Terms of Service

Welcome to PharoGames. PharoGames is a cloud-native Minecraft minigames network, including our Java Edition game servers (play.pharogames.net), our website (pharogames.net), and our Discord community (discord.gg/u3RwhRBwv3). PharoGames is operated by an individual based in Canada (referred to throughout these Terms as "the operator of PharoGames," "we," "us," or "our"). PharoGames is not a formally registered company.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a legal agreement between you and the operator of PharoGames. By connecting to our game servers, creating a website account, joining our Discord, making a purchase, or otherwise using any part of the PharoGames network (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms work alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains in detail what data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your data. Please read both documents. Where these Terms describe data practices, the Privacy Policy controls on the details.

PharoGames is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft.

1. Eligibility & Age

Playing the game servers. Anyone of any age may connect to and play on our Minecraft game servers. To do so, you need a valid, paid Minecraft account through your Microsoft account, in good standing with Mojang/Microsoft.

Website accounts, forums, support, and purchases. To create a website account, post on our forums, open support tickets, or make purchases, you must be at least 13 years old.

• Under-13 not permitted. Our website and accounts are not directed to, and may not be used by, children under 13. Registration asks for your date of birth and blocks sign-ups under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13; if we learn that we have, we will delete it. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact privacy@pharogames.net.

Purchases by minors. If you are under 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction), you must have the permission of a parent or legal guardian before making any purchase. By making a purchase, you represent that you have that permission.

Subscriptions by minors (recurring billing). A Rank is an auto-renewing subscription (see Sections 4 and 5). If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you must have your parent or guardian's permission specifically for the recurring charge — not merely a one-time purchase — before any Rank subscription begins. A parent or guardian may cancel the subscription at any time on the child's behalf through account settings or by contacting support@pharogames.net.

By using the Service, you represent that you meet the applicable age requirements above and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.

2. Your Account

When you create a website account, you agree to:

• Provide accurate and current information (such as a valid email address).
• Keep your password and login credentials secure. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
• Notify us promptly at support@pharogames.net if you believe your account has been compromised.

Additional account rules:

• One account per person. You may not create or operate multiple website accounts, and you may not use accounts to evade bans, mutes, or other moderation actions.
• Linking. You may link your Minecraft account and your Discord account to your PharoGames account. You may also sign in using a Google, GitHub, or Discord social login. You are responsible for keeping those linked accounts secure with their respective providers.
• No account sharing or transfer. You may not share, sell, rent, lease, or transfer your account, account access, or login credentials to anyone else. This restriction applies to your account itself — it does not prevent you from using the official in-Service gift feature to send virtual items to another player where that feature is offered (see Sections 4, 5, and 6).

We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts at our discretion, including for violations of these Terms (see Section 9).

3. Rules of Conduct / Acceptable Use

You agree to play fair and treat others with respect across the entire PharoGames network — game servers, website, forums, and Discord. You must not:

• Cheat. No hacked clients, cheat mods, X-ray, auto-clickers, macros that grant an advantage, exploits, bug abuse, or anything that gives an unfair gameplay advantage.
• Harass or harm others. No harassment, bullying, threats, hate speech, discrimination, doxxing, or content that targets others based on protected characteristics.
• Spam or advertise. No spam, flooding, scams, phishing, or advertising other servers, websites, or services without permission.
• Post illegal or harmful content. No content that is illegal, infringing, sexually explicit, exploitative of minors, or that promotes violence or self-harm.
• Disrupt the Service. No attempts to overload, attack, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorized access to our systems, or to interfere with other players' experience.
• Follow chat rules. Keep in-game chat, forum posts, and Discord messages civil and within the rules posted for those spaces.

Consequences for violations are proportionate and may include a warning, mute, kick, temporary or permanent ban, content removal, loss of access to features, or account termination. Repeated or severe violations escalate faster. Our moderation decisions are described further in Section 9.

4. Virtual Items & Currency

The Service offers in-game currencies and items. Here is how they work:

Key terms that apply to all virtual items and currency:

• License, not property. Virtual items and currency are a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive license to use them within the Service. You do not own them. They are not your property.
• No real-world or cash value. Virtual items and currency cannot be redeemed for real money, cash, or anything of monetary value outside the Service, except as expressly described in our refund terms (Section 6).
• Non-transferable, except gifts. You may not sell, trade, or transfer virtual items or currency between accounts, except through the official in-Service "gift" feature where one is offered. Gifting through that feature is expressly permitted and is the only sanctioned way to send items to another player.
• Tied to your account. Items and currency are bound to your account and are lost if your account is terminated for cause.
• We may change the economy. We may add, modify, suspend, remove, re-price, or revoke virtual items and currencies, and otherwise adjust the in-game economy, at any time, to keep the Service balanced, fair, and legally compliant. We will try to avoid unfairly affecting items you have already obtained, but we make no guarantee that any item, currency, price, or feature will remain available.

5. Purchases & Billing

Payment processing. All purchases are processed through Stripe Checkout in U.S. Dollars (USD). Full card data is handled exclusively by Stripe under PCI-DSS standards and never touches PharoGames servers. The billing email you provide is given to Stripe and is not stored by PharoGames.

Gems. Gems are sold in fixed packs:

Cosmetics are one-time purchases. Gift Ranks are one-time purchases (see below).

5.1 Ranks (Auto-Renewing Subscriptions)

Ranks are auto-renewing monthly subscriptions billed through Stripe. Because this is a recurring charge, the following terms apply:

• Clear consent before you are charged. Before you complete a Rank purchase, the checkout will clearly present the renewal price, the billing interval (monthly), and the fact that the subscription renews automatically until you cancel. You must affirmatively agree to these recurring terms before any charge is made. By completing checkout, you authorize recurring monthly charges to your payment method until you cancel.
• Cancel any time — as easy as signing up. You may cancel at any time through your account settings (self-serve), with no extra steps, retention offers, or hurdles — cancelling is at least as easy as subscribing. You may also cancel by contacting support@pharogames.net. Cancellation stops future renewals; your current paid term continues until it ends, and you keep the Rank's benefits through the end of that term.
• Renewal reminders. Where required by applicable law, we will send you advance reminders that your subscription will renew, including the renewal date and amount, so you can cancel beforehand if you wish.
• Gift Ranks. A gift Rank is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, and does not auto-renew.
• Minors. If the subscriber is under the age of majority, a parent or guardian must consent to the recurring charge and may cancel at any time (see Section 1).

5.2 EU/UK Consumers — Right of Withdrawal for Digital Content

If you are a consumer in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you normally have a 14-day right to withdraw from a distance purchase of digital content without giving a reason. However, when you purchase digital content (such as Gems, Cosmetics, or a Rank) that is delivered or made available immediately, you are asked to expressly request immediate access and to acknowledge that you thereby lose your 14-day right of withdrawal once delivery/performance has begun. By requesting immediate access at checkout, you consent to immediate performance and waive that withdrawal right to the extent the content has been supplied. This does not affect your other statutory consumer rights.

5.3 Taxes and Price Changes

• Taxes. Prices may not include applicable taxes. You are responsible for any taxes, duties, or similar charges associated with your purchase, which may be calculated and collected at checkout.
• Price changes. We may change prices and pack contents over time. For subscriptions, we will give you reasonable advance notice of any price change before it takes effect, and the new price applies to renewals after that notice. If you do not accept a price change, you may cancel before it applies; your current paid term will continue at the original price through the end of that term, and the change will only affect renewals after it takes effect.

6. Refunds, Disputes & Chargebacks

Our full, current refund policy is available at /store/refunds and is incorporated into these Terms.

All sales are final. Because purchases are digital items and currency delivered to your account immediately, all purchases are non-refundable, except:

• where a refund is required by applicable law — for example, the EU/UK statutory right of withdrawal described in Section 5.2 (to the extent you have not waived it by requesting immediate access), an unauthorized transaction, or any other mandatory consumer-protection right you hold where you live; or
• where we choose to grant a refund at our sole discretion (for example, for a purchase that failed to deliver). Any discretionary refund is a one-time courtesy and does not waive this policy.

When a refund is granted (whether required by law or at our discretion):

• the granted items are revoked from the account they were delivered to, and for USD purchases the refund is issued through Stripe to your original payment method;
• a refunded Gem purchase returns Gems to the buyer's in-game wallet as store credit — Gems have no cash value and are never refundable for cash; and
• a refunded gift purchase revokes the gifted item from the recipient and credits the buyer.

To request a refund or report a problem with a purchase, contact support@pharogames.net.

Payment data held by Stripe. Some payment information — including your billing email and full card data — is held by Stripe, our payment processor, under Stripe's own terms and privacy policy, and is not stored by PharoGames. We cannot access, export, or delete that data on your behalf. To exercise data-protection rights over information held by Stripe, please contact Stripe directly (see also Privacy Policy Section 8).

6.1 Payment Disputes & Chargebacks

A chargeback or payment dispute is a right you may hold under card-network rules and consumer-protection law, and we respect that. To make sure genuine problems get solved quickly and to protect the Service from fraud:

• Contact us first. If you have a billing problem — an unexpected charge, a charge you don't recognize, a purchase that didn't deliver, or an unauthorized transaction (for example, a charge made by a child without permission) — please contact support@pharogames.net before filing a dispute. Most issues can be resolved directly and quickly.
• Legitimate and statutory disputes are protected. Filing a dispute to assert a genuine right — including an unauthorized-transaction claim or any other right you are entitled to under applicable law — will not, by itself, result in a ban. If a dispute is resolved in your favor, or otherwise found legitimate, no ban will result from it.
• Fraudulent or unwarranted chargebacks. Filing a fraudulent or unwarranted chargeback — for example, disputing a charge for items you in fact received and used, without first contacting support, in order to obtain items for free — is a form of payment fraud. This may result in revocation of the disputed items and a ban from the PharoGames network to protect against fraud. We will limit any such action to what is reasonable in the circumstances.
• Appeals. If you believe a dispute-related action was taken in error, you may appeal through our Discord at discord.gg/u3RwhRBwv3, and we will review your case.

7. Fair Play, No Pay-to-Win & Mojang Guidelines

PharoGames is committed to fair play. All purchases on the network are cosmetic or convenience only. Purchases never grant a competitive gameplay advantage, and PharoGames is not pay-to-win.

PharoGames operates in accordance with Mojang's Commercial Usage Guidelines, including the requirement that paid items be cosmetic or convenience-based and not confer a gameplay advantage. Coins, Gems, Ranks, and Cosmetics are designed to comply with these guidelines.

PharoGames is an independent community network and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mojang Studios or Microsoft. "Minecraft" is a trademark of Mojang/Microsoft, used here only to describe compatibility.

8. User-Generated Content

The Service lets you create and share content, including forum threads and posts, poll votes, support tickets, in-app notifications, friend interactions, and other community content ("User Content").

• You own your content. You retain ownership of the User Content you create.
• License to us. By posting User Content, you grant the operator of PharoGames a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, index (including in our search system), distribute within the Service, and moderate that content for the purpose of operating and improving the Service.
• Content standards. Your User Content must comply with Section 3 (Rules of Conduct). You are responsible for what you post, and you represent that you have the rights to post it.
• Moderation. We may review, edit, remove, or refuse to display any User Content at our discretion, including content that violates these Terms or applicable law.
• Chat, direct messages and voice. In-game text chat, direct messages, and in-game voice chat may be logged, recorded, retained, and reviewed — including by automated and AI-assisted moderation — for safety and rule enforcement, as described in our Privacy Policy. By using these features you consent to that monitoring.

9. Moderation, Suspension & Termination

We may take moderation action — including warnings, mutes, kicks, content removal, temporary or permanent bans, and account suspension or termination — when we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, our rules, or applicable law, or to protect the Service and its players.

• No refunds for items lost to a justified ban. If your account is suspended or terminated for cause, you forfeit access to virtual items and currency associated with it, and you are not entitled to a refund for them.
• Ban evasion. Attempting to evade a ban (e.g., with alternate accounts) is itself a violation and may result in further action.
• Your choice to leave. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time through your account settings or by contacting privacy@pharogames.net. Some records may be retained as described in our Privacy Policy and Section 13 (for example, anonymized order records for tax and chargeback purposes, and ban records by Minecraft UUID to prevent ban evasion).

10. Intellectual Property

The PharoGames name, logo, branding, website, original game modes, configurations, artwork, text, and other materials we create (excluding User Content and third-party assets) are owned by the operator of PharoGames and protected by intellectual-property laws. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from our materials without permission, except as allowed by these Terms or applicable law.

• Respect others' IP. You must not post content that infringes anyone else's copyright, trademark, or other rights.
• Minecraft assets. "Minecraft," related assets, and the Minecraft brand are the property of Mojang/Microsoft, used only as permitted by Mojang's guidelines.
• DMCA / takedown. If you believe content on the Service infringes your intellectual-property rights, contact support@pharogames.net with a description of the work, the location of the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, and a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized. We will review and respond to valid notices.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

• We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free from data loss. Downtime, maintenance, bugs, and loss of data or virtual items can occur.
• The Service may include beta, experimental, or test features that are unfinished and may change or be removed at any time.
• While we take security seriously (see our Privacy Policy), no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.

12. Limitation of Liability & Indemnification

Limitation of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator of PharoGames will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, virtual items, profits, goodwill, or opportunities, arising out of or related to your use of the Service.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the total liability of the operator of PharoGames for all claims arising out of or related to the Service will not exceed the total amount you paid to PharoGames in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim. If you have not paid PharoGames anything during that period, our total liability to you is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the operator of PharoGames from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your misuse of the Service, your User Content, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations or exclusions of liability, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you. In that case, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

13. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes in the Service, our practices, or the law. When we make changes:

• We will update the Effective date at the top of this document.
• For material changes, we will provide reasonable notice through the Service, by email, or via Discord before they take effect.

Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the changes, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account.

14. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Canada and the Province of Ontario, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

• Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to contact us at support@pharogames.net and attempt to resolve the dispute informally in good faith. Most disputes can be resolved this way.
• Venue. Subject to applicable law, you agree that any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be brought in the courts located in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and you consent to their jurisdiction.
• Local rights. Nothing in this section deprives you of mandatory consumer-protection rights under the laws of your place of residence.

15. Contact

For questions about these Terms, billing, or general support:

• General & billing: support@pharogames.net
• Privacy & data requests: privacy@pharogames.net
• Community & appeals: discord.gg/u3RwhRBwv3

PharoGames is not affiliated with Mojang or Microsoft.