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Terms of Use & Safety Rules

Effective September 30, 2026

Hostages is a real-world game played with real cars, real streets and real people. Please read the safety rules — they matter more than the score.

1. Agreement

By creating or joining a game, or otherwise using Hostages (the “Game”), you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Game. The Game is operated by Aidan McCants, an individual (“I”, “me”).

Who may play. You must be at least 13. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must know about and approve of your playing, and I recommend an adult be present or reachable. Anyone who drives in the Game must hold a valid license and insurance for the vehicle they drive. If you create a game as admin, you are responsible for making sure the people you invite meet these requirements.

2. Safety rules

This is only a game. Nothing in it is worth being hurt, arrested, or hurting anyone else. Break any rule below and you are playing outside these Terms.

Never use the app while driving. The driver keeps their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel; a passenger operates the phone. If you are alone, pull over somewhere safe and legal before touching your phone.
Obey every traffic law. Speed limits, signals, stop signs, seat belts and parking rules all still apply. Nothing in the Game — no timer, penalty, power-up or score — is a reason to speed, run a light, or drive aggressively.
Freeze and other power-ups: pull over at the next place where it is safe and legal to do so. Never stop in a travel lane, on a highway or its shoulder, at a blind curve, in an intersection, or anywhere else stopping could cause a crash. A 10-minute penalty is always cheaper than a collision. If you can’t stop safely in time, take the penalty.
Stay legal and respectful. Don’t trespass, enter private property, cross barriers, climb, or go anywhere closed or unsafe. Stay out of restricted areas, schools, construction sites and anything that looks dangerous. Don’t hunt anyone on foot through traffic or at night in unsafe places.
Hostages are volunteers. Everyone who is dropped off has agreed to play and can quit at any time. Nobody may be forced, restrained, tricked, or kept in a vehicle against their will. Never involve real weapons, restraints, or anything that could look like an actual abduction or crime, and never play with someone who hasn’t agreed.
Don’t alarm the public. The name of the game sounds worse than the game is. Be calm and discreet. If someone is concerned, stop and explain. If police or anyone with authority asks you to stop, stop.
Drop off safely. Hostage teams should be left only in public, well-lit, reasonably populated places they could safely get home from, with a charged phone, and never alone at a spot that is unsafe given the time of day or the weather. Drop-off spots are chosen by the players, not by the Game.
Check yourselves. Don’t play impaired by alcohol or drugs, when overtired, or in dangerous weather. Keep a phone charged. If anyone stops responding, stop the game and check on them.
In an emergency, call your local emergency number (911 in the US). The Game is not an emergency service and must never be relied on to locate, contact or protect anyone.

3. Assumption of risk and release

Playing involves real-world risks, including vehicle collisions, injury, being stranded or lost, bad weather, encounters with strangers or animals, misunderstandings with bystanders or police, and loss of or damage to property. By playing you knowingly and voluntarily accept those risks. To the fullest extent the law allows, you release and agree not to sue Aidan McCants, and anyone who helps operate or host the Game, over any injury, death, loss or damage that arises from your participation or from anything another player does, including negligence, except for harm caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Some places don’t allow some of these limits, and a minor’s release may need a parent’s agreement to be effective; where that is the case, this section applies as far as the law allows.

You are responsible for your own conduct, your passengers, your vehicle, and the choices you and your team make. The Game does not supervise, vet, or verify any player, driver, vehicle, or location.

4. Admins

If you create a game you are its admin. You are responsible for picking a lawful, safe start/finish location, for setting rules (such as drop window and Freeze) that won’t pressure players into unsafe behavior, and for ending the game if conditions become unsafe. You should also tell your players the room code is the only thing protecting the game’s data.

5. Your content and conduct

Names, team names and photos you submit are your responsibility. Don’t submit anything unlawful, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes someone else’s rights, and don’t share private information about others.
Photos of people. Only photograph people who are fine with it, and never take or share photos of minors you don’t know, of private areas, or of anyone in a way that would embarrass or endanger them. Photos are shared with everyone in the game (and a linked Telegram chat), so assume anything you upload can be seen and saved.
You keep ownership of what you submit. You grant me a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to store, process, and display it solely to run the Game for the people in your room. I don’t use it for anything else.
Don’t attack, probe, scrape, overload, or reverse-engineer the Game’s servers, or use it to harass, stalk, or track anyone. Location data from the Game must never be used to follow someone who hasn’t agreed to be followed.
I may remove content, end games, or block access at any time and without notice if I think these Terms are being broken or someone may be put at risk.

6. Third-party services

The Game relies on services I don’t control — including Cloudflare, Telegram, Esri maps, OpenStreetMap, and your device’s GPS — and each is governed by its own terms. I’m not responsible for them. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors; satellite imagery © Esri and its sources.

7. No guarantees

The Game is free and provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, reliability, availability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. GPS, radar, distance, direction, timers, penalties and scores can be wrong, delayed or unavailable (especially with a locked screen, weak signal, a dead battery or an unsupported browser), and the Game may be changed, interrupted or shut down at any time. Never rely on it for navigation, safety, or emergencies.

8. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, I will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, property or profits, arising from the Game or these Terms, and my total liability for any claim will not exceed fifty US dollars ($50). Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

9. Indemnity

If you break these Terms or the law while playing, or your conduct causes harm to someone else, you agree to cover reasonable losses that I incur as a result of claims by others arising from that conduct, to the extent the law allows.

10. Ownership

The Game’s name, design and code belong to Aidan McCants (third-party libraries and data belong to their owners). These Terms give you permission to play the Game, not to copy or resell it.

11. Copyright and abuse reports

If you believe content in a game infringes your copyright, or you want to report abuse or illegal content, email hostages@aidanmccants.com with the room code and a description (please don’t attach the content itself); I’ll follow up and remove what I can. Games delete themselves shortly after everyone leaves.

12. Governing law and changes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, and any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Pennsylvania, unless the law where you live gives you the right to use your local courts. I may update these Terms; when I do, I’ll change the date above and the Game will ask you to accept the new version the next time you create or join a game. Continuing to play means you accept it. If any part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies.