For parents

What the game is

Spell Shore is a cozy island adventure designed so a 6-year-old can play it. Kids catch fish by spelling the picture they see, then use their catch to build and decorate their island. At night, cartoon pirate ships sail in and kids defend the beach by tapping to throw coconuts.

About the pirates

The pirate nights are cartoon action: ships are hit by coconuts and cannonballs, then sink. Pirates can take a few in-game fish. There is no blood, no person is harmed, and the scariest thing is a cartoon "ghost ship". Losing a night only costs a small number of in-game fish; buildings are never destroyed.

How we keep it kind

• Mistakes are never punished. If a word is hard, the right letter wiggles, wrong letters fade, and Polly the parrot places the letter if needed.
• No streaks to lose. The daily Tide Chest saves up to three days, so nothing is lost for not playing.
• No pressure. No countdown timers, no "only today" offers, and the game sends no notifications.
• No strangers. There is no chat, no multiplayer, and no leaderboards. The "crab raids" are against computer islands only.
• No loot boxes, ever, and nothing to buy.
• Ads only if your child chooses. The only ads are optional reward videos behind a "watch a video" button, and the video that plays is an ad: for a bonus prize (at most 4 offers a day), or, when your child is stuck on a word and has used the free hints, to see the whole word afterwards (at most 10 a day). Nothing pops up by itself or interrupts play, and there are no banners. Every video has a close button (some show it after a few seconds; closing early just means no bonus). They are non-personalised and never based on tracking your child (see our privacy policy).
• Nothing leads out, except ads. The game has no links to websites or social media. On Android, a tapped ad video can open the app store or the advertiser's page. Behind the grown-up question, "Report an ad" opens your email app, and for adult players in the EU and UK, Google's consent message can link to privacy pages. If you'd rather avoid ads entirely, switch videos off on the parents' page.

The age question

The first time the game opens, it asks which age range the player is in (6 or under, 7–9, 10–12, 13–17, or 18 and over). The answer only sets how hard the words are and how ads are requested: a younger answer switches on stricter, child-safe ad settings, and ads are non-personalised for every answer. It is saved on the device only and never sent to anyone.

The parents' page

Inside the game there is a For Parents page behind a grown-up question (a multiplication question, like "What is 7 × 6?"). It shows:

• words practised this week, and words spelled with no help;
• minutes played this week, and days played;
• words mastered, words still being learned, and letters to practise;
• sound and music settings;
• a switch to turn reward videos off;
• Report an ad and Start the game over;
• Ad privacy choices, only used by adult players (18 and over) in the EU and UK, where Google asks an adult to agree to its ad terms. Children never see a consent form, so there is nothing for you to agree to on their behalf.

All of this is worked out and kept on your child's device only. We never see it.

Starting over and deleting data

On the parents' page, tap Start the game over to erase everything the game has saved. Settings are reset too, so check the video switch here again afterwards. Deleting the app also removes it all. Because nothing is stored on our side, there is nothing for us to delete. See Delete data.

Report an ad

If a video ever shows something that doesn't seem right for children, tap Report an ad on the parents' page (it opens an email to us), or email orionlabstudios@gmail.com directly. Tell us roughly when it appeared and what it showed. We check every report and have unsuitable ads blocked.

Questions

Email orionlabstudios@gmail.com. We answer within 30 days. Full details are in our privacy policy.