Strategem Club is a neighborhood club for people who like a board between them and a good opponent across it. These policies apply at our club nights and events and on everything online: strategem.us, our forum, and Strategem Play (play.strategem.us). By creating an account, buying a membership or ticket, or playing with us, you agree to them.
Part 1 · Code of Conduct
1. Respect everyone
Treat every player, guest, volunteer and venue staff member with courtesy, win or lose.
No harassment, bullying, threats, hate speech, or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other personal trait.
No sexual, violent or graphic content, and no unwanted contact after someone has asked you to stop.
Beginners are welcome here. Teach, don’t taunt.
2. Fair play
In online games, play on your own. Do not use chess engines, bots, analysis tools, opening databases or another person’s help during a game. Analysis after the game is encouraged.
One account per person. Do not share your account, play on someone else’s, or create extra accounts.
Do not deliberately lose games, fix results, stall a lost game, or abandon games to protect your rating.
In tournaments, follow the organizers’ rules and time controls. The organizers’ decision on disputes is final.
We may review games for fair play. Accounts found cheating may have ratings adjusted, results reversed, and access removed.
3. Chat and online communication
Chats are monitored. Club and in-game chat on Strategem Play and posts on our forum are reviewed by club moderators.
Keep it friendly and on topic. No spam, advertising, scams, or links to harmful or adult content.
Do not share anyone’s personal information (address, phone number, school, photos) without their permission, including your own in public chat.
Adults must not ask a young member to move a conversation to a private channel, or request personal information from them.
4. At club nights and events
Follow the house rules of the venue hosting us, including its rules on food, drink and alcohol.
Look after club boards, clocks and pieces, and help put them away.
Children under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, who is responsible for them at all times.
Photos may be taken at events for club news and social media. Tell an organizer if you would rather not be photographed, and we will respect that.
5. Reporting a problem
If something feels wrong, tell us. Use the Report button on any chat message or game on Strategem Play, speak to an organizer at an event, or email hello@strategem.us. Reports are kept confidential, and retaliation against anyone who reports in good faith is itself a violation.
6. Investigations and consequences
Every report is investigated. Depending on how serious and how repeated the behavior is, organizers may:
give a warning;
remove messages or mute chat;
adjust ratings or results, or remove a player from a tournament;
suspend access to Strategem Play, the forum or club events;
terminate the membership of anyone found to have violated this policy.
Serious safety concerns may be reported to the venue or to the authorities. You may appeal a decision by emailing hello@strategem.us within 14 days. A different organizer will review it.
Part 2 · Privacy Notice
This notice explains what personal information Strategem Club collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have. We collect only what we need to run the club, and we never sell your personal information.
1. What we collect
When you sign up: your name, preferred name, email, phone, date of birth, city (and neighborhood if you tell us), optional pronouns and T-shirt size, how you heard about us, the games you play, federation IDs and ratings (US Chess, USBGF, N42PA) if you add them, experience level, any notes you give us, and your password (stored encrypted, never visible to us).
Family members: the name, date of birth and optional email of each person added to a Family membership, and the guardian’s consent for anyone under 18.
Memberships, tickets and payments: your plan, orders, tickets and billing details. Card payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number.
Strategem Play: your games and moves, ratings, puzzle results, board settings, chat messages, reports you make or receive, and coach reviews you request.
Website use: basic technical data (IP address, browser, pages visited) collected through cookies and analytics, and anti-spam checks on our forms.
Messages: anything you send us by email, contact form, forum or our on-site assistant.
2. How we use it
To create and manage your account and membership, and to let you play online and at events.
To process payments, tickets and tournament entries.
To calculate ratings, run tournaments and leaderboards, and provide paid features such as game analysis.
To keep the community safe: moderating chat, investigating reports and enforcing this policy.
To plan events near our members (for example, using the cities members live in).
To send club news and event announcements if you opted in. Account and payment emails are sent regardless.
To keep our sites secure, prevent spam and fix problems.
3. What other members can see
On Strategem Play and the forum, other members can see your display name, profile picture, ratings, game history, tournament results, chat messages and forum posts, plus badges: the ★ for paid members and the 🏡 Neighbor badge, which shows your city if it is one of our neighbor cities. Your email, phone number, date of birth, street address and federation IDs are never shown to other members.
4. Who we share it with
We share information only with the services that help us run the club, and only what they need:
Hostinger (website and server hosting)
Stripe and WooCommerce (payments and orders)
Google (reCAPTCHA spam protection and site analytics)
Our email service, for club newsletters you opted into
The AI provider behind our on-site assistant, for questions you type into it
We share your details with a chess, backgammon or 42 federation only when needed to submit your rated results, venues only when needed for an event (such as a name list), and authorities only when the law requires it or someone’s safety is at risk.
5. Young members
Members under 18 need a parent’s or guardian’s consent. Accounts for children under 13 may only be created by a parent or guardian, for example through a Family membership. A parent or guardian may ask to see, correct or delete their child’s information at any time.
6. How long we keep it
We keep your account information while you are a member and for a reasonable time afterwards so you can rejoin easily. Game records and ratings are kept as part of the club’s history. Chat messages and reports are kept as long as needed for moderation. Payment records are kept as required for tax and accounting. Server backups are overwritten after 14 days.
7. Your choices
Update most of your details any time in My Account.
Unsubscribe from club emails using the link in any newsletter.
Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete your account by emailing hello@strategem.us. We will respond within 30 days. Some records, such as payment history, may need to be kept for legal reasons.
Block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Some features, such as staying signed in, need them.
8. Security
Our sites use encrypted connections (HTTPS), passwords are stored encrypted, and access to member information is limited to club organizers who need it. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password that you don’t use anywhere else.
9. Changes to these policies
We may update these policies as the club grows. We will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, let members know by email or on the site.
Contact us
Questions, reports or requests: hello@strategem.us Strategem Club · Katy, Texas
