Terms of Service

Last updated: October 9, 2026

The short version

• PlayPKM is a free, unofficial fan game. Play fair and be decent to other players.
• You need to be 13 or older to make an account. Guests of any age can play the computer.
• No cheating, bots, exploits, harassment, or offensive or fake-someone-else usernames. Breaking these rules can get your account locked.
• The site comes as it is, with no promises that it will always be up or that your data will never be lost.
• Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc., and The Pokémon Company. We are not connected to them.

The full terms follow. By using playpkm.com (the "Site"), you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the Site.

1. Who we are

The Site is run by PlayPKM ("PlayPKM," "we," "us"). You can reach us at admin@playpkm.com. Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we use it, and is part of these terms.

2. Who can use the Site

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are under 13, you may play against the computer as a guest, but you may not create an account. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 13, we will delete it.
• If you are under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live), you need a parent or guardian to read and agree to these terms with you.
• You may not use the Site if we have previously locked or removed your account for breaking these terms, unless we tell you otherwise.

3. Your account

• Keep your password and your recovery code private. Don't share your account or use anyone else's.
• Your recovery code is the only way to reset a forgotten password. We store only a scrambled form of it, so we cannot look it up for you. If you lose both your password and your recovery code, we may not be able to give the account back.
• You are responsible for what happens on your account. If you think someone else has gotten into it, change your password and make a new recovery code on your account page, and tell us.
• One person, one ladder account. Don't make extra accounts to boost a rating, get around a lock, or dodge other players.

4. Usernames

Your username is public. It must not:

• pretend to be another person, another player, a moderator, PlayPKM, or a company (including Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc., or The Pokémon Company);
• be hateful, sexual, threatening, harassing, or otherwise offensive;
• include personal information, such as a real full name, an email address, a phone number, a street address, or a social media handle meant to get people to contact you; or
• advertise anything.

We may lock an account whose username breaks these rules.

5. Playing fair and behaving well

When you use the Site, you agree not to:

• cheat, including using bots, scripts, or automated tools to play, queue, or climb the ladder, or arranging results with another player ("win trading");
• find or use bugs or exploits to gain an advantage, change results, or reach data you shouldn't; if you find one, please report it to us instead;
• harass, threaten, bully, or abuse other players, including through the Discord post feature or in your team names;
• overload, attack, scrape at high volume, or try to break into the Site, its server, or other players' accounts;
• get around a lock, a rate limit, or any other safety measure;
• use the Site to break the law or anyone else's rights; or
• post or send material that infringes anyone's copyright or other rights (see our Copyright and DMCA Policy).

6. What you submit

You keep whatever rights you have in the things you submit, like team names and feedback. By submitting them, you give PlayPKM a free, worldwide, non-exclusive license to store, copy, display, and use them to run, show, and improve the Site. That includes showing your username and battles in public replays and on the ladder, and using your feedback and ideas to change the game without paying you or owing you anything. This license continues for battle records and replays after your account is deleted, with your name replaced as our Privacy Policy describes.

You promise that you have the right to submit what you submit, and that it doesn't break these terms.

7. Moderation, locks, and ending your account

• Moderators may review battles, replays, usernames, and feedback, and may lock or remove accounts, reset ratings, or remove content, when we believe these terms were broken or to keep the Site safe and fair. We will try to be fair, but these decisions are ours, and we don't have to give a warning first.
• If you think we made a mistake, email admin@playpkm.com with your username and we will take another look.
• You can stop using the Site at any time. To have your account deleted, follow the steps in our Privacy Policy.
• We may change, pause, or shut down the Site or any feature at any time. Because the Site is free, nobody is owed a refund or compensation if that happens.
• Sections 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 keep applying after your account ends.

8. Fan project and intellectual property

PlayPKM is an unofficial, free, non-commercial fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc., or The Pokémon Company. Pokémon and the names, characters, images, and other materials connected to it are trademarks and copyrights of their respective owners and are used here only for a fan project. No ownership of them is claimed.

The Site's own code, design, and original content belong to PlayPKM or its licensors. You may not copy or resell them, except that you may share links to replays and pages.

If you believe something on the Site infringes your copyright, please see our Copyright and DMCA Policy.

9. No warranties

The Site is provided "as is" and "as available," free of charge. To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't promise that the Site will always be available, be free of bugs, or keep your account, teams, ratings, or battle history forever. Game mechanics may not match the official games. Ratings and ladder positions may be reset or corrected.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, PlayPKM and the people who run it will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, accounts, ratings, or goodwill, arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Site. Our total liability for any claim about the Site is limited to zero U.S. dollars ($0.00), because you have paid us nothing for it; where the law does not allow that, it is limited to $50.00. Some places don't allow some of these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

11. Your responsibility

If you break these terms or the law while using the Site, and someone makes a claim against PlayPKM because of it, you agree to cover the reasonable costs of that claim, to the extent the law allows.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We will change the date at the top, and for important changes we will post a notice on the Site before they take effect. If you keep using the Site after the changes take effect, you accept the new terms. If you don't agree, stop using the Site and ask us to delete your account.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Alabama, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute about these terms or the Site will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Alabama, and you and we agree to those courts' jurisdiction. Nothing in this section takes away rights you have under the consumer protection laws of the place where you live that cannot be waived by agreement.

14. Other terms

If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a rule right away, we haven't given it up. You may not transfer your account or these terms to anyone else. These terms, the Privacy Policy, and the Copyright and DMCA Policy are the whole agreement between you and PlayPKM about the Site.

15. Contact

PlayPKM, admin@playpkm.com