How we collect, use, and protect information.

1. Who we are and what this covers

The Kitchen Sink is an independent game studio and publisher owned and operated by Pure Mechanical Group Ltd. In this policy, “The Kitchen Sink,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Pure Mechanical Group Ltd. when it operates thekitchensink.ca and the games published there, including Burst Pipe.

This policy covers website visitors, people who play our browser games, and people who contact us, including developers who pitch games for publishing. We handle personal information in accordance with applicable Canadian privacy law, including British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act where applicable.

2. Information you give us

• Player profiles: the plumber name you choose when you bank your first job. Your name, outfit, career stats, stars, badges and world rank appear publicly on leaderboards and on your shareable player card page.
• Gameplay results: scores, fixes, flood level, stars, completion time, level, difficulty and whether it was a daily job, plus your in-game wallet, closet items and outfit.
• Challenge links: when you share a challenge link it contains your player handle. Anyone who opens it can see your plumber name, outfit and best scores, the same details shown on your public player card.
• Account sign-in (optional): if you choose to save your plumber so you can sign in on other devices, the email address you confirm with a one-time code, or an identifier and email address from your Google account if you sign in with Google. These are kept private, are never shown on leaderboards or player cards, and are used only to sign you in and send your sign-in codes.
• Messages: your name, email address, studio or company, game title, links and anything else you include when you contact us or pitch a game.

Please don't use your full real name or anything sensitive as a plumber name. Player profiles don't need an email address or password; saving your plumber to an email or Google account is optional.

3. Information collected automatically

Like most websites, our servers record technical information such as IP address, browser and device type, pages requested, referral information and timestamps for security and troubleshooting. For games, we store a one-way hashed version of your IP address with game runs and scores to help detect cheating and abuse. We don't store the raw IP address with gameplay records.

Our games save settings in your browser's local storage: sound and music volumes, display and accessibility options, your chosen action key, selected level and difficulty, the starter look you picked, whether you've finished training, personal bests and, if you have one, your player profile's private token. That token is what lets you keep your plumber. Clearing your browser storage removes it from that device. You can restore the profile with your recovery code, or by signing in again if you saved your plumber to an email or Google account.

4. Cookies, analytics, and advertising measurement

The website uses essential cookies and similar technologies required for security, session management, form protection, administration access, and core website and game operation. These necessary technologies cannot be disabled through the website's privacy controls.

When configured by an administrator, the website may also offer optional analytics and advertising measurement through Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Meta Pixel. These tools may receive information such as pages viewed, browser or device information, referral information, campaign parameters, and online identifiers used by the applicable provider.

If you allow analytics, our games also report gameplay events such as starting or finishing a job, completing training, buying a closet item or sharing a player card or challenge. These events include the game, level, difficulty, score and similar game details. They never include your recovery code, and we don't add your plumber name to them.

Optional analytics and advertising technologies remain blocked until you make a choice through the website's consent controls. Your choice is stored in your browser and can be reviewed or changed through the Privacy Choices control in the website footer. Google and Meta process information under their own terms and privacy policies and may process it outside British Columbia or Canada. We don't send contact-form contents to these platforms through the browser tracking integration.

5. How we use information

• to run our games, leaderboards, player profiles, closets and player cards;
• to verify scores and protect leaderboards from cheating, spam and abuse;
• to review and reply to messages, pitches and partnership inquiries;
• to operate, secure, troubleshoot and improve the website and our games; and
• to meet legal, accounting and regulatory obligations.

Contacting us does not subscribe you to marketing email. We won't send commercial electronic messages without a lawful basis and any consent required by law.

6. What is public

Plumber names, outfits, scores, stars, badges, career earnings, jobs finished and world rank are public by design. Leaderboards and player card pages can be viewed and shared by anyone, and may appear in search results. You can rename your plumber at any time from your player card. To have a profile removed, contact us.

7. Service providers and disclosure

We may share information with service providers that support hosting, database storage, email delivery, security, backups and development. They receive only what they need to provide their services. Some may process information outside British Columbia or Canada, where it may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction.

We may disclose information where required by law, to protect rights or safety, to investigate misuse or security incidents, or as part of a business transaction involving Pure Mechanical Group Ltd. We do not sell personal information.

8. Retention

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably needed for the purposes above. Unused game run records are deleted automatically. Player profiles and scores are kept while the game is live unless you ask us to remove them. Messages and pitches are kept as business records for a reasonable period.

9. Security

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the information, including access controls, encrypted connections, hashed player tokens and restricted administration access. No system is perfectly secure. Keep your recovery code private: anyone with it can use your player profile.

10. Children

Our games are made for a general audience. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children beyond the plumber name and gameplay results needed to run leaderboards. Players should avoid using real names. A parent or guardian can contact us to have a profile removed.

11. Access, correction, and removal

You may ask to access personal information we hold about you, correct it, or have your player profile or messages removed, subject to legal exceptions. We may need to verify your identity, for example with your recovery code, before acting on a request.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our website, games, providers or legal obligations change. The revised version will be posted here with a new date.