Code of Conduct

1. Purpose

A primary goal of Puzzled Pint is to be inclusive to the largest number of attendees, with the most varied and diverse backgrounds possible. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, ethnicity, race, nationality, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, and religion (or lack thereof).

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our community and events, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.

We invite all those who participate in Puzzled Pint to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.

2. Puzzle Community Citizenship

A supplemental goal of this Code of Conduct is to increase puzzle community citizenship by encouraging participants to recognize and strengthen the relationships between our actions and their effects on our community.

Communities mirror the societies in which they exist and positive action is essential to counteract the many forms of inequality and abuses of power that exist in society.

If you see someone who is making an extra effort to ensure our community is welcoming, friendly, and encourages all participants to contribute to the fullest extent, we want to know.

3. Expected Behavior

The following behaviors are expected and requested of all community members:

  • Participate in an authentic and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.
  • Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
  • Attempt collaboration before conflict.
  • Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
  • Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert community leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
  • Remember that community event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.

4. Unacceptable Behavior

The following behaviors are considered harassment and are unacceptable within our community:

  • Violence, threats of violence or violent language directed against another person.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Posting or displaying sexually explicit or violent material.
  • Posting or threatening to post other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).
  • Personal insults, particularly those related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability.
  • Inappropriate photography or recording.
  • Inappropriate physical contact. You should have someone’s consent before touching them.
  • Unwelcome sexual attention. This includes, sexualized comments or jokes; inappropriate touching, groping, and unwelcomed sexual advances.
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following (online or in person).
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
  • Sustained disruption of community events, including talks and presentations.

5. Weapons Policy

No weapons will be allowed at Puzzled Pint events or in other spaces covered by the scope of this Code of Conduct. Weapons include but are not limited to guns, explosives (including fireworks), and large knives such as those used for hunting or display, as well as any other item used for the purpose of causing injury or harm to others. Anyone seen in possession of one of these items will be asked to leave immediately, and will only be allowed to return without the weapon. Community members are further expected to comply with all state and local laws on this matter.

Occasionally, puzzles will require scissors to complete. Scissors that are “reasonable,” as deemed by the organizers and fellow players, are not considered weapons, unless — as described above — used in a threatening way.


6. Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behavior from any community member, including Game Control and those with decision-making authority, will not be tolerated.

Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.

If a community member engages in unacceptable behavior, the community organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the community without warning (and without refund in the case of donations to the local GC, Patreon, or via any other method).

7. Reporting Guidelines

If you see a Code of Conduct violation, follow these steps:

  1. Let the person know that what they did is not appropriate and ask them to stop and/or edit their message(s) or commits.
  2. That person should immediately stop the behavior and correct the issue.
  3. If this doesn’t happen, or if you’re uncomfortable speaking up, contact the organizers.
  4. As soon as available, an organizer will look into the issue, and take further action, starting with a warning, then temporary ban, then long-term, then permanent ban. Organizers reserve full rights to skip any of these steps, at their discretion.

When reporting, please include any relevant details, links, screenshots, context, or other information that may be used to better understand and resolve the situation.

The team will prioritize the well-being and comfort of the recipients of the violation over the comfort of the violator.

Please keep in mind that we’re a decentralized volunteer organization and while we can enforce bans in a given city and in online resources (such as Facebook or Twitter), we don’t have the resources to enforce bans across cities, if a violator were to take a trip or move. If we’re made aware of the situation, we will make a best-effort attempt to help communicate across city Game Control groups.

Contacting the Organizers

If you are subject to or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please notify an organizer as soon as possible. During a local event, this should be a Game Control staff member running an event. At other times, this could be your local city Game Control or the board of directors in Portland, at your discretion. Contact information is below.

Who Watches the Watchers?

We take the Code of Conduct seriously, all the way up to the top of the organization. If the behavior involves a member of the local GC, this should be immediately reported to Puzzled Pint board of directors. If the behavior involves a member of the board of directors, please, at your discretion, talk to your local GC and/or privately reach out to one or more uninvolved members of the board. Please see the Contact Info section for more details.

8. Addressing Grievances

If you feel you have been falsely or unfairly accused of violating this Code of Conduct, you should notify the Puzzled Pint board of directors with a concise description of your grievance. We will attempt to sort things out, using input from all involved. Keep in mind that the team will prioritize the well-being and comfort of the recipients of the violation over the comfort of the violator.

9. Scope

We expect all community participants (players, local Game Control, Headquarters Members, and Board Members) to abide by this Code of Conduct in all community venues — online and in-person — as well as in all one-on-one communications pertaining to community business.

This code of conduct and its related procedures also applies to unacceptable behavior occurring outside the scope of community activities when such behavior has the potential to adversely affect the safety and well-being of community members.

We realize that our monthly events occur in bars and pubs around the world. When the local venue has rules that are more strict than those laid out here, yield to the local venue’s policy. When the local venue has a policy that is nonexistent or is more lax than Puzzled Pint’s Code of Conduct, then the Code of Conduct should be followed. The venue always has the discretion to throw anyone out for any reason.

There was previously a Code of Conduct that applied only to Game Control communication — email, online chat, etc. This Code of Conduct encapsulates and expands that document, providing more detail, and extending to players. This document supersedes and obsoletes the GC-specific document.

10. Contact info

  • Puzzled Pint Board of Directors : gamecontrol@puzzledpint.com
    • Board members (with titles and at-large) can be reached at the puzzled pint domain, with the addresses ana@, brian@, curtis@, jen@, and matt@
  • Local GC : Not all cities have public contact information. Consult http://www.puzzledpint.com/info/cities/ to find your city or privately contact gamecontrol@ or one of the individual board members and we’ll help sort things out.

11. License and attribution

The Puzzled Pint Code of Conduct is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 3.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Portions of text derived from the Citizen Code of Conduct which was previously available at http://citizencodeofconduct.org [no longer online as of February 2023]. Other portions were derived from the weallbehave Code of Conduct at https://github.com/WeAllJS/weallbehave/blob/latest/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Clauses 1-10 last updated December 27, 2019. Clause 11 (License and attribution) last updated February 13 2023.