Terms of Service

1. Who you’re agreeing with

By creating a Shinny account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms of Service (“Terms”) with Bristol-Jones Group, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company based in Nashville, TN (“Shinny,” “we,” “us”). If you don’t agree, don’t use the Service.

2. What Shinny is

Shinny is a free web application that helps skaters and goalies in the US and Canada find pickup hockey, stick & puck sessions, tryouts, open skate, league signups, and other ice-hockey activity at local rinks. We list rinks and aggregate community submissions. We don’t operate the rinks. We don’t referee the games. We’re a coordination tool.

3. Free forever

Shinny is free to use. We don’t plan to ever charge skaters, goalies, captains, coaches, league managers, or rink owners for the features on the platform. If that ever changes for any feature, we’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice before introducing it, and the option to delete your account before any change takes effect.

4. Your account

• You must be at least 13 years old to sign up. If you’re between 13 and the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Service only with a parent’s or guardian’s permission.
• You’re responsible for what happens under your account. Use a real email you can actually access, since magic-link sign-in depends on it.
• Don’t share your account. Don’t pretend to be someone else — including impersonating a real rink, league, or coach.

5. Acceptable use

Don’t do any of these:

• Harass, threaten, or bully other players. Don’t use Shinny to coordinate real-world violence or intimidation.
• Post false game information to mislead players (fake tryouts, ghost games, bait postings).
• Spam other users with unwanted messages, invitations, or solicitations unrelated to hockey.
• Scrape, mass-download, or reverse-engineer the Service. The rink dataset originates from OpenStreetMap contributors and is available under the ODbL on their site directly.
• Use the Service for anything illegal under the laws that apply to you.
• Probe, scan, or attempt to breach the Service’s security. Reporting bugs through the in-app bug button is welcome and encouraged. Active attacks are not.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that break these rules. For minor stuff we’ll usually warn you first. For serious stuff (harassment, threats, abuse) we’ll cut access without warning.

6. Your content

When you post a game, write a review, claim a rink, send an invite, or otherwise contribute content (“User Content”), you keep ownership of it. You give Shinny a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, display, format, and distribute that content within the Service so it works the way it’s supposed to.

You promise that your User Content is yours to post and doesn’t violate anyone’s rights. We may remove content that’s misleading, harmful, off-topic, or violates these Terms.

7. Hockey is a sport

Pickup hockey, beer league, stick & puck, open skate — all of it — carries inherent risks. Skating fast on a hard surface with sticks and pucks can hurt you. Shinny is not a host, organizer, or insurer of any game. We’re a tool that helps people coordinate. The rink, the organizer, your league, and your own equipment / fitness are responsible for the conditions of play.

Don’t skate at a rink Shinny lists without confirming the session with the organizer first. Wear the gear your league requires. Carry your own insurance (USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or comparable).

8. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, Shinny disclaims all warranties — express, implied, or statutory — including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We make no guarantees that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, free of harmful components, or that rink data, schedules, or any other listing is accurate or current. Always confirm with the rink before showing up.

9. Limit of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Bristol-Jones Group, LLC, its officers, employees, and affiliates will not be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages — including loss of profits, data, goodwill, or any inability to find ice — even if we’ve been advised of the possibility. Our aggregate liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed USD $100or the amount you’ve paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, whichever is greater. (You don’t pay us anything, so that’s a real cap.)

10. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Shinny harmless from claims arising out of your User Content, your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of anyone’s rights. We’ll let you know if a claim comes in and give you a chance to defend it.

11. Termination

You can delete your account at any time by emailing admin@shinny.io. We can suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, after warning you where reasonable. Sections that should survive termination by their nature (disclaimers, limits of liability, governing law, indemnity) survive.

12. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any lawsuit relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Davidson County, Tennessee, and you consent to that jurisdiction. If you’re in a jurisdiction with mandatory consumer-protection rules, those rules also apply.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms occasionally. We’ll update the date at the top of this page and, for material changes, give you at least 14 days’ notice in-app or by email. Continuing to use Shinny after the change means you accept the new Terms.

14. Communications & SMS

By creating an account you agree to receive transactional messages from Shinny (alerts for sessions matching your subscriptions, RSVPs, cancellations, and account notices) via the channels you’ve enabled in your profile — in-app, email, web push, and, only if you explicitly opt in, SMS.

SMS specifics:by ticking either SMS box in your profile and providing a valid mobile number, you consent to receive automated SMS texts from Shinny for the categories you opted into (new-game alerts and/or RSVP reminders). Message and data rates may apply — that’s between you and your carrier, not us. Frequency varies based on how many sessions match your subscriptions and how often you RSVP. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any text, replying HELP for support info, or unticking the SMS boxes in /profile. We honor STOP both at the carrier level and by flipping your opt-ins off in our system. Consent to receive SMS is not a condition of using Shinny — everything works fine without it.

Email tip:first-time emails sometimes land in spam or junk folders, especially with Gmail and corporate inboxes. If you’re missing Shinny alerts, check those folders and mark us as “not spam” so future messages reach you.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email admin@shinny.io. We read every message.