Terms of use

Last updated 21 October 2026

These terms apply when you play The Dictator at dictator.one. The game is offered by Newton’s Games, 2093 Philadelphia Pike #9023, Claymont, DE 19703, United States (see the imprint); “we” and “us” below mean us. By playing you accept these terms.

1. The game

The Dictator is a free satirical card game in the browser. It needs no account. We may change the game, add or remove features, decks and difficulties, and suspend or end the game, the daily leaderboard or the archive of front pages at any time. Your progress is stored only in your browser and is lost if you clear its data.

Donations through PayPal are voluntary gifts. They buy nothing, unlock nothing and create no claim against us. PayPal’s own terms apply to the payment.

2. Satire and fiction

You play the Leader of Freedonia, a fictional country. Freedonia, its people, parties, newspapers and events are invented; any resemblance to real people or states is the point of the satire, not a statement of fact about them. The historical cases the game cites are real and sourced in the game. The game shows propaganda, intimidation and the abuse of power in order to expose how they work; it does not endorse them and is not political advice.

3. Newspapers written by AI

The headlines, articles and pictures of the game’s newspapers are generated by AI models from the facts of your game. They are fiction, may be wrong or odd, and do not express our views. When the AI is unavailable, an edition written in advance is printed instead. AI-generated text and pictures may not be protected by copyright; as far as any rights in them arise for us, you may share them as described in section 6.

4. Fair use

You may not:

• call the game’s server functions (anything under /api/) other than through the game itself, scrape them or the archive automatically, or get around their limits;
• send results to the leaderboard that were not played in the game, or alter the game to change your score;
• choose a display name that is abusive, hateful, sexual, unlawful, impersonates a real person or advertises something, or try to make the AI write such content;
• disrupt the site, probe it for weaknesses without our permission, or use it to break the law.

We may remove a display name, a leaderboard entry or a published front page, or block access, if we believe these rules are broken, without notice. Found a security problem? Please tell us at the address in the imprint.

5. The leaderboard and published front pages

The first result of each day’s coup you finish is shown on the daily leaderboard under your display name. A front page is published only when you choose to share it; it is then public at its own address and in the archive at dictator.one/news. You are responsible for the name you choose. We may remove any entry or front page at any time and have no duty to keep them. You can ask us to remove yours. The privacy policy says what is stored.

6. Rights in the game

© 2026 Newton’s Games. The game, its card text, art, rules, sounds, code and the name and look of The Dictator are protected; all rights are reserved. You may share screenshots, short clips and links to your front pages and results, for non-commercial purposes and with the game named. Anything else, including copying the cards, art or rules, needs our written permission.

7. No warranty

The game is provided free of charge, as it is and as available. We do not promise that it is always reachable, free of errors, or that progress, results or published pages are kept.

If you play from the United States: to the fullest extent permitted by law, the game is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

8. Liability

The game is free. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss, and our total liability to you is limited to US$50. Nothing in these terms limits liability that the law where you live does not allow to be limited: for a consumer in the EU, in particular, liability for intent and gross negligence and for injury to life, body or health. These limits also protect anyone who works for us.

9. Law and changes

The law of the State of Delaware, USA, applies, without its conflict-of-law rules and excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, the mandatory consumer protection of the country where you live still applies, and you may bring a claim in its courts. We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution before a consumer arbitration board.

We may change these terms with effect for the future; the date at the top shows the current version. If a provision is invalid, the rest stays in force.