Cookie Policy

01What cookies and local storage are

A cookie is a small text file a website saves in your browser and reads again on later visits, so it can recognize a returning visitor. Local storage is similar, but it isn't sent with every request; it stays on your device until the site or you clear it. We use local storage for your games and settings. The cookies all come from Google: for analytics, for the consent message and, when ads are shown, for advertising.

02Your consent choices

Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland see Google's consent message, run by Google Privacy & messaging, a Google-certified consent management platform that works with the IAB TCF. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time with the Privacy choices link in the footer, which reopens the message. Google's tool saves your answer, including a standard TCF consent string, in cookies it sets on this site:

• FCCDCF: stores your consent choices, so you aren't asked on every page. Expires after 13 months.
• FCNEC: also set by Google's consent tool, as part of running its messages. Expires after 1 year.

03The two Google Analytics cookies

Google Analytics 4 shows us, as totals, how many people visit, which pages and games they use, where they come from and how they found the site. It sets two first-party cookies, which in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland appear only after you accept:

• _ga: tells one visitor apart from another with a random identifier. Expires after 2 years.
• _ga_<id>: keeps the state of your current visit (the <id> part is the site's Analytics ID). Expires after 2 years.

04How Google Analytics is set up here

We use Google Consent Mode v2. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, analytics storage is denied by default: until you accept, or if you decline, Google Analytics gets only cookieless pings with no identifiers and sets no cookies. Elsewhere the analytics cookies are set from your first visit. Everywhere, the advertising signals (ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization) are denied by default, so analytics data isn't used for ads or remarketing.

Google Analytics doesn't store your IP address; it uses it only for a moment to work out a rough location. The data is kept for 14 months.

05What the game saves in your browser

These entries are written by Velvet Solitaire itself and stay on your device. They power features you use, so they aren't used for tracking.

• vs:settings: your theme, table color, card back and gameplay options.
• vs:game:<game>: the game in progress, so you can continue it later.
• vs:prefs:<game>: draw 1 or draw 3, and the number of Spider suits.
• vs:stats:<variant>: games played and won, streaks, best time and fewest moves.
• vs:daily:<date>:<game>: your progress and result in that day's Daily Challenge, and vs:daily:pending: a finished daily result waiting to be sent, for example after a dropped connection.
• vs:player: a random player ID, a secret key and your nickname. When you submit a win, your browser sends them to our server over an encrypted HTTPS connection; the server keeps the ID, the nickname and only a hash of the key.
• vs:seen: whether you've seen the first-visit tip.

06Advertising cookies

Velvet Solitaire may show ads served by Google AdSense. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, personalized ads are shown only if you agree in the consent message. Google explains how it uses this data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can turn off personalized ads at adssettings.google.com.

When ads are shown, Google and its partners may use cookies like these to deliver and measure ads, limit repeats and prevent fraud:

• __gads: ad delivery and measurement. Expires after 13 months.
• __gpi: ad delivery and measurement, like __gads. Expires after 13 months.
• __eoi: security and fraud prevention for ads. Expires after 6 months.

07How to delete or block cookies

Clearing all site data for Velvet Solitaire also wipes your statistics, saved games and leaderboard identity on that device. To remove only the analytics, delete the cookies whose names start with _ga, if your browser lets you pick. Menus change between versions, but the steps are roughly these:

• Chrome: Settings, then Privacy and security, then delete browsing data. For this site only, click the icon left of the address bar.
• Safari: on a Mac, Settings, then Privacy, then Manage Website Data. On iPhone and iPad, the Settings app, then Safari, Advanced and Website Data.
• Firefox: Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Cookies and Site Data.
• Edge: Settings, then Cookies and site permissions, then manage and delete cookies and site data.

08Other ways to opt out of analytics

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the simplest way is Privacy choices in the footer. Anywhere, a content blocker will stop analytics, and so will Google's official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The games, your statistics, the Daily Challenge and the leaderboards all work the same without the analytics cookies.

09For readers in California and the rest of the US

We don't sell personal information for money. When ads are shown, Google's ad cookies may count as sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising under some state laws, such as California's. If you're in a state with this opt-out right, use the Do not sell or share my personal information link in the footer.

10Questions

If anything here is unclear, write to [email protected]. When this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new date.