Privacy & local storage

Anonymous interaction counts

When enabled, this showcase counts clicks on play, fullscreen, and loading-help controls. It saves only the UTC date, the page path, the event name, and a daily total. It does not save a visitor ID, IP address, full URL, search terms, or referrer in this event store. Repeated clicks can be counted; these totals are not unique-player counts or proof that the game loaded.

The event store keeps up to 90 days of daily totals, removing older totals when a new event is recorded. On the live website, these totals are stored in Cloudflare D1; local previews use a file on the development machine. This separate counter sets no cookies. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals are respected. Your hosting or network provider may maintain its own access logs separately. Turning this counter off also blocks Google Analytics.

JavaScript is required for the preference control. Without JavaScript, this page sends no interaction events.

Optional Google Analytics

Only on needleinahaystack.live, we use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-SLN0LJBPN6) if you select “Allow analytics.” Until then, this site does not load the Google Analytics tag or send Google Analytics requests. Rejecting it does not prevent you from using this site or opening the game. The separate anonymous counter above has its own control.

If allowed, Google Analytics can set first-party cookies such as _ga and _ga_SLN0LJBPN6 to distinguish browsers and sessions. It receives page views, browser and device information, and clicks on play, fullscreen, and loading-help controls. Our tag configuration removes query strings and fragments from the page address and sends only the referring site’s origin. Our custom click events contain only the event name and page path; they do not report game completion, scores, or activity inside the external game.

Google signals and advertising personalization are disabled, and advertising storage, advertising user data, and advertising personalization consent remain denied. Google Analytics processing is governed by Google’s privacy policy. Analytics cookie and data retention are also affected by Google and the property settings; this page does not claim that the separate counter’s 90-day policy applies to Google Analytics.

You can withdraw consent below. This stops this site’s Google Analytics events, removes accessible Google Analytics cookies for this domain, and reloads the page to stop the loaded tag. It does not erase data already received by Google. Do Not Track, Global Privacy Control, and this site’s existing analytics opt-out override consent. Local and workers.dev previews never load the tag.

Google Analytics stays off without JavaScript. JavaScript is required to change this browser’s preference.

Storage in your browser

The favorite button stores your selection in this browser using local storage. Anonymous-count opt-out and Google Analytics consent are also stored locally so your choices can be remembered. These preferences do not create an account or sync between devices. You can remove them by clearing this website’s browser data. Google Analytics cookies are separate and are used only after you allow analytics.

The game and its provider

After you choose to play, the game opens on GameDistribution and connects to its providers. The game and any advertisements may use their own cookies, storage, and network services. This page’s interaction-count preference applies only to the showcase; it does not control the game provider’s processing. Follow any privacy and consent controls shown inside the player.

Opening the player is a normal navigation to GameDistribution, so your browser sends it a standard referrer identifying this site. This showcase does not add your page address, query parameters, or URL fragments to the request. Game delivery, progress, and multiplayer features are handled by the supplied game, not by this website’s event counter.

Fonts and external links

The home page and gameplay guide request fonts from Google Fonts. Loading those fonts sends a normal web request to Google’s servers. External links, including game credits and the direct game link, open services with their own privacy practices.