Terms of Use

Tiny Hamster (available at https://tinyhamster.app and https://www.tinyhamster.app, together the "Service") is operated by tinyhamster GbR, Hegestieg 10b, 20249 Hamburg, Germany ("we", "us", "our"). The Service is a social sports prediction game. You can sign up, join or create a private Group, and submit Picks. Picks are scored against real-world results, and members compete on a shared leaderboard within their Group.

The outcome of the Service and any Prize Competition is determined solely by the sporting prediction skill of participants, not by any random mechanism. The Service is not a gambling platform. There is no entry fee, no monetary stake, no wager, and nothing to purchase. Participation in the Service is completely free. Tiny Hamster derives no revenue from the Service. Prize Competitions are organised as a one-off or occasional promotional activity to raise awareness of the free Service. They form no part of any commercial or monetisation model, and no revenue, data, or other economic benefit is derived from organising them.

If you have questions, contact us at hello@tinyhamster.app.

By creating an Account or using the Service in any way, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. We make these Terms available to you before you create an Account, and by proceeding with Account creation you confirm that you have had a reasonable opportunity to read them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

To use the Service, you must meet all of the following conditions:

1. you are at least 18 years of age,
2. you provide a genuine, active email address,
3. your use of the Service is lawful in your jurisdiction.

To be eligible to receive a monetary Prize in any Prize Competition (Section 8), you must be at least 18 years of age at the time of the applicable submission deadline. If you are under 18 years of age at that deadline, your Picks remain valid for leaderboard purposes within your Group, but you are not eligible to receive any monetary Prize. In that event, the Prize will be re-awarded to the next eligible ranked participant. If no further eligible participant exists, the Prize may be retained by Tiny Hamster.

You may create an Account using an email address and password, or via Google OAuth. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your Account. You may delete your Account at any time via Profile > "Delete my account". Deletion is processed without undue delay in accordance with your rights under Article 17 of the General Data Protection Regulation. You may also request a portable copy of your personal data in accordance with your rights under Article 20 of the General Data Protection Regulation.

"User Content" means any content you submit to the Service, including your display name, Group names, custom labels, Picks, and any other text or data you provide.

The following conduct is prohibited in order to protect the integrity of the Service:

1. using bots, scripts, or automated tools to submit or alter Picks,
2. exploiting software bugs to gain an unfair advantage (if you discover a bug, please report it responsibly to hello@tinyhamster.app),
3. colluding with other users to manipulate leaderboard results.

Consequences. Violations may result in a score reset, disqualification from any Prize Competition, suspension, or permanent termination of your Account.

Audit. Our super-admin may review Picks and audit logs at any time to verify compliance with these Terms.

Scoring decisions. Scoring decisions made by the super-admin are final for the purposes of in-app scoring. If you believe a scoring decision contains a factual error, you may submit a written objection to hello@tinyhamster.app within 14 days of the relevant decision being communicated to you. We will review your objection and notify you of the outcome with reasons within a reasonable time. This does not limit any right you may have to seek judicial review under applicable law. For disputes about Prize Competition outcomes, Section 8 applies.

"Group Owner" means the user who creates and administers a Group. Group Owners may manage invitations, select competition formats, and set internal Group rules.

Prohibition of monetary stakes. Group Owners and members must not organise, collect, distribute, facilitate, or participate in any monetary stake, wager, buy-in, entry fee, prize money, or financial arrangement of any kind in connection with the Service or any Group, whether or not the Service's own tools are used to facilitate the arrangement, and regardless of the amount involved.

Violation of this prohibition constitutes a material breach of these Terms and may result in immediate permanent termination of the Accounts of all participants found to have organised, collected, distributed, or facilitated monetary stakes in connection with the Service. We reserve the right to report credible evidence of unlawful gambling activity to the competent authorities.

Tiny Hamster is not a party to any arrangement between Group members that violates this prohibition, and accepts no liability for any financial loss or legal consequence arising from such an arrangement. The Service provides no tooling for monetary stakes between Group members, and no money flows through the Service in connection with private Groups. We intervene in Group matters only where these Terms are violated.

Tiny Hamster organises, from time to time, public Prize Competitions open to all registered users. Hamster Hunt (a prediction bracket for the 2026 football World Cup) is one example of a Prize Competition.

Free entry. Participation in any Prize Competition is free. There is no entry fee, no purchase requirement, and no wager of any kind. No in-app purchase, subscription, payment, or other transaction of any kind can improve a participant's chances of winning, and no such mechanic exists within the Service.

Skill-based determination. Prize Competition winners are determined solely by sporting prediction skill scored against real-world outcomes. The outcome is not determined by random chance, a random number generator, or any other random mechanism operated by Tiny Hamster.

Announcement and submission deadline. Each Prize Competition will be announced publicly. The announcement will specify the submission deadline, the Prize amount, the tie-break rules, and the eligibility conditions, all before the submission window opens. The submission deadline is constitutive: only Picks submitted before that deadline are eligible. No Picks or edits are accepted after the deadline, and late entries are not eligible to win a Prize.

Eligibility. Any registered user who submits their Picks before the submission deadline may participate in a Prize Competition. To receive a monetary Prize, you must be at least 18 years of age at the submission deadline. Participation in a Prize Competition is not permitted where Prize Competitions are restricted or prohibited by the laws of your jurisdiction.

Winner determination. The participant with the highest score at the close of the Prize Competition wins. Tie-break rules are announced in advance of the submission deadline. Where no tie-break rule resolves a tie, the Prize is split equally among all tied participants. Where the Prize is non-monetary and indivisible, the relevant Prize Competition announcement will specify how ties are resolved. The scoring decisions of the super-admin are final for the purposes of in-app scoring and the determination of Prize eligibility. This does not limit any right you may have to seek judicial review under applicable law.

Prize. The Prize is funded solely from Tiny Hamster's own funds. No portion of the Prize is contributed by, or charged to, participants in any form. The Prize for each Prize Competition is announced before the submission deadline opens. We reserve the right to modify or cancel a Prize only in the following circumstances:

1. force majeure events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, governmental orders, or comparable extraordinary events,
2. critical and irremediable failure of the official data source used to calculate scores,
3. evidence of widespread cheating or manipulation that cannot otherwise be remedied.

Before modifying or cancelling a Prize Competition on the basis of cheating or manipulation, we will conduct a plausibility review, document the basis of our decision, and inform affected participants of the material findings at the time we notify them of the modification or cancellation.

In such cases, we will notify affected participants promptly. Where the Prize Competition cannot be conducted as originally announced as a result of the event, we will either (i) offer a rescheduled Prize Competition with a Prize of equivalent value, or, where that is not possible due to the nature of the event (for example, a permanently abandoned sporting event), (ii) make a pro-rated payout of the Prize based on the standings achieved up to the point of disruption. Outright cancellation of the Prize without one of these alternatives is excluded where participants have already submitted Picks.

Payout. The winner is contacted via their registered email address. The winner must provide a valid PayPal address or SEPA bank account details within 14 calendar days of that notification. If the Prize is forfeited due to failure to provide valid payment details within that period, it will be re-awarded to the next eligible participant in descending score order. Only if no further eligible participant exists, and no rescheduled Prize Competition is offered, may the Prize amount be retained by Tiny Hamster.

Tax. Any tax obligations arising from a Prize rest solely with the winner in their jurisdiction. Depending on the value of the Prize and the winner's country of residence, the Prize may constitute taxable income. We do not provide tax advice. We recommend that winners seek independent advice if they are uncertain about their tax position. There is no cash alternative to the announced Prize unless explicitly stated for that specific Prize Competition.

Disputes. If you wish to dispute the outcome of a Prize Competition, you must submit a written objection to hello@tinyhamster.app within 14 days of the result announcement.

Disqualification. We reserve the right to disqualify any participant found to have violated Section 6 (Fair Play and Anti-Cheat) in connection with a Prize Competition.

Fixtures, live scores, and final results are sourced from third-party data providers. We do not guarantee real-time accuracy or uninterrupted availability of this data. Where a third-party data correction is made after scores have been calculated, we will recompute the affected scores. The most recently recomputed standings at the close of an event are final for scoring purposes. This Section does not limit our liability for breach of Cardinal Obligations as defined in Section 14.2, or our liability under Section 14.3.

We provide the Service on a best-effort basis and do not offer any guaranteed uptime or service level. We may carry out maintenance and may suspend the Service in part or in full where necessary to protect the integrity, security, or legal compliance of the Service. In the event of a Service outage during the final 24 hours before a Prize Competition submission deadline, we will endeavour to extend the deadline by an equivalent period and will announce any such extension promptly.

In addition to the specific restrictions set out elsewhere in these Terms, you must not:

1. access the Service through automated means outside any published API documentation,
2. conduct or facilitate stress-testing, penetration testing, or rate-limit circumvention without our prior written consent,
3. harass, dox, or stalk any other user,
4. use the Service to organise, facilitate, collect, or participate in any form of gambling, monetary wagering, staking, or betting activity, including but not limited to private money pools or buy-ins within any Group, in connection with the Service. For the avoidance of doubt, the legitimate mechanics of the Service, namely free Picks, skill-based scoring against real-world results, and Prize Competitions governed by Section 8, do not constitute gambling and are expressly permitted.

By you. You may delete your Account at any time via Profile > "Delete my account" as described in Section 4. On Account deletion or termination, you may request an export of your personal data in accordance with Article 20 GDPR before deletion takes effect. We will make that data available to you for a period of 30 days following Account termination or deletion.

By us. We may suspend or terminate your Account in accordance with the graduated enforcement process set out in Section 5. Permanent termination without prior warning is reserved for cases where:

1. the breach is incapable of remedy, or
2. immediate action is necessary to protect the safety of other users, the security of the Service, or our legal compliance obligations.

Where we take action without prior warning, we will communicate the reason to you without undue delay, unless doing so is unlawful or would prejudice an ongoing investigation.

Suspension review. Any Account suspension will be reviewed within 30 days of its imposition. At the conclusion of that review, we will either lift the suspension, convert it to a permanent termination in accordance with these Terms, or extend it for a defined further period with written reasons communicated to you. A suspension that has not been actively confirmed by a further written decision within 60 days will be automatically lifted, unless the Account is subject to an ongoing formal investigation by a competent authority.

Termination does not affect any rights or claims that arose before the date of termination. Your statutory rights are not affected.

If a third party brings a claim against us arising from User Content that you submitted in breach of these Terms, and that breach was the result of your intentional conduct or negligence, you agree to indemnify us against that claim, including reasonable and proportionate legal costs directly attributable to the breach. Your total liability under this indemnity in respect of any single claim or series of related claims shall not exceed EUR 500, unless the breach arose from your wilful misconduct, in which case no cap applies.

This indemnity does not apply:

1. to claims arising from our own acts or omissions,
2. where your breach was neither intentional nor negligent,
3. where we enter into a settlement or make an admission without first giving you a reasonable opportunity to defend the claim, except where doing so is not reasonably practicable.

We will notify you promptly of any such claim and will not settle without consulting you where reasonably practicable to do so. This indemnity does not apply to the extent that applicable mandatory consumer protection law in your jurisdiction prohibits or limits such an obligation. Your statutory rights are not affected.

Governing law. These Terms are governed by German law, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

Consumer protection. If you are a consumer habitually resident in an EU member state other than Germany, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your country of residence apply in addition to German law, where those provisions offer you greater protection.

EU online dispute resolution. The European Commission provides an online dispute resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Our contact email for this purpose is hello@tinyhamster.app. We do not participate in consumer arbitration proceedings under Section 36 of the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (Verbraucherstreitbeilegungsgesetz).

Geographic restrictions. The Service is directed at users in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. We do not knowingly provide access to the Service, including Prize Competitions, to individuals in territories subject to comprehensive EU or UN sanctions measures, or in jurisdictions where access to the Service or participation in Prize Competitions would be unlawful. If you access the Service from a restricted jurisdiction, you do so at your own risk and in violation of these Terms, and we reserve the right to restrict your access without notice.

Jurisdiction. For disputes arising from these Terms where you are not acting as a consumer, the exclusive place of jurisdiction is Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This clause does not affect any mandatory statutory right you may have as a consumer to bring proceedings in the courts of your country of habitual residence.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect. The invalid or unenforceable provision will be replaced by a valid provision that most closely reflects the commercial intention of the original. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Imprint, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

These Terms are effective as of May 2026.