The short version.
- The free tools run in your browser. The text and images you put into them are not sent to us.
- An account needs an email address, an alias and a password. Only your alias is ever shown to other people.
- Payments are taken by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
- We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use third-party analytics.
- Some puzzles are drafted with the help of an AI model. Nothing about you is sent to it.
- To see, correct or delete your data, email contactus@matrixpuzzle.com.
1. Who is responsible
Matrix Portal (matrixpuzzle.com) is operated by Psychic Tech Support LLC, based in Kennesaw, Georgia, USA. We decide how the information described here is used, which makes us the "data controller" under European and UK law. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Psychic Tech Support LLC.
2. What we collect
When you just visit
Like most websites, our server keeps a log of requests. Each entry has the date and time, the page requested, your IP address, your browser's user-agent string, and the page that linked you here if your browser sends it. If you are logged in, the entry also has your alias. We also keep a security log of events such as blocked requests and repeated failed logins, with the same technical details.
When you create an account
- Your email address, and whether and when you verified it.
- Your alias, which is your public name on the site.
- Your password, stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash. We can't read it.
- Account dates: when you registered and when you last logged in.
When you log in
For each device you are logged in on, we store a session record with your IP address, your browser's user-agent string and the time you were last active. Failed login attempts are counted by IP address and by account so we can slow down password guessing.
When you play
For registered players we record puzzle activity: which puzzles you opened and when, the hints you took, how many answers you submitted and when, your solves, and the points, streaks, levels and achievements worked out from them. Timing is measured on our server. We don't keep the wrong answers you typed, only that an attempt was made.
When you play the mazes
In a 3D maze we record when you enter it and when you finish it, the terminals you use, and the gates you open (gates are scored like any other puzzle). We also record which data fragments you have collected in each maze and, for mazes built by members, which gates you have opened and that you have played the maze. Walking around a maze is not tracked: where you are standing and which way you face stay in your browser.
When you build a maze or a chain
If you are an Elite member and build a maze, we store what you write and choose for it: its title and description, each gate's clue, hint, cipher steps and keys, the answers (kept encrypted, and checked against a one-way hash), the hidden bonus message if you add one, its look and size, whether it is published, and whether you submitted it to the gallery. We also count how many members have opened it.
If you hide a gate's text in a picture, your browser hides the text and then uploads the picture to us when you save. We store it on our server as a PNG file with its size and the date, and we keep it with your account. Before storing it we rebuild the file from its pixels only, so details a camera or phone adds to a photo, such as its location, the device and the time it was taken, are removed and never kept. A moderator looks at each picture before anyone but you can see it, and the players of your maze see the picture once it is approved. A picture no gate uses any more is deleted after 2 days.
When you report a maze
If you report a member-built maze, we store the report with your account and the note you wrote, so we can review it. The builder is not told who reported it.
When you use the Workshop
If you save a recipe, we store it with your account: its name, its steps, the settings of each step (including any keys you typed into them), and the sample input if you chose to save one. Text you run through the Workshop without saving is not sent to us.
When you buy Elite
Stripe collects your payment details on its own pages. From Stripe we receive and store:
- Stripe's reference numbers for you as a customer and for your subscription.
- Your plan, its status, and its start, renewal, cancellation and end dates.
- A record of each paid invoice: its reference number, amount, currency and date.
- A copy of the billing notifications Stripe sends us. These can include your name, email address and billing address as you entered them at checkout.
We never receive your full card number, its security code or your bank login.
When we email you
We keep a log of the account emails we send: the address, the subject and the time. We send only account emails: verifying your address, resetting a password, and telling you that your password changed. We don't send marketing email.
When you contact us
If you use the contact form, we store the name, email address, subject and message you enter, together with your IP address, your browser's user-agent string and, if you are logged in, your account. The message is also emailed to us. If you email us directly, we keep the message and your address. We use these only to reply and to keep a record of what was agreed.
The contact form does not use a third-party CAPTCHA. Spam is filtered on our own server.
Spam protection on our forms
The registration, contact and password-reset forms are checked for spam on our own server. Each time one is sent we record your IP address, the network it belongs to, the time, which form it was and whether it was accepted. We don't keep the email address you typed in this record, only a one-way code made from it, so we can count sends to the same address without storing it. We use this only to stop automated abuse, such as scripts that send spam or create accounts to email strangers. Addresses that keep tripping the checks are blocked for 7 days. Nothing is sent to anyone else, and no third-party CAPTCHA is used.
3. What stays in your browser
The cipher, encoding, analysis and steganography tools do their work inside your browser, and the 3D mazes are drawn by your own device. The text you type and the images you load into them are processed on your device and are not uploaded to our server. The one exception is a picture you choose for a gate when you build a maze, which is uploaded when you save it (see above).
There is one thing to know. When a puzzle page opens a tool with the puzzle text already filled in, that text travels in the page address, so it appears in our request log like any other address. The same is true of any tool link you build or share that carries text in its address. Don't put anything private in a link like that.
4. Cookies and browser storage
We set two cookies ourselves, and both are needed for accounts to work. We don't set analytics or tracking cookies.
| Name | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
MATRIX_SESSION | Keeps you logged in as you move between pages and protects forms against forged requests. It is set the first time you open a page with a form, such as login or registration. | Until you close your browser. The session behind it ends after 4 hours without activity. |
MATRIX_REMEMBER | Logs you back in on this device. It is set only if you tick "Stay signed in". | 30 days, or until you log out or change your password. |
The site also saves some things in your browser's own storage, which never leaves your device and is not sent to us: which tutorial puzzles you have solved, your marks on a logic grid, an unsaved Workshop draft, progress inside a few tools such as the substitution solver, and in the 3D mazes your place in each maze and your settings (sound, volume, look sensitivity, touch controls, map and detail level). Clearing your browser's site data removes them.
Advertising cookies
Free pages may show ads. Ads are not shown on the Elite, login, registration, Terms or Privacy pages, and are not shown to Elite members. When ads are switched on, they may be supplied by an advertising network such as Google AdSense. An ad network may set its own cookies and use your IP address and browsing activity to choose and measure ads. Google explains how it does this at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can turn off personalised ads from Google at adssettings.google.com. Where the law requires your consent for advertising cookies, we will ask for it before any are set.
Payment pages
Checkout and "Manage plan" are pages on Stripe's own sites (checkout.stripe.com, billing.stripe.com and link.com). Stripe sets its own cookies there, under its own privacy policy.
5. How we use information
- To run your account: logging you in, keeping you logged in, and sending the account emails listed above.
- To run the game: saving progress, working out points, levels and achievements, and building the leaderboard.
- To provide Elite: turning membership on and off to match your subscription, and showing your plan and renewal date on your account page.
- To keep the site safe and fair: blocking attacks and abuse, limiting password guessing, and spotting cheating.
- To look after community content: reviewing mazes submitted to the gallery and mazes that players report.
- To understand and fix the site: reading our own logs to see which pages are used, where visitors come from and what is broken.
- To meet legal duties, such as keeping business records.
We don't use your information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you, and we don't build advertising profiles.
For visitors in the European Economic Area and the UK, our legal grounds are: performing our contract with you (your account, the game and Elite); our legitimate interests in keeping the site secure, fair and working; your consent, where we ask for it; and legal obligations.
6. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We share information only with:
- Stripe, which takes payments for Elite through its Link service as the seller of record. When you start a checkout, we send Stripe your email address and an internal account number so the purchase can be matched to your account. Stripe handles your payment details, tax, receipts and payment support under its own policy: stripe.com/privacy.
- Our hosting provider, whose data centre houses the server we run the site on.
- Email providers. Email we send you passes to whoever provides your mailbox.
- Anthropic, only if you use the puzzle assistant, should we offer one, as described under Artificial intelligence.
- Advertising networks, only if ads are switched on, as described under Advertising cookies.
- Authorities or other parties, when the law requires it, or when it is needed to protect our rights, our players or the public.
- A successor, if the site is sold or merged. The new operator would have to keep to this policy or tell you before changing it.
7. Artificial intelligence
How we use it today
We use Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, to help draft new puzzles: titles, stories, scenes and the phrases that become answers. The site's own code does all the encryption, and every draft is checked and approved by a person before it is released. When we ask for a draft, we send Anthropic only instructions and the titles of existing puzzles, so it doesn't repeat them. We don't send it anything about you: no account details, no activity, nothing you have written.
If we offer a puzzle assistant
We may offer Elite members an assistant that answers questions and gives hints as you play. If we do, and only when you choose to use it, what you type into it and the puzzle you are working on will be sent to Anthropic to produce the reply. We won't send your email address, and we will tell you on the assistant itself that your messages go to an AI provider. Anthropic processes those messages under its commercial terms and privacy policy (anthropic.com/legal/privacy). We will keep a record of when you used the assistant and how much, so we can apply daily limits. Don't type personal information into it. If we start to keep the conversations themselves, we will say so here first.
8. What other people can see
The leaderboard shows the alias, points, number of puzzles solved, best time and level of ranked players. Only players with a verified email are ranked. Your email address is never shown to other players.
The top five players are also shown on the home page.
A saved Workshop recipe has its own link. Any signed-in player who has that link can open the recipe and see your alias, its steps and settings, and its sample input.
A maze or chain you build and publish has its own link. Any signed-in player who has the link can play it and will see its title, your clues and hints, your alias as its builder, and the answers they uncover. If you submit it to the community gallery and we approve it, its title, description, look, number of gates, your alias and how many members have played it are shown on the gallery page, which anyone can see without an account.
9. How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Account, progress, scores, maze fragments, saved recipes, mazes you build (and their pictures) and reports you make | Until you ask us to delete your account. A gate picture no gate uses is deleted after 2 days. |
| Login sessions | Removed after 4 hours without activity, or when you log out. |
| "Stay signed in" tokens | 30 days, or until you log out or change your password. |
| Email verification and password reset links | Verification links last 24 hours and reset links 1 hour. Used and expired ones are cleared within about a week. |
| Contact form messages | Until the matter is closed. Messages we have dealt with, and spam, are deleted automatically after 365 days. You can ask us to delete yours sooner. |
| Form spam-check records | 30 days, then deleted automatically. |
| Request, security and email logs | Log files are closed off and archived from time to time. Archived files are deleted automatically 90 days later. |
| Subscription and invoice records | As long as tax and accounting rules require, even after an account is deleted. |
When you ask us to delete your account, we remove your email address, alias, password, sessions, scores, achievements, maze fragments, saved recipes, the mazes and chains you built and their pictures (their links stop working and they leave the gallery), your progress in other members' mazes, reports you made, and contact form messages. Your place on the leaderboard goes with them. The history of account and puzzle activity stays in our records but is no longer linked to your email or alias. We keep the billing records described above, and entries about you in older log files remain until those files are deleted.
10. Your choices and rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- Tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy.
- Correct your email address. Your alias can't be changed by you, but we can fix a typo or replace one that identifies you.
- Delete your account and the information tied to it.
Email contactus@matrixpuzzle.com from the address on your account. We reply within 30 days and don't charge for this. We won't treat you differently for making a request.
You can change your password and see your membership on your account page. You can manage or cancel a subscription, and ask Stripe to delete the payment information it holds, at link.com.
European Economic Area and UK
You also have the right to object to, or ask us to restrict, processing that is based on our legitimate interests, to withdraw consent you have given, to receive your data in a portable format, and to complain to your local data protection authority.
California and other US states
You have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, to correct it, to delete it, and not to be discriminated against for using these rights. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. If ads are switched on and that changes, we will update this policy and offer an opt-out first.
11. Children
The service is not directed at children under 13, and they may not create an account. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has registered, email us and we will delete the account. The free tools and tutorial puzzles can be used without an account and without giving us any personal details.
12. Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes, and login tokens are stored as hashes too. Cookies are marked Secure and HttpOnly. Repeated failed logins lock further attempts for a few minutes, and addresses that keep sending attacks are blocked automatically. Changing your password logs out your other devices and sends you an email.
No website can promise perfect security. Use a password you don't use anywhere else, and tell us straight away if you think your account has been accessed by someone else.
13. Where information is processed
We operate from the United States. Information we hold is processed there, and by the service providers named above in the countries where they operate. These countries may have different data protection laws from yours. By using the service you understand that your information will be processed outside your own country.
14. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when what we collect or how we use it changes, and change the "Last updated" date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also post a notice on the site or email registered players before it takes effect.
15. Contact
Psychic Tech Support LLC (Matrix Portal)
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
Email: contactus@matrixpuzzle.com
See also our Terms of Service.