OUT TO THE BLACK

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Sandbox Studios LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) governing your use of the website and game at outtotheblack.com (the “Service”).

By accessing or using the Service you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

The Service is offered only to individuals who are at least 13 years old. By creating an account or using the Service you represent that you meet this requirement. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction (often 18), you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Subscription purchases are currently offered only to residents of the United States. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel a subscription if the recorded billing country is not the United States.

Account creation requires sign-in via Google OAuth. You may have only one account. You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account and for the security of the Google account you use to sign in. Account sharing, account selling, and use of multiple accounts to circumvent enforcement actions are not permitted.

You may delete your account at any time by contacting us via the channels listed below. We may suspend or terminate accounts at our discretion, including for violations of these Terms or for activity that harms the Service or other players.

While using the Service you agree NOT to:

• Cheat, exploit bugs for unfair advantage, or use software (bots, scripts, third-party clients, automation tools) that interacts with the Service in ways the standard browser client does not.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code, algorithms, or game-state mechanics beyond what the standard browser client exposes.
• Interfere with the operation of the Service through denial-of-service activity, excessive request rates, or attempts to access systems or data you are not authorized to access.
• Harass, threaten, defame, or impersonate other players or any person or entity.
• Choose ship names, faction names, or other in-game text that is hateful, obscene, infringing, or that impersonates another player, real person, or trademarked entity.
• Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or any portion of it without our written permission.
• Use the Service to violate any applicable law or regulation.

We may take any action we consider appropriate to enforce this section, including warning, removing in-game content, resetting stats or progress, suspending access, or permanently banning the offending account, with or without notice.

The Service, including all software, artwork, audio, text, gameplay mechanics, and trademarks (including “Out to the Black” and “Sandbox Studios”), is owned by Sandbox Studios LLC or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property law. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for personal, non-commercial entertainment purposes, subject to these Terms.

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of the Service or any of its components to you.

The user-generated content the Service supports is limited (ship names, faction selection, in-game positioning, structure placements, public emoji reactions). You retain ownership of any original content you create, and you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display, transmit, and use that content as required to operate the Service, including in public leaderboards, daily-winner announcements, and the publicly visible game state.

We may remove user-generated content that violates these Terms or that we consider harmful to the Service or other players.

The Service is free to play. We offer an optional paid subscription that removes advertising and grants priority access during capacity-limited periods. Subscriptions are processed by Stripe and are currently available only to residents of the United States.

Subscriptions are billed on a recurring monthly basis at the price displayed at checkout (currently $1.00 for the first month, then $4.33/month, subject to change with notice). The first-month introductory price is offered once per Google account. Repeat subscribers do not requalify for the introductory price.

You may cancel at any time through the in-game subscription management interface. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain ad-free access until then. We do not provide pro-rated refunds for unused time in a billing period.

If a payment fails, the subscription will revert to the free tier and advertising will resume. We may attempt to retry the failed payment in line with Stripe’s standard dunning behavior.

We may change subscription pricing or features with reasonable advance notice. Continued use of the subscription after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the change.

Free-tier users see advertisements provided by Google AdSense. Advertising practices, including the use of cookies and similar technologies, are described in our Privacy Policy.

The Service is in BETA. Features may be added, changed, or removed at any time. Game balance, stat values, faction abilities, and event mechanics are subject to ongoing tuning. We may, in rare cases, reset persistent state (asteroid layout, structures, scores, leveling) for technical, balance, or migration reasons; we will use reasonable efforts to communicate significant resets in advance.

We may, at our discretion, suspend, modify, or discontinue the Service in whole or in part at any time, with or without notice.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF MALICIOUS COMPONENTS, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED.

YOU USE THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SANDBOX STUDIOS LLC, ITS OFFICERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR IN-GAME PROGRESS, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (a) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (b) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES, SO PARTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Sandbox Studios LLC and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any third-party right.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oklahoma, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service that cannot be resolved informally will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Arbitration will take place in Oklahoma or in another mutually agreed venue, or by remote means. You and we each waive any right to participate in a class action or class arbitration.

Notwithstanding the above, either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, and either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual-property rights.

We may update these Terms from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be highlighted on the Service. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of that provision. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

Sandbox Studios LLC
“Where your game never ends”

Questions about these Terms? Reach us via:

• Discord — Join our server
• X / Twitter — @Sand_Box_Studio