noelle

Terms of Service

Last updated 2026-06-17 · Version 1.1 (Beta — not yet independently legally reviewed)

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the noelle mobile application and website (noelle.basketball, the "Service"), operated as a private, non-commercial project by {OPERATOR_NAME} ({OPERATOR_STREET}, {OPERATOR_POSTAL_CODE} {OPERATOR_CITY}, Germany) — see also noelle.basketball/impressum.

By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

German residents: a German-language version is available at noelle.basketball/terms/de. In case of conflict, the German version prevails for users resident in Germany.

1. Nature of the Service

noelle is currently operated as a private, non-commercial project. The operator runs the Service in their spare time and does not earn revenue from it: there are no participation fees, no advertising, no paid features, and no sale or rental of user data.

This non-commercial status is a statement of present operation, not a permanent guarantee. See §11 (Future paid features) for what changes if the Service ever transitions to commercial operation.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account, or have parental consent if required in your jurisdiction. You must provide accurate registration information and keep it up to date.

3. Your account

• You are responsible for keeping your password (or OAuth provider credentials) confidential and for all activity under your account.
• You may have only one personal account. Creating multiple accounts to manipulate ELO ratings, evade suspensions, or circumvent rate limits is a violation of these Terms.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, abuse other users, or harm the Service. See §8.

4. Gameplay and fair play

The Service hosts 1v1 (and future 2v2 / 3v3) basketball matches at real-world courts. Match results, ratings, and rankings are user-reported. By using the Service you agree to:

• Report match results truthfully.
• Not collude with opponents to manipulate ELO.
• Not impersonate other users.
• Resolve disputes through the in-app dispute flow rather than retaliating.

We operate a sportsmanship score system that decreases when you are kicked from events, leave events you joined, no-show on challenges, or have disputes ruled against you. A low sportsmanship score restricts what you can do on the Service:

• < 50: cannot create events or challenges
• < 25: cannot join events or accept challenges

Sportsmanship recovers passively over time (+5 per week up to 100). The exact thresholds may change as we tune fairness; material changes will be announced in-app at least 14 days in advance.

5. Events, prizes, and third-party organizers

The Service lets users (and the operator) host pickup runs, leagues, and tournaments at real-world basketball courts.

5.1 Who is the organizer?

• User-hosted events. Any user with sufficient sportsmanship may create an event. The user is the organizer of that event and is solely responsible for its conduct, venue access, safety arrangements, and any prizes promised in the event description.
• noelle-hosted events. The operator may also host events. Where this is the case the event description will identify noelle as the organizer.
• Third-party-sponsored events. Some events may be sponsored or co-organized by third parties (e.g. brands, courts, clubs). Those parties' identities and terms are stated in the event description. Their terms govern the prize and any associated promotion.

5.2 Prize terms live in the event description

When an event offers a prize — cash, merchandise, a sponsored drop, event credits, or anything else of value — the event description must state the prize terms: who provides it, what triggers it, how and when it is delivered, what taxes or fees apply, and any geographic restrictions. Joining an event that offers a prize means accepting those event-specific prize terms in addition to these Terms of Service. If the event description is silent or ambiguous, the prize is provided on a best-effort basis at the organizer's sole discretion and is not guaranteed.

5.3 Payments

The Service is currently free. No participation fees are charged. If the Service ever introduces paid features, those will be governed by §11 (Future paid features) and will require separate explicit opt-in.

If you receive a prize that has a fair-market value above any applicable tax-free threshold in your jurisdiction, you are solely responsible for any tax owed on that prize. noelle does not provide tax advice.

5.4 Cancellation, no-shows, and refunds

• The organizer of an event may cancel or reschedule it. Where a prize was promised and the event is cancelled by the organizer, the organizer (not noelle) is responsible for resolving the situation with participants.
• We reserve the right to cancel, void, or remove any event at our discretion if it appears to be used to manipulate rankings, evade these Terms, or cause harm.

5.5 Court access and on-site conduct on public courts

Most noelle activity happens at public basketball courts that we do not own, lease, or reserve. Whether you join an event, accept a 1v1 challenge, or show up at a court because it tops your local leaderboard, access to the court itself is not guaranteed:

• Other people — strangers, other noelle users, local pickup runs — may already be using the court when you arrive.
• Courts may be closed for maintenance, weather, municipal events, permits, or other reasons outside our control.
• Where multiple groups want to play the same court at the same time, standard pickup etiquette applies: winner stays, next group queues, share the court fairly.

By signing up for a match or event through noelle you agree to:

• Wait your turn when the court is occupied. Do not interfere with people already playing or with non-noelle users who arrived first.
• Treat the court as a shared community resource — respect non-noelle players, neighbours, posted venue rules, opening hours, and noise expectations.
• Walk away if the court isn't available instead of escalating conflicts. Reschedule via the in-app cancel / dispute flow if a match cannot go ahead.

A no-show or a postponement caused by court unavailability is not automatically a sportsmanship penalty, but it must be reported honestly through the in-app dispute flow (§4) so opponents and other participants are not unfairly affected. Verifiable hostility, intimidation, or refusal to share a public court with other users may itself be treated as a breach of these Terms (§8).

6. User content

You retain ownership of content you post (event names and descriptions, court reviews, profile bio, profile photo). By posting, you grant the operator a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display the content within the Service, as necessary to operate the Service.

You agree not to post content that is illegal, hateful, sexually explicit, defamatory, that infringes third-party rights, or that attempts to promote a third-party product or commercial offer through the Service without express written agreement. We may remove content that violates these Terms without prior notice.

7. Disclaimers and liability

7.1 The Service is provided "as is"

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". noelle is a recreational platform to help people find pickup basketball, log matches, and run informal events. We do not verify court conditions, opponent identities, or match safety. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

7.2 Physical risk and court availability

Basketball is a physical-contact sport played at outdoor and indoor venues that we do not control. You participate in matches and events at your own risk. We are not liable for injuries, property damage, trespass disputes, weather effects, court unavailability (see §5.5), conflicts with other people present at the court, or any other consequence of in-person matches or events arranged through the Service.

7.3 Events organized by others

For events organized by other users or by third-party sponsors, noelle acts purely as a platform that publishes the event description and facilitates discovery. noelle is not a party to those events and is not liable for:

• the organizer's conduct or that of other participants,
• the venue's safety, accessibility, or legal availability,
• delivery or non-delivery of any prize, sponsored item, or service promised by the organizer or by a third-party sponsor,
• the truth, accuracy, or completeness of an event description.

The organizer (and, where applicable, the third-party sponsor) is solely responsible. If you have a dispute about a user- or sponsor-organized event, contact the organizer first.

7.4 Third-party prizes

Prizes offered by third parties (brands, courts, clubs) are subject to the terms of the prize provider and are delivered by the prize provider, not by noelle. noelle makes no warranty as to the existence, value, condition, or delivery of any third-party prize. Where local law allows, all liability of noelle in connection with third-party prizes is excluded.

7.5 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by German law:

• Where the Service is operated without consideration (i.e. you pay nothing), the operator's liability is limited to intent (Vorsatz) and gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit), except for damages arising from injury to life, body, or health, or from the Produkthaftungsgesetz, which remain unaffected.
• For breach of essential contractual duties ("Kardinalpflichten") the operator's liability is limited to foreseeable damages typical for this kind of contract.
• noelle is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill.

These limits do not apply where prohibited by mandatory law (e.g. for gross negligence, willful misconduct, personal injury, or under the German Product Liability Act).

8. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if:

• you violate these Terms,
• you abuse other users (harassment, threats, doxxing),
• you attempt to manipulate the rating system,
• a court or regulator orders us to, or
• the Service is discontinued (see §10).

A suspended account cannot log in. We will tell you the reason via the email address registered to your account.

You may delete your account at any time:

• In-app: Settings → Delete Account. Hard-delete is immediate.
• Email: send your username and registered email address to delete@noelle.basketball. See the Privacy Policy §5 for the detailed flow.

9. Changes to the Service

We may modify, add, or remove features without notice. We may discontinue the Service entirely with at least 30 days notice; in that case we will provide a way to export your data.

10. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced in-app at least 30 days in advance. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

11. Future paid features

The Service is currently free of charge. If we ever introduce paid features:

• We will give you at least 30 days advance notice in-app and by email.
• Paid features will require separate, explicit opt-in — a distinct agreement and confirmation step at the point you choose to pay. You will not be billed merely by continuing to use the Service.
• Features that exist today on a free basis will remain free unless you are notified individually before a feature is moved behind a paywall.
• If you decline the paid terms you will retain access to the free Service in its then-current scope.

12. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

The exclusive venue for disputes between merchants (Kaufleute) is Berlin (Amtsgericht Charlottenburg). For consumers, the mandatory provisions of the consumer's country of residence apply.

The operator is not willing or obliged to participate in dispute resolution before a consumer arbitration board (Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle).

13. Contact

The {OPERATOR_*} placeholders are filled on the production server before this page is reached by visitors. This draft is the operator's source-of-truth statement and does not constitute legal advice. A German IT-Recht attorney should review before commercial launch.