Terms & Conditions

Draft — not yet in force. Last edited 12 September 2026.

DRAFT — NOT LEGAL ADVICE Prepared from the source code and not reviewed by a lawyer. Offering games for real money is a licensed activity in most places, and taking deposits and paying out in USDC can additionally make an operator a money services business. These terms do not make any of that lawful and are not a substitute for a licence. Have a gambling and fintech adviser review them, and settle the operating entity and the territories served, before real money is switched on.

1. Agreement

These terms govern your use of Engulfs at engulfs.io. By creating an account or playing, you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not play. The operating legal entity and governing law are still to be confirmed and must be inserted before these terms are published.

2. Eligibility

You must be 18 or over.
You must be legally permitted to take part in paid games where you live. It is your responsibility to know whether that is the case.
One account per person. The server permits only one live connection per account; opening a newer one closes the older.
You must not use a modified client, automation, or any tool that plays for you.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these rules, and may withhold a balance pending investigation where we reasonably suspect fraud or abuse.

3. Demo play

Engulfs is currently running in demo mode. Balances are demo credits with no monetary value, they cannot be withdrawn, and nothing in a demo round is a real-money wager. The site says so on the pregame menu. Sections 4 to 7 describe how the game is designed to work once real money is enabled, and do not apply while demo mode is in force.

4. How a round works

A round begins once enough players have marked themselves ready, and runs for a fixed time — ten minutes by default.
You choose a stake before joining. That amount is taken from your balance and held in escrow for the round.
Practice is free, runs in your own browser against bots, and never involves money.

5. How stakes are settled

These are the rules the server actually applies:

You are eaten by another staked player	Your escrow transfers to them. You lose your stake.
You are eaten by a bot, or by a player with nothing at risk	Your stake is forfeited. Nobody wins it.
You survive to the whistle and place in the paid positions	Your escrow is paid out to your balance, less any rake.
You survive to the whistle but place outside them	Your stake is forfeited.
You disconnect mid-round	Your cells remain in the arena, motionless and edible, for a short period. If another player eats them, they take your stake exactly as if you were still playing. If they survive that period unclaimed, your stake is refunded.

Two consequences worth stating plainly. There is no voluntary cash-out. Once a round starts, the only way to realise your stake is to be alive and placed when the round ends. And disconnecting is not an escape: your cells stay on the board and can be taken, which is why quitting a losing fight does not protect your stake.

Only the top finishers are paid. The number of paid positions is shown on the pregame menu for each mode — currently the top five.

6. The cash figure shown during play

The game displays an indicative cash value next to your mass. It is a display convenience only. Settlement is never calculated from it. What you are paid depends on your finishing position and the stake held in escrow, not on the number on screen.

7. Deposits, withdrawals and rake

Deposits and withdrawals are handled in USDC. Blockchain transactions are irreversible and we cannot recover funds sent to a wrong address. Network fees are yours.

We may take a percentage of winnings as rake. Where a rake applies, the rate will be stated before you stake. The deposit and withdrawal process, minimum amounts, processing times and any limits are still to be specified and must be documented here before real money is enabled.

8. Fair play and the authoritative server

The server owns the only real copy of the world. Your client sends an aim direction and a few discrete actions; everything else — where your cell is, what it has eaten, how much mass it has — is decided by the server. Speed hacks, teleporting and editing your own mass are impossible by design rather than by detection.

Latency varies between players and is not something we can equalise. By playing you accept that network conditions affect play and are not grounds for a refund.

9. Display names

Your display name is visible to other players. Names are restricted to a conservative character set, certain names are reserved, and we may change or remove a name that impersonates another person, is offensive, or is misleading.

10. Availability

We do not guarantee uninterrupted service. We may suspend the game for maintenance, and we may change or withdraw game modes and stake tiers. Where a round is interrupted by a fault on our side, we will aim to return staked amounts to the balances they came from.

11. Responsible play

Paid play should be entertainment you can afford to lose. Never stake money you need. If it stops feeling like a game, stop playing. Deposit limits, self-exclusion and links to support organisations are not yet implemented; they are typically conditions of a gambling licence and must be built and described here before real money is enabled.

12. Liability

To the extent the law allows, Engulfs is provided as is, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited. This section needs a lawyer's attention in particular, since enforceable wording depends entirely on the governing jurisdiction.

13. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes will be announced on the site before they take effect, and continuing to play after that means you accept them.