Terms of Service
Last updated: April 2026 · Effective: April 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legally binding agreement between you and the operator of RetroGameSpace ("we", "us") and govern your use of the website at retrogamespace.com and any subdomain or alternative domain operated by us (collectively, the "Service"). Please read them carefully. By accessing or using the Service you agree to be bound by these Terms; if you do not agree, do not use the Service.
1. Acceptance and Eligibility
You may use the Service only if you can form a binding contract with us under the laws of your jurisdiction. By using the Service you represent and warrant that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.
2. The Service
RetroGameSpace is a free, browser-based catalogue and playback front-end for classic retro games. We do not host first-party copies of game ROMs, BIOS files, or other copyrighted assets on storage we control. Game data is fetched on demand from publicly accessible third-party archives and passed through to your browser. Emulation is performed locally in your browser using the open-source EmulatorJS framework.
2a. Geographic Availability
The Service is not available to visitors located in certain jurisdictions. Where access from your apparent location is restricted, requests for game resources will be answered with HTTP 451 ("Unavailable for Legal Reasons"). The list of restricted jurisdictions may change at our sole discretion in response to the legal environment, and we are under no obligation to give advance notice of such changes. Use of any technical means (including VPNs and proxies) to circumvent these restrictions is a violation of Section 4 (Acceptable Use).
3. Age Requirement
The Service is intended for users aged 13 or older (14 or older in jurisdictions where that is the local age of digital consent, including the EU/EEA member states that have raised the threshold and the People's Republic of China). If you are below that age you must not use the Service. We do not knowingly collect personal data from users below that age; see the Privacy Policy for what happens if we discover such data.
4. Acceptable Use
You agree not to: (a) use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law of your jurisdiction; (b) commercially resell, white-label, sublicense, or redistribute the Service; (c) attempt to circumvent the DMCA denylist, region restrictions, rate limits, authentication, or any other access control; (d) use automated means (scrapers, bots, headless browsers) to bulk-download ROMs, BIOS files, or other game assets; (e) interfere with the operation of the Service, our infrastructure providers, or our upstream archives, including via denial-of-service attacks; (f) upload, transmit, or distribute any content that infringes third-party rights or that violates any applicable law; (g) impersonate any person or entity; (h) reverse-engineer or attempt to derive source code from any part of the Service we have not released as open source. Violation of this section may result in immediate termination and, where appropriate, referral to law-enforcement authorities.
5. Third-Party Content
Game titles, cover art, screenshots, descriptions, audio, and gameplay video that may appear on the Service are the intellectual property of their respective rights holders. References to those works on the Service are made under doctrines including but not limited to nominative fair use, fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107, fair dealing under UK and Hong Kong copyright law, and the corresponding statutory exceptions in other jurisdictions, solely to identify the works that users are searching for. We claim no ownership of any third-party intellectual property.
6. User-Submitted Content
If you submit content to us — including, without limitation, cloud save data, bug reports, DMCA notices, or feedback — you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable, perpetual licence to use, reproduce, store, display, and create derivative works of that content solely for the purposes of operating, maintaining, and improving the Service and complying with our legal obligations. You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to grant this licence.
7. Third-Party Services
The Service relies on third-party services including a third-party infrastructure provider (hosting / CDN / analytics), the Internet Archive (game data source), and Google Search Console (admin telemetry). Those services have their own terms of use and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their conduct or availability.
8. Disclaimer of Warranties
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY PARTICULAR GAME WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.
9. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE OPERATOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICE. THE OPERATOR'S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS (USD 100) OR THE MINIMUM AMOUNT REQUIRED BY LAW IN YOUR JURISDICTION, WHICHEVER IS GREATER. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES, SO PARTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
10. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the operator, its affiliates, agents, and licensors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any third-party right, including any intellectual-property or privacy right.
11. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including any violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service at any time; your local data (saves, BIOS, cached ROMs) can be deleted by clearing your browser site data. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including but not limited to Sections 5–10 and 12–17 — will survive.
12. Changes to These Terms
We may modify these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced by a banner on the homepage at least 30 days before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the change. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
13. Governing Law
These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
14. Arbitration
Any dispute, controversy, difference, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms, including the existence, validity, interpretation, performance, breach, or termination thereof or any dispute regarding non-contractual obligations arising out of or relating to it, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration administered by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC") under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules in force when the Notice of Arbitration is submitted. The seat of arbitration shall be Hong Kong. The number of arbitrators shall be one. The arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in English.
15. Class-Action Waiver
YOU AND WE AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT CONSOLIDATE MORE THAN ONE PERSON'S CLAIMS AND MAY NOT OTHERWISE PRESIDE OVER ANY FORM OF A REPRESENTATIVE OR CLASS PROCEEDING. If this class-action waiver is held to be unenforceable in any particular jurisdiction, the entirety of Section 14 (Arbitration) is null and void as to that jurisdiction, and any dispute will instead be resolved in the courts of Hong Kong.
16. Severability and Entire Agreement
If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the DMCA Notice and Takedown Procedure, constitute the entire agreement between you and us with respect to the Service and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings.
17. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Email abuse@retrogamespace.com.