you believe something on the site infringes your copyright, email us with the work, where it appears on the site, your contact details, and a statement that you believe the use is not authorized. We will look into it and remove material that infringes. [DMCA AGENT DESIGNATION, IF YOUR LAWYER RECOMMENDS REGISTERING ONE]
11. Third-party names, content and services
The Arcade has practice cabinets styled after well-known tests. GRE is a registered trademark of ETS. LSAT is a registered trademark of the Law School Admission Council. The Arcade is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by ETS, LSAC or any testing organization, and its questions are original practice items, not real test questions. Other names belong to their owners.
The news cabinet shows headlines and short summaries from public news sources and arXiv, with the source named. We don't control those sources and don't vouch for them. Links to other sites are for convenience; their own terms and privacy policies apply there. Services we rely on (Cloudflare, Shopify, Open-Meteo) may be unavailable at times.
12. AI-written quiz content
Many Arcade questions are written by an AI model and checked by a second AI pass, not by a person. They can be wrong. Scores are rough practice estimates and do not predict results on any real test. Nothing in the Arcade is professional, educational, legal, financial or career advice. Details of how the AI is used are in the Privacy Policy.
13. The fund page
The PosSum Fund page states a belief. It is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security or investment, and it is not investment advice. No fund exists as a legal entity and no money is accepted.
14. Disclaimers
THE SITE, THE GAMES AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT PROMISE THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, THAT SAVED PROGRESS WILL BE PRESERVED, OR THAT WEATHER, NEWS, SKY OR QUIZ CONTENT IS ACCURATE. THIS SECTION DOES NOT LIMIT ANY WARRANTY GIVEN IN THE STORE'S TERMS OF SALE FOR PRODUCTS YOU BUY.
15. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, PosSum AND ITS OWNERS, MEMBERS AND COLLABORATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA OR LOST GAME PROGRESS, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ABOUT THE SITE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF US$100 OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM.
Some places don't allow these limits, so they may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law. If you are a consumer in the EEA or UK, you keep all the rights your local consumer law gives you.
16. Responsibility for misuse
If you break these terms or the law while using the site and someone makes a claim against us because of it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with that claim, to the extent the law allows. This does not apply to consumers where local law forbids it.
17. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE], USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. If you have a problem, email us first; most things can be fixed that way. If we can't resolve it within 60 days, either of us may bring a claim in the state or federal courts located in [COUNTY, STATE], or in small claims court where you live if it qualifies. If you are a consumer in the EEA or UK, you may also bring a claim in the courts where you live, and the mandatory consumer protections of your country still apply.
18. Suspension and ending
You can stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or end your access, including your account, if you break these terms, if the law requires it, or if we shut down a feature. If we close accounts for reasons other than your breach, we will give reasonable notice and a way to export your progress where we can. Sections 4, 6, 10, 14, 15, 16 and 17 continue to apply after your use ends.
19. Changes
We may update these terms. We will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, give notice on the site (and by email if you have an account) before they take effect. Using the site after a change takes effect means you accept the new terms.
20. General
These terms, the Privacy Policy and, for purchases, the store's terms of sale are the whole agreement between us about the site. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours to a successor to PosSum. Headings are for convenience only.
21. Contact
PosSum, operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME]
[MAILING ADDRESS]
hello@possum.ing