Couch Spuds privacy policy
Last updated: 11 November 2026
Couch Spuds is made by Grouse Games, 525 Seymour St Ste 203, Vancouver, BC V6B 3H7, Canada ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the game handles, why, and what choices you have. It applies to the game Couch Spuds on Windows.
The short version.
- The game does not send us anything.
- It has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, no chat and no crash reporting.
- Your profiles, records, settings and saves stay on your own computer.
- When you play online, the game connects your PC to the other players' PCs. Doing that shares your IP address with them, and the display name you chose is shown to everyone in the game.
1. What stays on your computer
The game keeps these files in its folder on your PC:
| File | What it holds |
|---|---|
profiles.json (and a backup) | your profiles: the display name you typed (up to 12 letters), your records, achievements and unlocks |
settings.json | your options and key bindings |
saves/autosave.json (and a backup) | the game in progress |
saves/autosave_net.json | a copy of an online game in progress, used if the host's connection drops |
saves/rejoin.json | for five minutes after an online game drops: the host's address and a one-time token, so "Rejoin last game" works |
saves/telemetry/ | a play record of each finished game: who placed where, the minigames played, and the players' display names, kept for the last 200 games |
| the audio cache | sound the game generates at first launch |
| the game engine's own log files |
The folder is %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\MPG\. "MPG" was the game's working title.
None of these files is sent to us or to anyone else by the game. If you use "Export profile", the game writes a copy of that profile to a file on your own PC, and what you do with the file is up to you.
2. Playing online
To play together over the internet, one player hosts and the others join. To do that, the game processes:
- IP addresses.
- When you join by address, the host's PC sees your IP address, and you see the host's.
- When you join by code through a relay server, the relay server sees the IP addresses of the host and every player, and forwards the game's traffic between them. Each player's PC then sees only the relay's address.
- Your display name and character, which every player in the game sees.
- The game itself: your button presses and the state of the game, sent between the PCs while you play.
We process this only to connect you with the players you chose to play with. In GDPR terms, it is necessary to provide the online play you asked for. It is used for nothing else.
How long it is kept. For the length of the game session, in memory. The host's PC keeps the online save in point 1 until the game ends. Your PC keeps the rejoin file for five minutes.
Relay servers. The game does not come with a relay server. If you type a relay server's address into Options, that server is run by whoever gave you the address, and they see the IP addresses of the players who use it.
Opening a port on your router. When you host by address, the game asks your home router (using UPnP) to forward one network port (UDP 24545) to your PC while you host. It asks the router to remove that forwarding when you stop hosting. Nothing about you is sent to us.
Finding your public address. If your router does not answer that request, the game makes one request to a public service, ipify (api.ipify.org), to learn your PC's public IP address so it can show it to you to read out. That service sees your IP address and the request, and nothing else. Its own privacy policy applies (ipify.org).
What other players see. Anything you type as your display name is visible to everyone in the game, so please do not use your real full name if you would rather not share it. There is no chat, and no other text, voice or images pass between players.
3. Steam and Valve
If you bought the game on Steam, Valve handles your purchase, your Steam account and the Steam features you use (such as the Steam overlay, and achievements or Steam Cloud if the game offers them), under Valve's own privacy policy: https://store.steampowered.com/privacy_agreement/. We receive from Valve the aggregate sales and usage reports it gives all developers; they contain no personal data about you.
4. Children
Couch Spuds is made to be played by all ages. The game collects no personal information from anyone, of any age, beyond what this policy describes. The only thing a player types that others can see is a display name.
5. Your choices and rights
- You can delete everything the game keeps on your PC by deleting its folder (point 1).
- You can play entirely offline.
- Under the GDPR and UK GDPR, and similar laws, you have rights to access, correct and erase personal data about you. We keep none, but if you think we hold any, or have a question, write to hello@grousegames.com. We will answer within one month.
- You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
6. Changes
If a future version handles your information differently, we will update this policy before that version is released. We will also say so in the update notes. We will never add analytics, crash reporting or any upload of your information without asking you first in the game.