Terms of Use

ClueBowl Terms of Use

Effective Date: September 6, 2026  •  Last Updated: September 6, 2026

• These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of ClueBowl, including its Practice, Multiplayer, Reader, and related features, websites, applications, and services. By accessing or using ClueBowl, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use ClueBowl.

1. ABOUT CLUEBOWL

ClueBowl is an educational history practice and academic competition platform intended primarily for History Bowl participants, high school students, AP history students, teachers, coaches, moderators, and other history learners.

ClueBowl may provide features including:

• Singleplayer / Practice matches;

• Multiplayer matches;

• Reader / moderator functionality;

• Toss-Ups;

• Toss-Ups with Bonuses;

• Lightning Rounds;

• Steadily Decreasing questions;

• scoring;

• buzz-in functionality;

• teams;

• multiplayer chat;

• team chat;

• answer adjudication;

• AI-assisted answer adjudication;

• question-bank access; and

• other educational or competition-related features.

2. AGE REQUIREMENT

ClueBowl is intended for users age 13 and older.

You may not use ClueBowl if you are under 13.

If you are under the legal age at which you may independently agree to contracts in your jurisdiction, your parent or legal guardian should review and agree to these Terms on your behalf before you use ClueBowl.

ClueBowl is not intended or designed for children under 13.

3. NO PERMANENT PLAYER ACCOUNT REQUIRED

ClueBowl does not currently require a permanent player account for ordinary gameplay.

Multiplayer users may choose temporary display names and participate through temporary match rooms.

You are responsible for the display name, team name, chat messages, answers, and other content you submit while using ClueBowl.

Do not impersonate another person or falsely represent your identity or authority.

4. EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE

ClueBowl is intended primarily for educational, practice, and academic competition purposes.

ClueBowl does not guarantee that:

• every historical statement is error-free;

• every question is perfectly written;

• every answer variant will be recognized;

• every AI-assisted judgment will be correct;

• every competition format exactly matches the rules of another organization; or

• every question is suitable for every curriculum or competition.

Users, teachers, coaches, hosts, and moderators should use appropriate judgment when relying on ClueBowl content.

5. FAIR PLAY

Users must use ClueBowl fairly and in accordance with the intended rules of the applicable match.

You may not knowingly obtain or use information that you are not intended to see during a match.

Prohibited conduct includes, without limitation:

• viewing unrevealed portions of timed questions through developer tools;

• viewing future questions or answers before they are legitimately presented;

• extracting hidden answer data during multiplayer play;

• inspecting application state specifically to gain an unfair competitive advantage;

• using scripts, bots, browser tools, or automation to obtain hidden competition information;

• sharing answers with players who are not supposed to have them;

• coordinating unauthorized answer-sharing during a match;

• exploiting software bugs to obtain competitive advantages; or

• circumventing restrictions designed to preserve match integrity.

A host, moderator, or ClueBowl may invalidate results, remove participants, end matches, or restrict access when cheating or abuse is reasonably suspected.

6. QUESTION-BANK SCRAPING AND BULK EXTRACTION

ClueBowl's question bank and related content may not be copied, scraped, downloaded, harvested, indexed, or extracted in bulk without permission.

You may not use:

• automated scripts;

• bots;

• crawlers;

• scraping tools;

• browser automation;

• API abuse;

• repeated automated requests;

• enumeration of question identifiers; or

• other technical methods

to obtain substantial portions of the ClueBowl question bank or to bypass normal question presentation.

Normal educational use of questions through the ClueBowl interface is permitted.

This restriction does not prohibit ordinary use of ClueBowl's Practice or Reader features as they are intended to function.

7. SECURITY AND ACCESS RESTRICTIONS

You may not attempt to compromise, bypass, interfere with, or defeat ClueBowl's security measures.

You may not:

• access rooms you are not authorized to access;

• impersonate a host;

• impersonate another player;

• alter another player's state;

• alter scores without authorization;

• directly manipulate protected game state;

• bypass Firebase Security Rules or other authorization controls;

• invoke administrative or maintenance functions without authorization;

• forge host commands;

• manipulate buzz results;

• manipulate Lightning voting;

• interfere with timers or game progression;

• bypass rate limits;

• circumvent anti-abuse protections;

• probe for private information;

• exploit security vulnerabilities for unauthorized purposes;

• introduce malicious code;

• interfere with the availability of ClueBowl; or

• attempt to gain access to systems, data, or functionality that ClueBowl has not intentionally made available to you.

The fact that information or functionality can technically be reached through browser developer tools, network requests, Firebase endpoints, scripts, or other technical means does not grant permission to access or manipulate it.

8. AUTOMATED ACCESS

You may not use bots, scripts, automated browsers, automated clients, or similar systems to interact with ClueBowl in a manner that:

• creates excessive requests;

• scrapes question content;

• enumerates rooms;

• creates excessive rooms;

• sends spam;

• manipulates gameplay;

• attempts to bypass restrictions;

• consumes unreasonable computing or API resources; or

• interferes with normal use by others.

ClueBowl may restrict or block automated or abusive activity.

9. MULTIPLAYER ROOMS

Multiplayer rooms are temporary gameplay environments.

Users should only join rooms they are authorized or invited to join.

Room codes should not be used to:

• attempt to enumerate active rooms;

• access unrelated matches;

• disrupt other users;

• impersonate participants;

• harvest information; or

• interfere with games.

Hosts are responsible for managing their matches and participants.

ClueBowl may impose technical limitations on rooms, players, messages, requests, or activity to protect reliability and security.

10. HOST AUTHORITY

A Multiplayer host may have authority over features including:

• starting a match;

• advancing questions;

• marking answers Correct;

• marking answers Incorrect;

• issuing Prompts;

• adjusting scores where permitted;

• managing teams;

• controlling chat;

• muting participants;

• clearing chat;

• managing match settings; and

• ending the match.

Participants agree that the host or designated moderator may make gameplay decisions during a match.

ClueBowl may provide automated answer adjudication, but the system may not always produce a perfect result.

11. ANSWER ADJUDICATION

ClueBowl may use multiple methods to determine whether an answer should be considered Correct, Incorrect, or deserving of a Prompt.

These may include:

• exact answer matching;

• accepted-answer matching;

• prompt rules;

• normalized answer comparison;

• other deterministic rules; and

• AI-assisted adjudication.

Automated adjudication is provided as a convenience and is not guaranteed to be correct.

Where applicable, a host or moderator may resolve disputed answers.

12. AI-ASSISTED ADJUDICATION

ClueBowl may use Google Gemini to assist with answer adjudication when normal answer-recognition methods cannot confidently determine whether a response should be accepted.

AI systems may:

• misunderstand an answer;

• produce an incorrect judgment;

• fail to recognize a valid response;

• accept an invalid response; or

• become temporarily unavailable.

ClueBowl does not guarantee the accuracy of AI-generated or AI-assisted decisions.

Users should not submit confidential, sensitive, or personally identifying information as answers.

Additional information about ClueBowl's use of Gemini is available in the ClueBowl Privacy Policy.

13. CHAT AND COMMUNICATION

ClueBowl Multiplayer may provide public match chat and team chat.

You may not use ClueBowl communications to:

• threaten or harass others;

• send abusive or discriminatory content;

• spam;

• repeatedly disrupt a match;

• impersonate another person;

• distribute malware;

• send fraudulent links;

• disclose another person's private information without permission;

• intentionally share protected answers or future questions;

• facilitate cheating; or

• engage in unlawful activity.

Users should not share sensitive personal information through ClueBowl chat.

Hosts may mute participants, clear chat, disable chat, or remove access to communication features.

ClueBowl may also use automated anti-spam and abuse controls.

14. TEAM CHAT

Team chat is intended for communication among authorized members of the applicable team.

You may not attempt to access or intercept another team's private chat.

Users should understand that no internet communication system can guarantee absolute confidentiality.

15. USER-PROVIDED CONTENT

You retain any rights you may have in original content you submit to ClueBowl.

By submitting temporary gameplay content such as:

• display names;

• team names;

• chat messages;

• answers; or

• other gameplay input,

you grant ClueBowl permission to process, transmit, display, and temporarily store that content as reasonably necessary to operate the service.

This permission exists only to the extent reasonably necessary to provide, secure, moderate, and maintain ClueBowl.

ClueBowl's handling of user information is further described in the Privacy Policy.

16. CLUEBOWL CONTENT

Unless otherwise indicated, ClueBowl's software, interface, design, branding, original question content, graphics, and other original materials are owned by or licensed to ClueBowl and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.

Use of ClueBowl does not transfer ownership of ClueBowl content to you.

You may use ClueBowl content for ordinary personal, educational, classroom, study, moderation, and competition-related use through the intended ClueBowl interface.

You may not, without permission:

• reproduce substantial portions of the question bank;

• sell ClueBowl question content;

• republish substantial portions of the question bank;

• create a competing question database from scraped ClueBowl content;

• remove ownership notices;

• distribute unauthorized database copies; or

• represent ClueBowl content as your own.

Nothing in these Terms restricts rights that you may independently have under applicable copyright law, including applicable exceptions or limitations.

17. THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

ClueBowl may contain or rely on content, software, services, or materials provided by third parties.

Third-party content remains subject to the rights and terms of its respective owners.

ClueBowl does not claim ownership of material that belongs to third parties.

18. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

ClueBowl relies on third-party services, including Google technologies such as:

• Firebase;

• Google Apps Script;

• Google Sheets;

• Google Sites; and

• Google Gemini.

Your use of those services may also be subject to applicable Google terms and policies.

ClueBowl is not responsible for outages, changes, restrictions, errors, or failures caused by third-party services.

19. SERVICE AVAILABILITY

ClueBowl is provided on an "as available" basis.

ClueBowl may occasionally be:

• unavailable;

• slow;

• interrupted;

• under maintenance;

• affected by network failures;

• affected by third-party outages; or

• affected by software errors.

ClueBowl does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Features may be changed, improved, restricted, replaced, or discontinued.

20. BUGS AND ERRORS

Software errors may occasionally occur.

Examples may include:

• incorrect scoring;

• delayed synchronization;

• lost connections;

• incorrect answer adjudication;

• duplicate events;

• question-loading failures;

• chat problems;

• timer errors; or

• match-state inconsistencies.

ClueBowl will attempt to improve reliability but does not guarantee that every bug will be prevented.

21. REPORTING SECURITY ISSUES

If you discover a security vulnerability or serious technical issue, you are encouraged to report it responsibly.

Do not exploit a vulnerability beyond what is reasonably necessary to identify and report the issue.

Do not:

• access unrelated private information;

• alter other users' data;

• disrupt live matches;

• destroy information;

• publish sensitive exploit details before ClueBowl has a reasonable opportunity to address the issue; or

• use a vulnerability for personal, competitive, or financial advantage.

Security reports may be sent to:

[YOUR SECURITY OR CONTACT EMAIL]

22. RESTRICTION OR TERMINATION OF ACCESS

ClueBowl may restrict, suspend, or terminate access to a match, room, feature, session, device, or the service when reasonably necessary to:

• protect users;

• prevent cheating;

• prevent abuse;

• address security threats;

• stop automated scraping;

• prevent excessive resource use;

• respond to unlawful activity;

• maintain service reliability; or

• enforce these Terms.

Because ClueBowl does not necessarily use permanent player accounts, enforcement may occur through technical measures rather than account suspension.

23. PRIVACY

Your use of ClueBowl is also subject to the ClueBowl Privacy Policy.

The Privacy Policy explains:

• what information ClueBowl processes;

• temporary multiplayer information;

• Firebase usage;

• Gemini usage;

• data retention;

• third-party services; and

• privacy-related choices.

The Privacy Policy should be read together with these Terms.

24. NO SALE OR PURCHASE REQUIRED

ClueBowl does not currently require a paid subscription for ordinary use as described in these Terms.

If paid products, subscriptions, competitions, or other purchases are introduced in the future, additional terms may apply.

25. NO GUARANTEE OF COMPETITION ELIGIBILITY

ClueBowl is an independent educational tool unless otherwise expressly stated.

Use of ClueBowl does not guarantee:

• eligibility for any outside academic competition;

• recognition by any competition organization;

• compliance with the rules of every History Bowl or quiz-bowl organization;

• qualification for any tournament;

• academic credit; or

• improved academic or competition results.

Users should consult the rules of the applicable school, league, tournament, or organization when necessary.

26. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CLUEBOWL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE."

CLUEBOWL MAKES NO GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE:

• UNINTERRUPTED;

• ERROR-FREE;

• COMPLETELY SECURE;

• COMPLETELY ACCURATE;

• FREE FROM BUGS;

• COMPATIBLE WITH EVERY DEVICE OR BROWSER; OR

• SUITABLE FOR EVERY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES WARRANTIES OR RIGHTS THAT CANNOT LEGALLY BE EXCLUDED.

27. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, CLUEBOWL AND ITS OPERATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE USE OF CLUEBOWL.

THIS MAY INCLUDE, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS ARISING FROM:

• SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS;

• LOST MATCH DATA;

• INCORRECT SCORING;

• INCORRECT ANSWER ADJUDICATION;

• COMPETITION RESULTS;

• THIRD-PARTY SERVICE FAILURES;

• UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS;

• LOST QUESTION DATA; OR

• RELIANCE ON EDUCATIONAL CONTENT.

WHERE LIABILITY CANNOT LEGALLY BE EXCLUDED, LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

28. USER RESPONSIBILITY

You are responsible for:

• using ClueBowl appropriately;

• following applicable competition rules;

• keeping room codes reasonably controlled where appropriate;

• avoiding disclosure of sensitive information;

• using compatible devices and internet connections;

• complying with applicable laws; and

• complying with these Terms.

29. CHANGES TO CLUEBOWL

ClueBowl may modify the application at any time.

Changes may include:

• new game modes;

• updated questions;

• new security protections;

• altered scoring;

• updated AI systems;

• new moderation features;

• changed technical providers; or

• removal of existing features.

ClueBowl is not obligated to maintain any particular feature indefinitely.

30. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

These Terms may be updated as ClueBowl changes.

When these Terms are revised, the "Last Updated" date at the beginning of the document will be changed.

Material changes may also be communicated through ClueBowl where appropriate.

Continued use of ClueBowl after updated Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.

31. SEVERABILITY

If any portion of these Terms is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect to the extent permitted by law.

32. NO WAIVER

Failure by ClueBowl to enforce a provision of these Terms does not waive the right to enforce that provision or another provision later.

33. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms, together with the ClueBowl Privacy Policy and any additional terms presented for a specific feature, constitute the agreement governing use of ClueBowl.

34. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws applicable in the United States

without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

35. CONTACT

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

ClueBowl

Email: [YOUR CONTACT EMAIL]

36. SUMMARY OF ACCEPTABLE USE

When using ClueBowl:

• be at least 13 years old;

• play fairly;

• do not cheat;

• do not reveal hidden or future questions;

• do not scrape the question bank;

• do not automate bulk extraction;

• do not impersonate hosts or players;

• do not manipulate scores or game state;

• do not access rooms without authorization;

• do not access another team's private chat;

• do not abuse chat;

• do not bypass security protections;

• do not disrupt the service;

• do not exploit bugs for an unfair advantage; and

• use ClueBowl for its intended educational and competition purposes.

Practical drafting template — consider legal review if ClueBowl becomes commercial or widely adopted by schools.

ClueBowl  •  Terms of Use