Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. How this works
ArcadeTsunami

Privacy Policy

What this site collects, what it does not, and how to switch off the parts you do not want. No dark patterns and no tracking we cannot justify.

Last updated August 31, 2026 · Applies to arcadetsunami.com and www.arcadetsunami.com

The short version

In plain language

You can read every page on this site without an account and without telling us who you are. If you create an account we store your email address so you can sign in and so we can send you the messages you asked for. We show ads through Google and earn commission on some outbound product links. We do not sell your personal information, and we have never done so.

What we collect

If you just browse

Our web server keeps standard access logs: the requesting IP address, the page requested, a timestamp, the referring page and the browser's user-agent string. These are used to keep the site running and to investigate abuse. We do not use them to build a profile of you.

If you create an account

We store the email address and display name you give us, a one-way hash of your password (never the password itself), and the date you registered. You need a working email address because accounts are confirmed by email, which is what stops the Social Wall filling up with bots.

If you post

Comments, Social Wall posts, contest entries and anything else you submit are stored with your display name attached and shown publicly. Treat anything you post as public and permanent-ish — see Your choices for how to get it removed.

Required disclosure

Cookies and similar technologies

Our own cookie

This site sets one first-party cookie of its own, named atsid. It holds a session identifier and nothing else — no name, no email, no browsing history. It is marked HttpOnly (JavaScript cannot read it), Secure (it is never sent over plain HTTP) and SameSite=Lax. It expires when you close your browser. Without it you cannot stay signed in.

Google AdSense and advertising cookies

We use Google AdSense to show ads. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.

Opting out stops ads being personalised. It does not remove ads, and it does not stop the site working.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to count page views and see which guides people actually read. IP anonymisation is enabled. Google Signals — the cross-device demographic and interest reporting feature — is deliberately switched off. We do not use analytics data to identify individual visitors.

Embedded video

Video pages embed YouTube players through youtube-nocookie.com, YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, so YouTube does not set tracking cookies unless you actually press play. Once you play a video, YouTube's own privacy policy applies to that playback.

Blocking cookies yourself

Every major browser can block or delete cookies from its settings, and ad and tracker blockers work normally here — we do not detect them or nag you about them. Block our atsid cookie and everything still works except staying signed in.

Who else is involved

These are the only third parties that receive data as a result of your visit:

We do not sell personal information and we do not share it with data brokers, mailing-list resellers or anyone else not named on this page.

How we make money

Two ways: display ads served by Google, and affiliate commission when you buy something through an outbound product link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing extra and never changes the price you pay. The full version of this disclosure, along with how we rate hardware, is on the Rules & Disclosure page.

Advertising has no influence on our ratings or recommendations. Advertisers cannot buy a better score, and no advertiser sees our content before it is published.

Children

This site is aimed at adults building and collecting arcade hardware. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account here, contact us and we will delete it.

Your choices and your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to do the following and we will do it:

If you are in the EEA or the UK, this is the substance of your GDPR access, rectification, erasure and portability rights. If you are in California, it covers your CCPA/CPRA rights to know and to delete; note again that we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined there. We do not charge for any of this and we do not treat you differently for asking.

To make a request, use the contact page. We aim to respond within 30 days.

How long we keep things

Server access logs are rotated and discarded within 90 days. Account data is kept for as long as the account exists; delete the account and it goes. Public posts may be retained in place with the author's name removed where deleting the post outright would break a conversation thread — tell us if you want it removed entirely and we will remove it.

Security

The whole site is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes, so nobody here can read them — including us. Configuration and credentials live outside the web root. No system is perfect; if you find a security problem, please report it through the contact page before disclosing it publicly.

Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or who we share it with, we will update this page and move the "last updated" date at the top. Material changes will also be announced on the Social Wall rather than buried here.