Game Rules & Policies

Effective as of October 15, 2026

As an adult account holder, by choosing to engage in the Find the Idol games, you agree to the Game Rules and Policies and acknowledge that you do so at your sole risk.

Only adults who are at least 18 years old may create or use an account and join a game. A minor may accompany and participate only with the permission and direct supervision of their parent or legal guardian.

Find the Idol games can include two types of idols. A physical idol is a wooden idol placed at a participating location. Players find it in person and scan its QR code to collect it. A digital idol has no wooden object to find. Players visit the participating location and check in from their phone to save it.

Questions: termsofservice@findtheidol.com

Game Rules

A few key rules ensure the game stays fun, safe, and respectful to the host locations that make it possible:

Preserve Locations

Keep host locations as pristine as you found them.

Eco-friendly Finds

There is no need to disturb the environment. Idols fit naturally into the scene.

Follow Trails

Stay in public or expressly authorized areas, observe business hours and staff instructions, and never enter restricted areas. A map marker does not grant permission to enter property. Do not use the game while driving.

Capture the Moment

For a physical idol, the adult account holder scans the wooden idol's QR code and opens the link to collect it, and leaves the wooden object in place so others can join the fun. Collection saves an account record and does not transfer ownership of the object.

Build Your Collection

As the adult account holder, scan each physical wooden idol you find or check in from your phone for a digital idol to save it to your account and track your collection.

Spread the Word

Invite adult friends and family to join with their own accounts. Minors may come along only under the adult-account requirements above. More players can help bring Find the Idol to more communities.

Game Policies

By deciding to partake in the Find the Idol games, you acknowledge the following:

Voluntary Participation

Participation in Find the Idol is entirely voluntary and undertaken at your sole discretion and risk. As the adult account holder, the decisions to participate and to allow a minor to accompany you remain entirely yours.

Nature of Gameplay

We strive to ensure the safety of all participants during gameplay. However, outdoor activities, including Find the Idol games, may involve inherent risks.

Release of Liability

To the extent permitted by law, by participating as an adult account holder, you waive your own claims or causes of action against Find the Idol arising from harm, loss, or damage during your participation, including physical or psychological harm, damage to personal property, and financial loss. Nothing in this policy waives rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

Personal Responsibility

While we prioritize participant safety, your well-being remains your responsibility. An adult account holder is also responsible for the safety, conduct, and continuous supervision of each minor participating with them.

Adult Accounts and Minor Participation

You must be at least 18 years old to create or use an account or join a Find the Idol game. A minor may participate only with a parent or legal guardian's permission and direct supervision. A minor may not create, access, control, or independently use an account or any account-based feature.

Location Requirement

Adult account holders must visit the participating location and follow the requirements shown for the idol. The adult account holder must personally operate the device and account for scans, location checks, photo uploads, reward claims, and other account-based activity. Digital idols require a valid check-in from the adult account holder's phone at the participating location, including an exterior check-in where allowed. Follow each task’s QR, GPS, radius, and access instructions; physical idols may also require GPS confirmation. Shared QR photos or links, remote scans, location spoofing, and fabricated proof are prohibited.

Task Validity

All completed tasks, physical-idol QR scans, and digital-idol phone check-ins must be truthful, performed through the adult account holder's account, and valid so collection progress accurately reflects what the account holder completed.

GPS Photo Proof

If repeated GPS attempts cannot provide a usable reading, the Services may allow the adult account holder to take a current location proof photo. The best coordinates and accuracy available from the device are submitted with the photo. Proof is reviewed by Find the Idol staff, does not guarantee approval, and awards no collection point or reward unless approved. Submit only truthful evidence and avoid including unnecessary people or private information.

Acceptance of Terms

By proceeding to play Find the Idol as an adult account holder, you signify your understanding of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and accept responsibility for your participation and for each minor participating under your direct supervision.

Points, Prizes, and Business Offers

Free Play and Eligibility

Gameplay, collections, points, and standard game-prize eligibility require no purchase or payment. Accounts belong to adults age 18 or older. One person may use only one account; sharing, duplicate identities, buying points, or manipulating participation counts is prohibited. Organizers, staff, and business or sponsor personnel with privileged information or control over the game may participate for fun but are ineligible for prizes and do not count toward the prize threshold. Other age, geographic, or venue restrictions must be stated before a custom game starts.

Points and Photo Bonuses

A first valid collection earns the point value displayed for that idol task; the default is one point. Each player can collect a task only once. Repeated scans do not add points or reissue an offer. A task with an enabled photo bonus awards exactly one extra point when staff approve a photo following its instructions, submitted after collection and before game close. Pending and denied photos earn no bonus point. Review messages appear on the idol task. Deleting an approved photo removes its bonus point and records the reversal in points history. Players may upload a replacement only while the game and task accept photos and within 24 hours of the original collection. The upload is not a photo-quality contest or a random prize. Staff may review fraudulent or noncompliant activity. GPS proof is a separate review process and does not itself earn a photo bonus.

Score Records and Changes

Each game ranks its own points. Monthly and lifetime totals summarize progress and do not create a global leaderboard, monthly drawing, or additional prize. Points are not money, transferable credit, or redeemable balances. Task point values may change during a game. Each collection records the value earned at collection time; later edits do not change earlier awards. GPS proof saves the value at submission and awards it only upon approval. My Rewards shows a dated points history and running total, with calendar months measured in each game’s location time zone. Existing awarded bonuses and collections are not removed merely because future task availability changes. An idol permanently withdrawn from competition is handled under Removed Idols and Games That End Early below. Corrections for verified fraud or errors require review and notice to affected players.

Ranking and Exact Ties

Higher points rank first. Among equal scores, the player who reached the total earlier ranks first, using recorded collection and photo-bonus approval timestamps. Bonuses awarded before photo moderation retain their original earned times. Approved GPS proof uses its original server submission time, not the later review time. If both score and timestamp are identical, players share that rank. Alphabetical display order does not break a prize tie. Add the advertised prizes for the placement positions occupied by the tied players and divide that amount equally among them, rounded up to the next cent if necessary. No random tiebreaker is used.

Game Dates and Closing Time

The displayed start date opens at midnight in the game location’s time zone, and play closes at midnight immediately after the displayed end date. Daylight saving changes apply. Game times may differ from the time zone on your device. The server clock controls deadlines. If a game ends early, the announced early closing time replaces the scheduled close under Removed Idols and Games That End Early below. Collections, GPS-proof requests, and photo bonuses must be received before close. Draft and upcoming-game previews do not save points, collections, or rewards. Business offers already issued retain their own expiration after the game ends.

Optional Minimum-Player Prize Requirement

A game may use three reward tiers based on its number of distinct eligible players who each collect at least one idol. The first tier may also have no minimum-player restriction. Joining, invitations, repeat scans, and previews do not count as additional participants. Timely GPS proof counts only if approved. The highest threshold reached determines the advertised first-, second-, and third-place amounts; if the first threshold is not reached, no leaderboard prize is payable. Valid collections, points, and issued business offers remain. Tier qualification remains subject to eligibility and fraud review.

Prize Amounts and Provider

The game page lists the current cash amounts offered for first, second, and third place in US dollars and provides a reward-tier view of all possible amounts without displaying player counts. Amounts change automatically when a higher participation tier is reached; a placement with no positive advertised amount has no prize. Find the Idol provides and pays standard-game leaderboard prizes. A custom game may identify another provider in its published rules before play starts, with that provider’s express commitment. A business stop or sponsor logo alone does not make that business or sponsor the prize provider. Prizes are based on performance under these rules, not chance-based instant wins or monthly drawings.

Review, Appeals, and Winner Notices

Rankings remain provisional for at least seven days after game close while Find the Idol reviews eligibility, timely proof, cheating reports, and scoring disputes. Email termsofservice@findtheidol.com with the game, public handle, and supporting details within that seven-day period. Do not send passwords or sensitive identity documents by email. If a timely issue remains unresolved, finalization is delayed and affected players will be notified; a delayed staff review will not automatically invalidate timely proof. Final results are confirmed after review rather than merely by the order currently displayed.

Claiming and Paying Prizes

We contact potential winners using their account contact information and may request reasonable identity, age, eligibility, and tax verification through an appropriate secure method. Keep an accurate contact method in your account. Respond within 14 days of the winner notice. After verification, the identified prize provider distributes any cash-value prize within 30 days through Tremendous. Winners can choose from the redemption options Tremendous makes available, such as gift cards from a range of businesses or a prepaid Visa card as a flexible cash-equivalent option. Available selections may vary by location and are subject to Tremendous’s terms. Winners are responsible for applicable taxes; required reporting may apply. No processing fee, purchase, positive review, or unrelated marketing permission is required to claim. If a player is ineligible, declines, or misses the response deadline, we offer the affected prize to the next eligible finisher under the same ranking and tie rules.

Changes, Cancellation, and Fair Play

We may pause unsafe locations or suspend a game for safety, outages, fraud, or events beyond reasonable control. We will communicate material changes and how valid progress is treated. Advertised prize amounts will not be reduced after play begins, and scoring rules will not be changed retroactively. Permanent idol removal and early closure follow Removed Idols and Games That End Early below. A safety change does not cancel already-issued business offers.

Optional Business Offers

Business offers are separate from leaderboard prizes and do not depend on any minimum-player restriction a game may include. The identified business provides and fulfills its optional offer. A first collection receives at most one offer active when the award is issued. Later edits do not change your saved offer, and repeated scans cannot renew it. Offers in the standard four-week Find the Idol game last 24 hours after issuance; custom games use their displayed expiration. GPS-proof offers are issued at approval. Follow the disclosed purchase conditions, instructions, and business hours. Purchases never buy points or improve prize eligibility. Contact the business first about fulfillment, then Find the Idol if unresolved.

Photo Permissions and Safe Content

Submitting a bonus image and optional caption gives Find the Idol and the game’s hosts and sponsors permission to use and share them on their websites and social media as explained in the Terms and upload notice. Submit only content you have rights to share; obtain appropriate permission for identifiable people, especially minors. Avoid unnecessary bystanders, private information, unsafe activities, and misleading claims. If you publish an incentivized endorsement, clearly disclose that you earned a game point or other benefit. Private GPS proof is not promotional content.

Removed Idols and Games That End Early

These rules apply to games that begin under this policy version. Games already underway retain the rules and prize commitments in effect when they began. Find the Idol will announce a permanent idol removal or early game ending through the game page and available player contact channels, including the reason, affected idols, effective time in the game location’s time zone, and how results will be adjusted.

Temporary Unavailability

A closed business, a scheduled availability window, or a temporary interruption does not automatically remove an idol or cancel earned points. Report a missing, inaccessible, or unsafe idol to Find the Idol and do not enter restricted areas or move an idol yourself. We will confirm whether access can be restored or the idol must be permanently withdrawn. A permanent withdrawal applies to every player.

Permanent Idol Removal

For game scoring and completion, a permanently withdrawn idol is treated as though it was never part of that game. We exclude all collection points and photo-bonus points associated with it from every player’s game score, including previously approved awards, and remove it from the requirements for completing the game. Pending proof and bonus submissions for that idol cannot add points. Players who could not collect it receive no penalty and no replacement points; players who collected it receive no substitute scoring advantage. We recalculate rankings and score-reached times using only the remaining valid awards, without resetting their original timestamps. This is a neutral game adjustment, not a cheating penalty. A historical record of a valid find may remain, but it does not count toward this game’s result.

Earned Offers and Prize Commitments

Removing an idol or ending a game early does not cancel a business offer already issued; its saved conditions and expiration still apply. Valid participation recorded before an idol’s removal continues to count toward the game’s minimum-player prize requirements, subject to eligibility and fraud review, so the removal alone cannot reduce a legitimately reached prize tier. A timely GPS-proof request for a removed idol may still be reviewed to establish that participation, but cannot restore the removed points. Removal does not create an offer that was never issued.

Early Closing Time

If a game must end permanently before its scheduled end, play stops at one cutoff for all players. We will announce the exact date and time as soon as reasonably possible. In an emergency, the cutoff is the recorded time play was stopped, even if the notice follows. We will not choose an earlier cutoff to favor a player or exclude otherwise valid progress. New collections, GPS-proof requests, and photo-bonus submissions received at or after the cutoff do not count, even if a screen temporarily remains available. Players receive no estimated points for stops they intended to visit or tasks they had not submitted before the cutoff.

Review and Winners After an Early Ending

The eligible player with the most valid points at the cutoff is the winner, subject to review and the existing Ranking and Exact Ties rules. Any advertised second- and third-place prizes follow those same final rankings. Before confirming results, we apply permanent idol removals and review GPS proof and bonus submissions received before the cutoff under their original requirements; staff review after the cutoff does not make a timely submission late. Approved submissions count using the existing timestamp rules. Rankings remain provisional for at least seven days after the early close or its announcement, whichever is later, so players can report errors through the existing appeals process. Unresolved timely disputes delay finalization.

Prizes and Games Without a Valid Result

Early closure does not reduce advertised prize amounts. Published minimum-player requirements still apply, using eligible participation received before the cutoff and the removal protection above; ending early does not guarantee a cash prize if a required threshold was never reached. If the game never started, no eligible player has a positive score after adjustments, or reliable results cannot be established, we will not invent points or select a random winner. We will explain the issue and the proposed remedy in the game notice, preserve existing prize commitments, and complete the review and appeals process before confirming that no winner can be declared.

We look forward to a fun, adventurous, and safe gaming experience for all. Thank you for understanding and agreeing to this policy.