GCG - Privacy Policy

Effective: 2/12/11
Last Review date: 10/13/22

Game Center Group takes great pride in the relationships that it has developed with its guests. In keeping with this tradition, we at the Game Center Group are dedicated to protecting your privacy and handling any personal information we obtain from you with care and respect.

This Privacy Policy is designed to answer your questions regarding our privacy policies and principles.

What information does this Privacy Policy cover?

Except as specifically described below in A2 and A6, this Privacy Policy applies only to personally identifiable information collected on the Web sites where this Privacy Policy is posted and does not apply to any other information collected by of Companies through any other means. As used in this Privacy Policy, "The Game Center Group of Companies" refers to the Game Center Group Company and its subsidiary and affiliated entities, singly or together, that generally do not offer their products and services under the "GCG" brand name, as well as companies that generally do offer their products and services under the "GCG" brand name. (At times, our Web sites refer to The Game Center Group of Companies as "The Game Center Group of companies.") The Game Center Group Internet Group (including its subsidiaries) is a member of The Game Center Group of Companies, and is referred to in this Privacy Policy as "GCG," "we," "us," "our," and "ourselves." In keeping with the traditions of The Game Center Group Company, we refer to individuals who purchase or use products or services of The Game Center Group of Companies as "guests." When this Privacy Policy uses the term "personally identifiable information," we mean information that identifies a particular individual, such as the individual's name, postal address, e-mail address, and telephone number. When other information (such as, for example, consumer product preferences or number of children) is directly associated with personally identifiable information, this other information also is treated as personally identifiable information for purposes of this Privacy Policy. Personally identifiable information does not include screen names (also known as member names, usernames or other online aliases) provided by our guests in the course of registering with or using any of our Web sites, except in circumstances in which we request that guests provide their e-mail addresses as their screen names. Personally identifiable information is sometimes referred to in this Privacy Policy as "personal information." Finally, the terms of this Privacy Policy are subject to all applicable laws.

What types of personally identifiable information do we collect about our guests?

We collect several types of personally identifiable information about our guests.

Information You Provide to Us:

Much of the personally identifiable information we receive comes directly from guests who are interested in obtaining various products and services from us or another member of The Game Center Group of Companies. Typically, this information includes the guest's name, postal address, e-mail address, and telephone number. We may also collect other types of information such as gender, age, number of children, and personal interests, which we may associate with personally identifiable information. If you purchase products or services from us or another member of The Game Center Group of Companies, we'll note, for example, credit card information, the type of services or products ordered or purchased, and the date of the order or purchase. You may also provide us photographs or other video materials, which may contain personal information. We may collect personal information when you register on, log on, or visit our Web sites, including when you participate in activities on our Web sites, such as sweepstakes, contests, games, and informational and promotional offers, and when you provide information to our customer service representatives. Finally, our Web sites may offer message boards, conversation pages, chat rooms, social community environments, profile pages, and other Public Forums (as defined in the Terms of Use governing our Web sites (the "Terms of Use")), as well as other features in which you may provide us with User Submissions (as defined in the Terms of Use). If you provide personal information when you use any of these features, that personal information may be publicly posted and otherwise disclosed without limitation as to its use by a third party. Our rules regarding User Submissions are described in the Terms of Use, including in the "User Submissions," "Public Forums and Communication" and "House Rules" sections of the Terms of Use.

Information Collected Through Technology:

We collect information through technology to make our sites more interesting and useful to you and for various purposes related to our business. For instance, when you come to one of our sites, we collect your IP address. An IP address is associated with the access point through which you enter the Internet, and is typically controlled by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), your company, or your university. Standing alone, your IP address is not personally identifiable. We may use IP addresses to collect information regarding the frequency with which our guests visit various parts of our sites, and we may combine IP addresses with personally identifiable information.

Our Web sites collect information through a variety of technical methods, including cookies and Web beacons. Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site sends to your computer while you are viewing the Web site. Web beacons are small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of Web sites. Cookies, web beacons and other technical methods may involve the transmission of information either directly to us or to another party authorized by us to collect information on our behalf.

We may use the information collected through these technical methods for many purposes, including delivering content, tracking and enhancing our guests' experience on our Web sites. For example, when you return to one of our Web sites after logging in, cookies provide information to the site so that the site will remember who you are. We also may use technical methods to analyze the traffic patterns on our Web sites, such as the frequency with which our users visit various parts of our Web sites, and third party Web sites, such as the frequency with which our users visit other Web sites. In e-mails that we send our guests, we may use technical methods for a number of purposes, including: to determine whether our guests have opened or forwarded those e-mails and/or clicked on links in those e-mails, to customize the display of banner advertisements and other messages after a guest has closed the e-mail, and to determine whether a guest has made an inquiry or purchase in response to a particular e-mail. These technical methods may enable us to collect and use information in a form that is personally identifiable.

Many advertisements are managed and placed on our Web sites by third parties. These companies are called "network advertisers." Network advertisers who place advertisements on our Web sites may use cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information about your visits to our Web sites and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. Finally, please keep in mind that if you click on an advertisement on one of our Web sites and link to a third party's Web site, then our Privacy Policy will not apply to your personally identifiable information collected on that third party's Web site and you must read the privacy policy posted on that site to see how your personally identifiable information will be handled.

Information That We Collect from Others:

We may update and supplement personally identifiable information that we have collected directly from our guests with other information that we obtain from third parties and other members of The Game Center Group of Companies. In addition, we may obtain personally identifiable information about individuals who are not yet users of our Web sites or guests of The Game Center Group of Companies. In addition, when we associate information that we obtain from third parties or other members of The Game Center Group of Companies with personally identifiable information that we have collected under this Privacy Policy, we will treat the acquired information like the information that we collected ourselves and, except as permitted by this Privacy Policy, the information will not be shared with third parties.

How is your personally identifiable information used and shared?

As described in detail below, The Game Center Group of Companies may use your personally identifiable information in many ways, including sending you promotional materials, and sharing your information with third parties so that these third parties can send you promotional materials. (By "promotional materials," we mean communications that directly promote the use of Web sites, or the purchase of products or services.) As outlined below in A4, you may "opt out" of certain uses of your personal information.

General Provisions for Sharing and Use by The Game Center Group of Companies, Licensees and Co-Branding Participants:

Personally identifiable information collected under this Privacy Policy is shared among and used by The Game Center Group of Companies for many purposes. For example, The Game Center Group of Companies may use your personal information to send you promotional materials about goods and services (including special offers and promotions) either offered by The Game Center Group of Companies or offered by third parties. These promotional materials may be sent to you by postal mail, e-mail or other means. You may opt out of receiving these communications as provided in A4 below. Please keep in mind, however, that when you purchase or request products or services (or information about products or services) from a particular member of The Game Center Group of Companies, promotional materials about goods and services offered by another member of The Game Center Group of Companies and/or by a third party may accompany delivery of the product, service or information that you have requested. We refer to sending you promotional materials in these circumstances as "Fulfillment Uses" of your personal information. Because these promotional materials accompany products, services or information that you have requested, your opt-outs for Individual GCG Companies, The Game Center Group of Companies and Third Parties under A4 below will not apply to any of these Fulfillment Uses.

The Game Center Group of Companies may also use your personal information for many purposes other than sending you promotional materials. (We refer to all of these types of uses of your personal information that do not involve the sending of promotional materials as "Operational Uses.") For example, we may use your information to complete transactions requested by you (such as your purchase of a product or service offered on our Web sites), or to send you administrative communications either about your account with us or about features of our Web sites, including any future changes to this Privacy Policy.

In addition to using your personal information within The Game Center Group of Companies, The Game Center Group of Companies may share your personal information with companies that offer products and/or services under brand names or using characters or other intellectual property of The Game Center Group of Companies. These companies are called "licensees." For example, a company that publishes and sells books under the "GCG" brand would be such a licensee. The Game Center Group of Companies may also share your personal information with companies that offer products and/or services that are co-branded using brand names of The Game Center Group of Companies. These companies are called "co-branding participants." When The Game Center Group of Companies shares personal information with third parties acting as licensees and co-branding participants, these licensees and co-branding participants are restricted by contract from using the personal information for any marketing or promotional purpose that is not related to a licensed or co-branded product or service. Finally, to further protect your privacy, these licensees and co-branding participants' use of personal information shared with them under this Privacy Policy is subject to the same opt-out rights (and limitations upon those rights) that apply to use of personal information by members of The Game Center Group of Companies under A4 below.

Finally, The Game Center Group of Companies may take your personally identifiable information and make it non-personally identifiable, either by combining it with information about other individuals (aggregating your information with information about other individuals), or by removing characteristics (such as your name) that make the information personally identifiable to you (de-personalizing your information). Given the nature of this information, there are no restrictions under this Privacy Policy upon the right of The Game Center Group of Companies to aggregate or de-personalize your personal information, and The Game Center Group of Companies may use and/or share with third parties the resulting non-personally identifiable information in any way.

Non-Registered Transactions with The Game Center Group of Companies:

You may engage in some transactions on our Web sites without registering and logging on the Web sites. These transactions may include purchasing products and services, entering contests and sweepstakes, and requesting special promotional materials. These transactions may be either with us or with other members of The Game Center Group of Companies. (We refer to all of these transactions that you engage in without registering and logging on our Web sites as "Non-Registered Transactions.") The following paragraphs of this "Non-Registered Transactions with The Game Center Group of Companies" section describe the special provisions of this Privacy Policy that apply to Non-Registered Transactions.

When you engage in a Non-Registered Transaction with a member of The Game Center Group of Companies: (a) personal information that you provide during your transaction will not be shared with any third party, and (b) you will have the opportunity to opt out (as described in A4 below) of allowing personal information that you provide during your transaction to be used by members of The Game Center Group of Companies to send their promotional materials to you. If you permit members of The Game Center Group of Companies to send you promotional materials, you may withdraw the permission during a subsequent Non-Registered Transaction. If you withdraw a permission and subsequently engage in another Non-Registered Transaction, you again may grant permission at the time of that transaction to allow members of The Game Center Group of Companies to send their promotional materials to you. In some instances, if you grant a permission and subsequently withdraw that permission within 30 days (or you withdraw a permission and subsequently grant a new permission within 30 days), your subsequent action may be disregarded. Therefore, to be certain that any modification of your permission status will be effective, please wait 30 days before making any such modification.

If you withdraw a permission by following the procedures described in the previous paragraph, it may take up to thirty (30) days (unless a shorter time period is required by applicable law) for members of The Game Center Group of Companies to stop sharing your personal information for promotional purposes with other members of The Game Center Group of Companies. In addition, it may take up to ninety (90) days (unless a shorter time period is required by applicable law) for members of The Game Center Group of Companies to stop using your personal information for promotional purposes. Finally, please keep in mind that, if you have not consistently used the same postal and email addresses on our Web sites, or if you have used a general change of address process (such as the change of address process offered by the U.S. Post Office) after providing address information on our Web sites, systems maintained by members of The Game Center Group of Companies may have varying contact information for you. Accordingly, it may not always be possible to match your new opt-out choices with your personal information that you previously have provided.

In addition, please note that A4 of this Privacy Policy describes various exceptions that apply to opt-out choices you may make, and these exceptions apply to any choices that you make regarding the use of your personal information that you provide during Non-Registered Transactions.

Finally, please remember that the opt-out choices that you make during Non-Registered Transactions will not affect the opt-out choices that you make while registered and logged on to our Web sites, and the opt-out choices that you make while registered and logged on to our Web sites will not affect the opt-out choices that you make during Non-Registered Transactions.

Third Parties Offering Promotions, Products, or Services:

Subject to your opt-out choices (see A4 below), The Game Center Group of Companies may share your personal information with selected third parties so that they can send you promotional materials about goods and services (including special offers and promotions) offered by them. (We call this type of sharing "promotional sharing" or sharing for "promotional purposes.") When sharing your information for promotional purposes, The Game Center Group of Companies attempts to select only reputable companies that offer high quality products and services. Moreover, The Game Center Group of Companies will not share your e-mail address with third parties for promotional purposes, except when you consent to such sharing in the course of your participation in a Sponsored Activity as described below. When The Game Center Group of Companies shares your personal information with a third party under any circumstance described in this "Third Parties Offering Promotions, Products, or Services" section, your personal information will become permanently subject to the information use and sharing practices of the third party, and the third party will not be restricted by this Privacy Policy with respect to its use and further sharing of your personal information.

In addition to the promotional sharing that is subject to your opt-out choices under A4 below, The Game Center Group of Companies may also share your information when you engage in certain activities on our sites that are sponsored by third parties, such as purchasing products or services offered by a third party, electing to receive information or communications from a third party, or electing to participate in contests, sweepstakes, games or other programs sponsored in whole or in part by a third party. The Game Center Group of Companies may also share your personal information when you respond to promotional materials from The Game Center Group of Companies and authorize a third party to use your personal information for purposes such as, for example, sending you additional promotional materials, providing you a product or service, or entering you in a contest, sweepstakes or game. (We refer to all of these activities and requests as "Sponsored Activities.") When you participate in Sponsored Activities, you will either be required or requested to agree that the sponsor or business associate may use your personal information (including, in some cases, your e-mail address) in accordance with the sponsor or business associate's privacy practices. Since you will have consented to this specific instance of sharing of your personal information, the opt-out choice for "Third Parties" described in A4 below will not apply.

Companies That Facilitate Communications and Transactions with You:

Sometimes The Game Center Group of Companies hires companies to help provide products or services, like a shipping company that delivers a package or a company that helps fulfillment. In those instances, there is a need to share your information with these companies. Sometimes The Game Center Group of Companies also works with other companies who help either gather your information or communicate with you, such as a company that helps to provide customer service. Your opt-out choices under A4 below will not apply to sharing by The Game Center Group of Companies of your personal information with any of these companies. Nonetheless, except as separately permitted by other provisions of this Privacy Policy, these companies are allowed to gather, receive, and use your information only for the purposes described in this paragraph or to facilitate compliance with laws.

Companies That You Previously Authorized to Obtain Your Information:

In certain circumstances, your dealings with a third party may have authorized that third party to obtain your personal information from The Game Center Group of Companies and to use that information in accordance with the third party's own privacy practices and policies. For example, in using an online shopping service (such as the shopping services offered by Internet portals that refer the portal's users to third-party merchants), you may have authorized that shopping service to obtain from the service's participating third-party merchants (including The Game Center Group of Companies) information about your purchases conducted through the shopping service. In such circumstances, your opt-out elections under A4 below will not apply to sharing of your personal information by The Game Center Group of Companies. Nonetheless, The Game Center Group of Companies will provide such companies only the information that you authorized (except as separately permitted under other provisions of this Privacy Policy). In the example given above, the shopping service would be provided only information concerning purchases you made from The Game Center Group of Companies through that shopping service, and would not be provided any other information concerning you, unless any additional sharing of your personal information were separately permitted under another provision of this Privacy Policy.

Purchase or Sale of Businesses:

From time to time, we may purchase a business or sell one or more of our businesses (or portions thereof) and your personally identifiable information may be transferred as a part of the purchase or sale. In the event that we purchase a business, the personally identifiable information received with that business would be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy, if it is practicable and permissible to do so. In the event that we sell a business, we will include provisions in the selling contract requiring the purchaser to treat your personally identifiable information in the same manner required by this Privacy Policy (including any amendments to this Privacy Policy). In light of this protection, your opt-out choices under A4 will not affect our right to transfer your information to a purchaser in these circumstances. The provisions of this paragraph will also apply in the event that one or more businesses of any other member of The Game Center Group of Companies are sold and personal information subject to this Privacy Policy is transferred to a purchaser of those businesses.

Disclosures to Comply With Laws and Disclosures to Help Protect the Security and Safety of Our Web Sites, The Game Center Group of Companies and Others:

Regardless of any opt-out choices that you make under A4, The Game Center Group of Companies will disclose personal information when it believes in good faith that such disclosures (a) facilitate compliance with laws, including, for example, compliance with a court order or subpoena, or (b) will help to: enforce our Terms of Use; enforce contest, sweepstakes, promotions, and/or game rules; protect your safety or security, including the safety and security of property that belongs to you; and/or, protect the safety and security of our Web sites, The Game Center Group of Companies, and/or third parties, including the safety and security of property that belongs to The Game Center Group of Companies or third parties.

What choices do you have about the collection, use, and sharing of your personally identifiable information?

With regard to personal information that you have provided under this Privacy Policy, there are three separate opt-out choices available to you. These opt-out choices are the means by which you give us, or decline to give us, your consent to use your personal information for the purposes covered by these opt-out choices. Some of our Web sites may not present you all three opt-out choices described below. Please be assured, however, that if any one of these opt-out choices is not presented to you on a Web site, then personal information collected from you on that site will not be used for the purposes covered by that opt-out choice. There are several methods by which you can exercise your opt-out choices: (a) during the registration process on our Web sites; (b) as described below in A6. Each of these opt-out choices is subject to the exceptions described further below in this A4.

Your three opt-out choices are:

Parties: You may choose to opt out of receiving promotional materials from third parties. If you do not choose this opt-out, The Game Center Group of Companies may share your personal information so that third parties can send you these promotional materials. Your opt-out choices for third parties generally are specific to the particular Web sites where you make these choices. Thus, if you want to opt out of all uses of your personal information covered by the "Third Parties" opt-out, you must consistently elect that opt-out at each of our Web sites either when you register or when you log in and visit that Web site's support page . If you want to make a change in your "Third Parties" opt-out choices, you will need to make that change at each of our Web sites where you previously made a different choice. Please bear in mind that this opt-out choice for "Third Parties" will not apply to the licensees and co-branding participants described above in A3.

The Game Center Group of Companies: You may choose to opt out of receiving promotional materials from members of The Game Center Group of Companies, including the licensees and co-branding participants described above in A3. This opt-out choice is found on each of our Web sites. For your convenience, when you make a choice regarding this opt-out at any one of our Web sites, we will treat that choice as replacing any other choices regarding that opt-out that you may previously have made. Thus, if you want to make a change in your "The Game Center Group of Companies" opt-out choice, you can make that change by visiting the Guest Services center at any one of our Web sites. Your election to choose this "The Game Center Group of Companies" opt-out will not, however, override your consent to receive promotional materials from a specific member of The Game Center Group of Companies. As described in the following paragraph, you provide this consent when you complete a registration page on, or visit the Guest Services center of, the Web site for a specific member of The Game Center Group of Companies and choose not to opt out of receiving promotional materials from that specific member.

Individual GCG Companies: You may choose to opt out of receiving promotional materials directly from a specific member of The Game Center Group of Companies by completing a registration page on, or visiting the Guest Services center of, the Web site for that member. However, if you do not also opt out of receiving promotional materials from "The Game Center Group of Companies" as described in the preceding paragraph, you may still receive promotional materials from this specific member of The Game Center Group of Companies.

Please keep in mind that any opt-out choices you make will not apply in situations where (a) you either have made, simultaneously make, or later make a specific request for information from a member of The Game Center Group of Companies, (b) The Game Center Group of Companies uses your personal information for either "Operational Uses" or "Fulfillment Uses" (as described above in A3), (c) you either have engaged, simultaneously engage, or later engage in either Non-Registered Transactions or Sponsored Activities (as described above in A3), or (d) The Game Center Group of Companies shares your personal information under the provisions of A3 above with respect to "Companies That Facilitate Communications and Transactions With You," "Companies That You Previously Authorized to Obtain Your Information," "Purchase or Sale of Businesses," or "Disclosures to Comply with Laws and Disclosures to Help Protect the Security and Safety of Our Web Sites, The Game Center Group of Companies and Others." Also, any opt-out choices you make will not apply to personal information that you provide about other persons, but these other persons will have the opportunity to opt out of receiving promotional materials.

In addition, any time that we send you promotional materials that you have consented to receive under one of the previously described opt-out choices, we may accompany those materials with promotional materials covered by the other opt-out choices. We may do so even if you have opted out of receiving promotional materials covered by those other opt-out choices. Any such additional promotional materials, however, will constitute only a minor part of any particular communication with you.

Finally, if you do not exercise your opt-out choices upon registration or initial log-in at our Web sites, it may take up to ninety (90) days for your opt-out choices to be fully effective. Our systems require time to update, and promotional mailings using your personal information shared before your opt-out may already be in process. Finally, please keep in mind that, if you have not consistently used the same postal and email addresses on our Web sites, or if you have used a general change of address process (such as the change of address process offered by the U.S. Post Office) after providing address information on our Web sites, systems maintained by members of The Game Center Group of Companies may have varying contact information for you. Accordingly, it may not always be possible to match your new opt-out choices with your personal information that you previously have provided.

What kinds of security measures do we take to safeguard your personally identifiable information?

The security and confidentiality of your information is extremely important to us. We have implemented technical, administrative, and physical security measures to protect guest information from unauthorized access and improper use. From time to time, we review our security procedures in order to consider appropriate new technology and methods. Please be aware though that, despite our best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.

How can you update your contact information and opt out choices?

You need to contact the support center by sending an e-email to the address [email protected] . Please include information in the e-mail that will help us identify your account so we can assist you with your request. We may also provide you an opportunity to update your contact information and/or modify your opt-out choices by sending you an e-mail or other communication that invites your response.

How can you ask questions, or send us comments, about this Privacy Policy?

If you have questions or wish to send us comments about this Privacy Policy, please send an e-mail with your questions or comments at [email protected] or write us:

Game Center Group - Support
13840 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA 92064

How will you know if we amend this Privacy Policy?

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If we amend this Privacy Policy to permit material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you of such amendment by sending you an e-mail at the last e-mail address that you provided us, and/or by prominently posting notice of such amendment on the Web sites covered by this Privacy Policy. Any such amendment to this Privacy Policy will be effective thirty (30) calendar days following either our dispatch of an e-mail notice to you or our posting of notice of the changes on the Web sites covered by this Privacy Policy. Please note that, at all times, you are responsible for updating your personal information to provide us your current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address that you have provided us is not valid, or for any other reason is not capable of delivering to you the notice described above, our dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice of the amendment described in the notice. In any event, an amendment to this Privacy Policy may permit material changes in the way we use and share personal information that you provided us prior to our notification to you of such amendment. If you do not wish to allow such material changes, you must so notify us (in the manner we specify) prior to the effective date of the amendment. If you provide us this notice, we may choose to deactivate your account. Please be advised, however, that, regardless of whether you provide such notice to us, any such amendment to this Privacy Policy will apply to any personal information that you provide us on or after the effective date of such amendment.