Before your next online settlers game, it's worth checking something almost nobody checks: the cookie policy. On several of the most popular sites for playing Catan online, that policy lists more than 200 third-party advertising partners. Google, Amazon Ads, TikTok Ad Network, Meta, and dozens of data brokers most players have never heard of.
What that list actually means
When a site publishes a list of "partners" in its cookie policy, it's not legal decoration. It's the list of companies that, if you accept cookies (or simply keep browsing, depending on how the banner is designed), that site can share information about you with: what device you're using, what pages you visit, which ads you click, and in some cases, your approximate location.
For an online board game, that means your casual session with friends, moving sheep around and trading brick for wheat, can end up feeding advertising profiles across 200+ separate companies. Not because the game needs it to function, but because that site's business model runs on programmatic ads.
Why this isn't just a technicality
This isn't about whether you personally trust each of those 200 companies. It's that you probably didn't know they existed until now. That's the real problem: programmatic advertising runs on a level of opacity that makes it nearly impossible for an average player to understand who they're sharing data with just by opening the site.
Compared to other areas where people already pay attention to privacy (messaging apps, password managers, social networks), online board games are still a blind spot. Nobody thinks "let me check the cookie policy" before a quick Sunday-afternoon game of Catan with friends.
How Hexo does it differently
Hexo doesn't run ads, so it doesn't need that infrastructure. There are no banners to fund, no ad inventory to sell, so there's no reason to share your activity with a network of third parties.
The model is simpler: the core game is free and unlimited (solo or with friends), and anyone who wants permanent rooms, match history, and custom board themes pays for the Table, a one-time €20 payment. No subscription, no advertising, no 200 unfamiliar names reading your cookie policy for you.
What you can do yourself
If you play on other platforms, you don't have to take our word for it: next time you open a site to play settlers online, look for the "Cookies" or "Privacy" link in the footer and open it. On many of these sites, you'll find exactly the kind of list described here. It's public information, and it's yours to check.
If you'd rather skip that reading, you can play a game against the AI on Hexo with no signup and no third-party trackers. The board is the same one you know; what's missing is the part you never see.
