Privacy Policy

Country Generator ("we", "us", "our") operates Country Generator, a geography games and tools platform. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it when you use our website.

By using Country Generator, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy.

Information We Collect

We collect the minimum needed to run the games and, if you choose to sign up, your account:

• Account information: If you create an account, we store your email address and username. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from Google.
• Game data: For signed-in players, we store game scores, progress, streaks, and per-answer results so we can show your statistics and leaderboard position.
• Visited countries: If you use the Visited Countries tool, your selections are saved in your browser, and to your account when you are signed in.
• Technical data: Our web server records standard access logs (IP address, browser type, pages visited) for security and operations. We use a cookieless analytics service for aggregate traffic counts; see Tracking below.

Cookies and Local Storage

Country Generator only uses strictly necessary cookies and browser storage. We do not use any tracking, analytics, or advertising cookies. Under the EU ePrivacy Directive and GDPR, strictly necessary cookies do not require consent, so there is no cookie banner.

Cookies we set

• laravel_session: Keeps your session while you browse (signed-in state and page-to-page state). Essential for the site to work. Expires after 2 hours of inactivity.
• XSRF-TOKEN: Protects forms against cross-site request forgery. Essential for security.

Both cookies are first-party (set by countrygenerator.com only), sent over HTTPS only, and marked SameSite=Lax, so they are not sent on cross-site requests from other domains.

Browser localStorage

Your browser stores the following on your device so the games work as expected. It is not sent to our servers unless stated, and you can clear it any time through your browser settings.

• Per-game best score and recent run history
• Daily challenge history and today's in-progress guesses
• Which questions a game has already asked you, so it does not repeat them
• Visited countries selections (synced to your account when you sign in)
• Game preferences (difficulty, animations, dismissed how-to-play tips, spinner display options)
• Language preference
• Theme preference (light, dark, or follow your device setting)

Guest play

You can play every game without an account. When a guest finishes a game, the server only adds one to an anonymous site-wide play counter. No game record, score, or identifier is stored for guests, and guest play never appears on the leaderboard. Guest scores are not transferred to your account if you sign up later. Creating an account starts a fresh stats record from that point on, so sign in first if you want every play to count toward your leaderboard rank and lifetime stats. Each game page shows this notice to visitors who are not signed in.

Tracking

No Google Analytics, no advertising pixels, no third-party cookies. We use Ahrefs Web Analytics, which is cookieless, does not fingerprint your device, does not track you across other sites, and records aggregate page views only. Because nothing is stored on or read from your device, this does not need consent under the EU ePrivacy Directive. If we ever add tracking that does need consent, we will update this policy and add a consent prompt first.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and operate the geography games and tools
• Save your game scores, progress, and visited countries
• Display leaderboards and statistics
• Detect and block cheating and abuse (see Data Retention)
• Send account emails such as email verification and password resets
• Improve the platform based on aggregate usage

What We Don't Do

• Sell or share your personal data with advertisers, data brokers, or other third parties
• Use your data for profiling or targeted advertising
• Collect more than the games and account features actually need

Third-Party Services

Country flags, country outlines, and country data are served from our own servers. The site relies on a small number of outside providers, each of which sees your IP address in the course of doing its job:

• Cloudflare: Sits in front of the site as a content delivery network and protection layer, so every request passes through it. On the registration and forgot-password forms we also show Cloudflare Turnstile, a bot check.
• OpenFreeMap: Serves the map tiles (based on OpenStreetMap data) for the homepage, the visited-countries globe, and the world-map quiz. Your browser requests tiles from it while a map is on screen.
• Ahrefs Web Analytics: Cookieless page-view counting, as described under Tracking.
• Google: Only involved if you click "Sign in with Google". You are redirected to Google to authenticate, and we receive the profile fields you authorize.
• Resend: Delivers our account emails (verification and password reset). It processes your email address for that purpose only.

Each provider handles your data under its own privacy policy, which is available on its website.

Data Retention

We keep your account and game data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your profile, statistics, streaks, and visited countries are removed. Past game sessions are detached from your account so nothing identifies you, and they remain only as anonymous entries in our play counts. They no longer appear on any leaderboard.

Records of game submissions rejected by our anti-cheat checks (IP address and a hashed browser signature) are kept for 90 days to help spot repeated abuse, then deleted automatically.

Data stored in your browser's localStorage stays until you clear it.

Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including HTTPS for all data transmission and standard security practices for storage. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your Rights (GDPR and Global Privacy)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Right of access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure: Delete your account from your profile settings, or ask us to delete it for you.
• Right to data portability: Request an export of your data (visited countries, game history) in a machine-readable format.
• Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data.
• Right to object: Object to processing of your data for certain purposes.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting prior processing.

We aim to respond to all data rights requests within 30 days. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at email us.

Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under GDPR:

• Legitimate interest: Operating the platform, server logs and anti-cheat records for security, leaderboard functionality.
• Contract performance: Providing account services when you sign up.
• Consent: Google sign-in (you choose to authorize it).

Children's Privacy

Country Generator is educational and suitable for all ages. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can remove it.

Future Premium Features

We plan to offer premium features in the future. If and when they are introduced, any additional data collection (such as payment information) will be handled by established third-party payment processors. This policy will be updated before any such change takes effect.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, reach out to us at email us.