pictopos

Terms of Service

Last Updated: September 27, 2026

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF SERVICE CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICE, JOINING THE WAITLIST OR CREATING AN ACCOUNT, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE.

1. Acceptance of Terms

1.1. These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and pictopos ("pictopos," "we," "us" or "our") governing your access to and use of the website located at pictopos.com, the pictopos game, and any related features, content and services we provide (collectively, the "Service").

1.2. Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy.

2. Eligibility

2.1. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use the Service. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

2.2. If you are under eighteen (18) years of age, or under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Service only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms on your behalf and who is responsible for your use of the Service.

2.3. You may not use the Service if you have previously been suspended or removed from the Service, or if your use of the Service is prohibited by applicable law.

3. Waitlist

3.1. Before the game becomes available, you may provide your email address to be notified when the Service opens (the "Waitlist"). We will use that address only to notify you of the launch and, at most, to send one reminder beforehand.

3.2. Each message will include a means of unsubscribing, and we will honor unsubscribe requests promptly. Joining the Waitlist does not reserve any plot, username or other feature of the Service.

4. Accounts

4.1. Certain features of the Service, including claiming plots, creating artwork, liking and reporting, require an account registered with a verified email address.

4.2. You agree to (a) provide accurate information; (b) maintain only one account; (c) keep your sign-in credentials secure; and (d) notify us promptly at [email protected] of any unauthorized use of your account. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.

4.3. Usernames are subject to Section 8. We may change or reclaim any username that violates these Terms.

4.4. Your account is personal to you. You may not sell, rent, lend, assign or otherwise transfer your account, or any plot or Virtual Currency associated with it, to any other person.

5. Plots

5.1. The Service divides a map of Manhattan into individual squares ("Plots"), each corresponding to approximately one acre of the real city. A Plot is a space within the game map only.

5.2. Claiming a Plot grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use that Plot within the Service, subject to these Terms and the game rules in effect from time to time. A Plot does not confer any ownership of, interest in or right to any real property; does not create any relationship with the owners, occupants or businesses at the corresponding location; and does not grant any right to enter, use or affect any physical place. pictopos is not affiliated with the City of New York or with any property owner.

5.3. Plots are subject to game rules, which we describe within the Service and may modify to maintain fairness and activity. As of the date above: your first Plot is free; additional Plots are obtained with Virtual Currency and carry an ongoing cost in Virtual Currency; if your balance is exhausted, your most recently obtained Plots become dormant rather than being removed; and after 30 days of inactivity, Plots other than your first return to the map, with your first Plot returning after 90 days of inactivity. Your artwork is retained. We will provide notice within the Service before changing these rules in a manner that removes Plots from users.

6. Virtual Currency

6.1. The Service includes in-game points known as "PXL" ("Virtual Currency"), which users earn when others like their artwork and may use to obtain additional Plots.

6.2. Virtual Currency is a limited, revocable, non-transferable license to use a feature of the Service. Virtual Currency is not money, property, a security or a financial instrument; has no monetary value outside the Service; does not earn interest; and cannot be redeemed, exchanged or sold for cash, goods, services or anything of value from us or any third party. We do not sell Virtual Currency.

6.3. You may not buy, sell, trade or offer to buy, sell or trade Virtual Currency, Plots or accounts for real-world money or anything of value outside the Service.

6.4. We may manage, regulate, modify or eliminate Virtual Currency at our discretion, including by correcting balances that result from errors, abuse or violations of these Terms. Upon termination of your account for any reason, any Virtual Currency associated with it is forfeited without compensation.

7. User Content

7.1. Ownership. You retain all ownership rights in the artwork, titles and other content you submit to the Service ("User Content"). We do not claim ownership of your User Content.

7.2. License to pictopos. You grant pictopos a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt the format of (including by resizing, displaying at different zoom levels, combining with neighboring Plots in the map, and creating previews, share images and time-lapse renderings), and publicly perform and display your User Content, in connection with operating, providing and promoting the Service. We may permit our service providers to exercise these rights on our behalf solely to provide the Service. We will not otherwise sell or sublicense your User Content.

7.3. Duration. The license in Section 7.2 terminates when you delete the applicable User Content or your account, except with respect to (a) copies retained in backups for a limited period; (b) promotional materials created before deletion; and (c) copies we are required to retain by law.

7.4. Public Content. Published User Content is publicly visible. Other users may view, like, report and share links to or preview images of it. These Terms do not grant other users any right to use your User Content outside the Service.

7.5. Representations. You represent and warrant that you own or have obtained all rights necessary to submit your User Content and to grant the license above, and that your User Content complies with these Terms.

7.6. Feedback. If you provide suggestions or feedback regarding the Service, we may use them without obligation or compensation to you.

8. Prohibited Content

8.1. You may not submit User Content, including artwork, titles, usernames and profile information, that:

  1. depicts, sexualizes or exploits minors in any manner. We will remove such content, terminate the associated account and report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and to law enforcement as required by law;
  2. is sexually explicit or contains nudity, or depicts graphic violence or gore;
  3. promotes hatred of, or attacks, any person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or serious disease, including through hate symbols;
  4. harasses, bullies or threatens any person, or promotes or encourages violence, self-harm or suicide;
  5. discloses the private information of any person, including addresses, telephone numbers, identification documents or images of private individuals without their consent;
  6. impersonates any person or entity or misrepresents your identity or affiliation;
  7. infringes any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or other right of any person;
  8. constitutes spam, advertising or solicitation, or contains QR codes, links or handles directing users to commercial offers; or
  9. is unlawful or promotes unlawful activity.

9. Prohibited Conduct

9.1. You agree not to:

  1. use bots, scripts, macros or other automated means to claim Plots, create artwork, like, report or otherwise access the Service;
  2. create or operate multiple accounts, or coordinate accounts, to obtain likes, Virtual Currency or Plots;
  3. exploit bugs or errors in the Service (and you agree to report any you discover);
  4. scrape, copy or extract the map or other users' User Content in bulk (other than indexing of public pages by search engines), or use content from the Service to train artificial intelligence or machine-learning models;
  5. circumvent rate limits, bans, verification measures or other security features, or interfere with or disrupt the Service or other users' enjoyment of it; or
  6. submit false or abusive reports.

10. Moderation and Enforcement

10.1. Verified users may report User Content. Content that receives a threshold number of reports (currently three) is hidden pending review by a moderator. We may also review any content at any time.

10.2. We may, in our discretion and without liability, remove or disable User Content; reset or reclaim Plots; adjust Virtual Currency; restrict features; or suspend or terminate accounts that we believe violate these Terms or applicable law. Where practicable and lawful, we will notify you of the action taken and the reason for it. We are not obligated to monitor the Service.

10.3. If you believe an enforcement action was made in error, you may appeal by emailing [email protected] within thirty (30) days, including your username and a description of the matter. The appeal will be reviewed by a person.

11. Copyright Policy

11.1. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and respond to notices of alleged infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (the "DMCA").

11.2. Notice of Infringement. If you believe that material on the Service infringes your copyright, please send our designated agent a written notice that includes:

  1. a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on the owner's behalf;
  2. identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
  3. identification of the material claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate it, such as a link to the relevant Plot or profile;
  4. your name, address, telephone number and email address;
  5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
  6. a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

11.3. Designated Agent. Copyright Agent, pictopos; email: [email protected].

11.4. Counter-Notification. If you believe material you submitted was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notification containing: your physical or electronic signature; identification of the material removed and the location at which it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification; and your name, address and telephone number, together with a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if your address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which pictopos may be found) and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice.

11.5. Repeat Infringers. We will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers. Any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, may be liable for damages under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

12. Third-Party Materials and Intellectual Property

12.1. The Service incorporates map data derived from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, made available under the Open Database License; borough boundaries published by the New York City Department of City Planning; and aerial imagery © City of New York, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. These materials remain the property of their respective owners and are credited where displayed.

12.2. Place names are used solely to describe locations. The Service is not sponsored or endorsed by, or affiliated with, any place, business or brand that appears on or near the map.

12.3. Except for User Content and the third-party materials described above, the Service, including the pictopos name and logo, website, game, software and design, is owned by pictopos and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify or distribute any part of the Service except as permitted by these Terms. You may share links to and screenshots of the Service.

13. Changes to the Service and These Terms

13.1. We may add, modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the Service at any time. The Service may be unavailable from time to time.

13.2. We may revise these Terms. The "Last Updated" date above indicates when they were last changed. For material changes, we will provide at least fourteen (14) days' notice by email or within the Service before the changes take effect, except where a change is required sooner by law or for safety. Your continued use of the Service after revised Terms take effect constitutes acceptance of them. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Service and delete your account.

14. Termination

14.1. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time.

14.2. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service. If we discontinue the Service, we will endeavor to provide at least thirty (30) days' notice and a means of downloading your artwork.

14.3. Sections 6.4, 7.3, 7.6 and 15 through 19 survive any termination of these Terms.

15. Disclaimer of Warranties

15.1. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PICTOPOS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT USER CONTENT, PLOTS OR VIRTUAL CURRENCY WILL BE PRESERVED.

15.2. The map displayed on the launch page is a simulation, and the artwork shown on it was generated for demonstration purposes.

16. Limitation of Liability

16.1. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL PICTOPOS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USER CONTENT, PLOTS, VIRTUAL CURRENCY, PROFITS OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

16.2. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PICTOPOS'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF FIFTY U.S. DOLLARS (US $50) OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO PICTOPOS IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

16.3. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR DAMAGES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

17. Indemnification

17.1. To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless pictopos from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of your User Content or your violation of these Terms or applicable law. This Section does not apply to consumers in jurisdictions where such provisions are not permitted.

18. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

18.1. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana and applicable federal law of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

18.2. Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us at [email protected] and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days.

18.3. Any claim not resolved informally shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the State of Louisiana, and each party consents to the personal jurisdiction of those courts; provided that either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court. If you are a consumer residing in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you retain the protection of the mandatory laws of your country of residence and may bring claims in your local courts.

19. General Provisions

19.1. Entire Agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and pictopos regarding the Service.

19.2. Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

19.3. No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to do so later.

19.4. Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, and will notify you if we do.

19.5. No Third-Party Beneficiaries. These Terms do not confer any rights on any third party.

20. Contact Information

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

pictopos
[email protected]