Cookie Policy
Only 1 cookie -- not the usual 170+.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file stored in your browser by a website you visit. Most commercial sites set between 20 and 50+ cookies for analytics, advertising, and cross-site tracking. Independent audits by tools like Cookieserve routinely find 30–100 cookies on major news and e-commerce sites. BasalMind does none of that.
You can verify our cookie footprint yourself using your browser’s developer tools (F12 → Application → Cookies → basalmind.com) or an independent scanner like Cookieserve. You will find at most one cookie, never more.
Why there's no cookie banner
Under UK/EU law (PECR, the ePrivacy rules behind GDPR), a consent banner is only required before setting a cookie that isn't strictly necessary for the site to function -- things like advertising or analytics cookies. A cookie that exists solely to prevent abuse or to keep you signed in, and is never used for tracking or marketing, falls under that strictly-necessary exemption and doesn't need consent. Since that's the only kind of cookie we ever set, there's nothing here requiring a banner -- so we don't show one.
The cookies we use (never more than one at a time)
Created the first time you do something that needs it -- answer the age question, rate feedback, or click sign in -- while you're still anonymous. Its only jobs are rate-limiting abuse and, if you sign in within that same day, carrying your already-given answers into your new account rather than losing them. It's the same cookie our sign-in flow (Google OAuth) already needs to work at all, not a second one layered on top. Contains no personal data, no tracking identifier usable off this site, and is never shared with third parties.
Set the moment you successfully sign in with Google, replacing basal_stranger
(which is cleared at that same moment -- you never hold both at once). Its only job is
keeping you signed in across visits so you don't have to re-authenticate with Google on
every page load. Contains an opaque session reference only -- your actual account data
lives on our server, not in this cookie.
What we do not use
We do not use analytics cookies (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, etc.), advertising or retargeting cookies, cross-site tracking cookies, fingerprinting scripts, third-party social media embeds that set cookies, or IP-based tracking. Both cookies above exist for one narrow, functional purpose each and nothing more.
How to remove a cookie
Clear cookies for this site in your browser settings:
Most browsers: Settings → Privacy → Cookies → See all cookies → remove basalmind.com
Removing basal_buddy signs you out. Removing basal_stranger
does not sign you out of an account (it never held one), and does not affect your
ability to play. Clearing this cookie does not reset answers you've already given us,
such as an age screening -- see
Progressive
identity disclosure in our privacy policy, and our
data rights page if you want to
change or delete data you've previously provided.
Your rights
Under GDPR (EU/UK) and CCPA (California), you have the right to know what data is collected about you and to request its deletion or export.
Neither cookie above contains personal data on its own. If you have signed in, your account data (email, BasalTribe Alias, gameplay records) is subject to the full data rights described in our Privacy Policy, including the right to a signed deletion certificate you can independently verify.
To exercise your rights: sign in and visit /data-rights, or email [email protected].
Changes to this policy
If we ever add a cookie that isn't strictly necessary, we'll bring back a consent banner before it goes live and update this page first, noting the change in the effective date above.