The Build Games · terms

1 · What these terms cover

These terms govern The Build Games: the sponsor board at/thebuildgames and the build competition it funds. By placing a bid, or by entering a game, you agree to them. Each game's page publishes its brief, dates, judges, criteria and prize split before that game's build window opens; the game page forms part of these terms. The main site has its own terms. Where these terms are translated, the English version prevails.

The Build Games is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by any platform, model provider or tool that entrants may use, nor by any board sponsor except as stated here.

2 · Sponsors: what a bid buys

• A bid is a purchase of advertising. It buys a placement on the Build Games leaderboard: your icon, name, tagline and link, ranked by your cumulative cleared payments. If two sponsors have paid the same total, the earlier placement ranks higher. Advertising exposure is the entire product. Placements start at $500 to join the board and $250 to top up an existing placement; the current minimums are always shown on the bid form.
• Nothing else comes with it. A placement confers no equity, no revenue share, no rights in any entry or its intellectual property, and no role in the Games beyond being visible.
• Sponsors cannot win. Sponsors and their owners, directors, employees and contractors are not eligible to enter or win any game they sponsor.
• Sponsors do not judge and cannot influence outcomes. No sponsor selects or scores entries, sees deliberations, or conditions payment on any outcome. Winners are determined solely by the independent judging panel. Attempting to influence judging forfeits the placement; the money stays in the pool.
• Payments are final once the game opens. Placement fees are non-refundable from the moment the game's build window opens. If the Operator cancels a game before its build window opens, placement fees for that game are refunded in full.
• Removal for abuse. The Operator may hold or remove a placement that is unlawful, deceptive, malicious, or harmful to visitors or to the Games' integrity. A placement removed for abuse is forfeited and the cleared money stays in the prize pool.
• Taxes. Placement fees are exclusive of VAT, GST or sales taxes, which are the sponsor's responsibility where applicable.

3 · The prize pool

The prize pool for each game is the total of sponsor placement fees received for that round, less payment processing and administration costs. The pool is paid to winners on the split published with the game's brief. The Operator takes no share of the pool: in every scenario, pool money is either paid to winners or returned to sponsors, never kept.

Costs deducted from the pool are payment processing fees and unavoidable administration costs. The Operator's own compensation, if any, is invoiced separately and is never taken from the pool.

If a game is cancelled before its build window opens, sponsor fees are refunded and no prizes are due. If it is cancelled after submissions close, the entries received are judged and the pool is paid unless the Operator is legally prevented from doing so. In between, the Operator will choose reasonably between extending, judging what was received, or cancelling with refunds, and will publish its reasoning.

4 · Builders: entering

• Entry is free, always. No purchase, payment or subscription is required to enter or win, and none will improve anyone's chances.
• Eligibility. Entrants must be at least 18 (or the age of majority where they live, if higher), able to form a binding contract, and able to receive payment in their own legal name. Not eligible: sponsors of the game and their personnel, the judges, the Operator and its personnel, and immediate family or household members of any of those.
• Where it runs. The Games are void where prohibited. They are not open to persons in jurisdictions under comprehensive sanctions, to persons on applicable sanctions lists, or to anyone the Operator cannot lawfully pay through its payment providers. By entering, you confirm entering and accepting a prize is lawful where you live.
• The brief rules the build. Each game's brief states what must be built, the build window, the submission format and any game-specific rules. The work the judges evaluate must be performed during the build window. AI tools are permitted and expected; whatever tools are used, the entrant submits the entry as their own and is responsible for it. The Operator may require evidence (commit history, session logs) that the work was done in the window.
• One entry per person or team per game, unless the brief says otherwise. Entries that are unlawful, infringing, malicious or deceptive are disqualified.
• Proof. The Operator may require proof of eligibility and identity at any time; failing to provide it within 14 days of the request is grounds for disqualification.

5 · Judging

Every eligible entry is judged by an independent judging panel against the criteria and weights published on the game page. The panel members, their bios and the full criteria are published before the game's build window opens. The Operator administers the game but does not score and holds no vote. Sponsors never judge, score, see deliberations, or influence outcomes in any way.

Judges score independently first, then issue one collective final decision. A judge with a personal or financial connection to an entrant is recused from that entry. Judging involves expert qualitative judgment: the panel's decisions on scoring, ranking and winner selection are final and binding on all entrants and on the Operator, no correspondence or appeals are entered into, and individual scores and deliberations are not disclosed. Each entrant's sole entitlement in respect of judging is that the published process is applied in good faith.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and the finality of decisions does not apply to fraud, bad faith, or a material failure to follow the published judging process.

6 · Prizes and payment

• The prize split for each game is published with its brief. Results and a short judges' citation for each winner are published on the game page.
• Verification before payment. Each provisional winner must, within 14 days of notification, verify their identity and eligibility, provide the applicable tax documentation and bank details in their own legal name, sign the winner agreement, and pass sanctions screening. A provisional winner is not a winner until verification completes.
• A share that is forfeited (failed verification, ineligibility, disqualification, or declining the prize) passes to the next highest-scoring eligible entry or is otherwise redistributed to winners. The pool is still paid out; the Operator keeps none of it.
• Prizes are stated gross and paid by bank transfer via the Operator's payment provider. All taxes on prizes are the winner's sole responsibility; where the Operator is legally required to withhold or report, it will do so and provide documentation. Prizes are not transferable.

7 · Your work stays yours

Entrants retain full ownership of their entries and all intellectual property in them. By entering, you grant the Operator a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display and excerpt your entry (screenshots, video, code excerpts, write-up) to operate, judge, promote and archive the Games. You warrant the entry is your own work, made during the build window, that it infringes no third-party rights, complies with the licences of components it uses, and contains nothing unlawful or malicious.

8 · Publicity

The winners list (name or handle, country, placement and prize amount) is published on the game page and remains available for at least 12 months. Winners agree to reasonable cooperation with the results announcement. Publicity beyond the winners list happens with the winner's consent.

9 · Integrity and disqualification

The Operator may disqualify any entry or entrant, at any stage, for breach of these terms or the brief, plagiarism or work not built in the window, entry manipulation, attempting to influence judges or the Operator improperly, unlawful or malicious content, or conduct that harms the Games' integrity. If a violation is discovered after a prize is paid, the Operator may recover it as a debt.

10 · Liability

The Games and the site are provided as is. To the fullest extent the law allows, the Operator, judges and sponsors are not liable for lost or corrupted submissions, outages of third-party platforms or AI services, acts of payment providers or banks, an entrant's own costs of entering, or any indirect or consequential loss. The Operator's total liability to any non-winning entrant is capped at USD 100; to any winner, at that winner's prize share; to any sponsor, at the fees that sponsor paid for the game. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and nothing affects non-excludable consumer rights.

11 · Changes

The Operator may amend these terms or a game's brief to fix errors, comply with law, or preserve fairness. Material changes during an open game are notified to entrants on the game page. No change entitles the Operator to keep pool money.

12 · Privacy, law, contact

Personal data is handled per the site's privacy notice. Winner verification documents are used only to administer the Games, shared only with payment and compliance providers and authorities as required, and never sold.

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you are a consumer with rights that your local law does not allow to be waived, those rights are unaffected. If any provision is held invalid, the rest stands.

Questions: [email protected].