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Safety + privacy

Public game nights: what we do, what we don't, what you should

You're about to host or attend a game night with people you don't already know. We take that seriously. Here's the honest picture — what we do to reduce risk, what we don't do and why, and how you can look after yourself.

What we do

  • Location stays private until you're accepted. When you browse a public event, you see the general area (city and neighborhood) only. The exact address is revealed after the host approves your RSVP (or automatically at RSVP time, if the host chose an open guest list) and after your identity is verified.
  • Identity is anchored to a Passport account. Hosts of public events at personal spaces complete government-ID verification through Stripe Identity before publishing, and every guest admitted through public RSVP completes the same verification before attending. We verify email addresses for all accounts. Venue-hosted public events may admit walk-ins without ID verification; minors attend all-ages venue events through anonymous guest check-in. Verification reduces — it does not eliminate — the risk of impersonation.
  • Age gating on public events is platform-enforced. Public events are 18+ minimum. If a host wants to run an event tagged 18+ or 21+, the RSVP endpoint checks your date of birth before accepting you. If you don't have a DOB on file, we ask for it first. There's no bypass via a shared URL.
  • Hosts can require approval before you're in. The host chooses whether RSVPs auto-accept or land in a review queue. Most personal-public hosts we've talked to prefer the review queue — they want a defined guest list, not drop-ins.
  • Reporting is one tap away. Every event page has a Report button. Reports go to our moderation queue and can result in warnings, bans from a specific venue, or platform-wide removal. You can also block a specific person; they can't see your events, and you won't see theirs.
  • Hosts can bar someone from returning. Both venue hosts and personal-public hosts can bar a specific person from RSVPing to their future events. The bar is enforced at RSVP time — the blocked user can't just re-register and rejoin the next event. Venue bars come from incident reports; personal bars come from the host directly. Blocked users can still decline any pending invite they have but can't accept new ones.

What we don't do (and why)

Being honest about the limits matters more than pretending they don't exist. Here are the things we've deliberately chosen not to do, and the reasoning:

  • We don't run background checks. Background checks in a consumer context are unreliable, jurisdictionally uneven, and expensive. Worse, they can create a false sense of security — a "checked" person can still cause harm, and a person with a record can still be safe to spend an evening with. We'd rather be honest that we don't know who anyone really is beyond what they've told us.
  • We don't verify homes or physical addresses. We know a host has a Passport identity. We know they've verified their ID. We don't know whether the address they entered is actually theirs, whether it's a safe place to be, or whether the pictures they uploaded match reality. Trust your judgment. If something feels off, don't go.
  • We don't send anyone to the event. No moderator, no security, nobody. If something goes wrong during the event, you call local emergency services (911 in the US) the same as anywhere else. We're not a security service; we're a way to find each other.
  • We can't guarantee anyone's behavior. No platform can. We can enforce our own rules, remove people who break them, and give you tools (block, report, private location). We can't promise a given evening will go well.

What you can do

Practical things that make a real difference:

  • If it's at someone's home and you don't know the host, consider meeting at a coffee shop first. You're trying to figure out whether these are people you want to play games with. Coffee is a low-stakes way to answer that. Personal-public events aren't a rush.
  • Bring a friend. We support the "plus one" option specifically for this — bring someone you trust. Two people going into an unknown room is a different situation than one person alone, in every possible way.
  • Tell someone where you're going. Text a family member or a friend: "Here's the address, here's when I expect to be home, here's the host's name." Standard first-meeting-a-stranger stuff.
  • Trust your gut. Cancel any time. You can back out of any RSVP up to the moment the event starts. There's no penalty. If you show up and something feels wrong, leave. Nothing here obligates you to stay.
  • Report anything sketchy. Even if it's a "this seems off" feeling rather than a specific incident. Reports help us see patterns — one report might be nothing, but three about the same host is a signal.
  • If you're a host, be honest in your listing. Set expectations. Say what the vibe is, who you're hoping shows up, and anything you'd want to know if the roles were reversed. Guests self-select better when they know what they're walking into.

Our position

We put players first — that means being straight with you about the platform, the risks, and the limits of what we can guarantee. The best safety tool at any game night is the combination of thoughtful hosting, honest listings, and guests who trust their instincts.

We'll keep improving the platform, adding tools, and being direct about what works and what doesn't. If you have a concern or a suggestion, tell us.