Terms of Use

This is a plain-English draft written while the site is in development. It should be reviewed before launch.

1. What this is

Cairn is a free daily game about historic places. By using the site you agree to these terms. If you do not, please do not use it.

2. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your password to yourself and for what happens under your account. Give us an email address you can actually receive mail at — it is the only way to recover access.

One account per person. We may suspend or remove accounts that are used to abuse other players, to script the game, or to spoil quests for people who are still playing.

3. Playing fairly

Do not automate guesses, and do not try to extract answers from the site by any means other than working them out. The daily quest is a shared thing: publishing the answer while it is live spoils it for everybody, so please do not.

Past quests in the archive are a different matter — discuss those freely.

4. Content and accuracy

We do our best to get the history right and we link every place to its source so you can check us. It is a game, not a reference work; if you spot something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

5. Images, maps and attribution

Images, map data and historical text come from a variety of sources under a variety of licences, all credited on our credits page. Everything we have made ourselves — the puzzles, the hint text, the site itself — remains ours; please do not republish it wholesale.

6. Availability

The site is provided as it is, free of charge, with no guarantee that it will be available or that a quest will appear every single day. We are not liable for anything that follows from using it.

7. Changes

These terms may change as the site grows. Continuing to use it after a change means you accept the new version.