Sunburnt Santa – Official Leaderboard & Prize Rules

Last updated: 20 October 2026

1. Summary

Sunburnt Santa is a free game played for fun and bragging rights. It runs two public leaderboards: Top Santas (most Christmas points across the doors and ranked bonus games) and Elf Recruiters (most verified new players invited).

Prizes are not guaranteed and have no fixed value. A prize pool only opens if the game earns at least A$200,000 in Net Revenue during the Competition Period (section 4). If it does, the pool is 10% of all Net Revenue for the period (section 8), so it grows with the game's success. The top 10 players on each leaderboard share it.

No purchase is necessary to play, compete or win. Buying anything in the game (such as Remove Ads) does not improve your chance of winning a prize.

This is a competition of skill and effort. Chance plays no part in deciding winners.

2. Promoter

The promoter is Benjamin Cooney, trading as [Vibe DM / trading name], ABN [ABN], Yungaburra QLD, Australia ("we", "us"). Contact: [email address].

These leaderboards and any prizes are run solely by us. Apple Inc. and Google LLC are not sponsors of, and are not involved in any way with, this competition. Neither is TikTok or any other social platform.

3. Key dates

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST, UTC+10).

Scores and recruits only count if recorded on our servers during the Competition Period. The game and leaderboards may keep running after 24 December 2026 for fun, but play after that time is outside this competition and earns no prizes.

4. Prize threshold

A prize pool opens only if the game earns at least A$200,000 in Net Revenue (defined in section 8) during the Competition Period.

• Proof: we will publish the final figures with AdMob, App Store Connect and Google Play Console screenshots by 15 January 2027.
• If the threshold is met: the Prize Pool in section 8 opens and will be paid under these rules.
• If the threshold is not met: there is no prize pool. The leaderboards stand as bragging rights, and we will say so clearly in-app and on our socials.
• We will not raise the threshold after launch. We may lower it, which can only make prizes more likely, and will announce any change.

5. Eligibility

Anyone can play and appear on the leaderboards. To win a prize you must:

• be 18 or older when you claim, or have written consent from a parent or guardian if under 18
• have a registered player account with a display name and a contact email we can verify
• live in a country where this competition is legal and not excluded below

Excluded from prizes: residents of Italy, Brazil and the Canadian province of Quebec, any country under Australian or UN sanctions, and anywhere this competition is prohibited or restricted by law. [Add or remove countries after legal review.]

The promoter, our family members and anyone who helped build the game can play but cannot win prizes.

No purchase or payment of any kind is required to enter or win.

6. Top Santas leaderboard

Ranked by each player's Christmas points: the total of their best normalised round on each of the 24 doors and on each ranked bonus game (Santa Smash, Chimney Drop, Present Spin and Santa Pinball), counting only rounds recorded during the Competition Period.

• Normalised round: each door and ranked bonus game has a published target score (par). A round is worth 1,000 × score ÷ par Christmas points, rounded to 3 decimal places, so every door and ranked bonus game is worth about the same. Only your single best round on each one counts; playing it again adds points only if you beat that best.
• Bonus games count exactly like doors. The two-player bonus games (Christmas Light Smash and Snap!) are not ranked and never count.
• Only scores from the official, unmodified app, recorded on our servers and verified by replaying the round, count.
• One account per person. If you have more than one, only your best account counts.
• Tie-breaker: the player who reached the tied total first (earliest server timestamp of the round that completed that total) ranks higher.

7. Elf Recruiters leaderboard

Ranked by the number of Verified Recruits each player brings in during the Competition Period.

A new player counts as your Verified Recruit only when all of these are true:

1. They installed the game for the first time on a device never used with another Sunburnt Santa account.
2. They joined through your personal invite link, or entered your invite code when they first opened the game.
3. They created an account and played at least 3 full games on at least 2 different calendar days.

Rules for recruiting:

• Each new player can only be credited to one recruiter, the first link or code they used.
• Invite yourself, use fake or duplicate accounts, emulators, bots, paid install services or click farms, and all your recruits are removed.
• Spam is not allowed. Recruit people who actually want to play.
• We may cap the number of recruits counted per day if we detect unusual activity.
• Tie-breaker: the recruiter who reached the tied number first (earliest server timestamp) ranks higher.

You are never paid commission or money for recruiting. The leaderboard is for recognition; prizes apply only if unlocked under section 4.

8. Prize Pool (only if the threshold is met)

If the threshold is met, the Prize Pool is 10% of all the game's Net Revenue earned during the Competition Period. There is no upper limit: the more the game earns, the bigger the pool. Its final size is not known until after the period ends.

Net Revenue means ad revenue reported by Google AdMob, plus in-app purchase proceeds paid to us by Apple and Google after their fees, refunds and GST, for activity between 15 November and 24 December 2026.

• During the competition, the app shows an estimated pool, updated at least weekly. Estimates can go up or down as figures are finalised.
• We will publish the final Net Revenue and Prize Pool figures, with dashboard screenshots, by 15 January 2027.

The pool is split equally between the two leaderboards (50% each), then shared by the top 10 players on each board as follows:

• Cash prizes are paid by bank transfer or PayPal. Gift cards are sent by email.
• Overseas winners receive the A$ value in a suitable local form. Exchange fees and any local taxes are the winner's responsibility.
• One player can win one prize on each leaderboard.
• Prizes cannot be transferred or exchanged, except where we must substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

9. Winner verification and claiming

• Rankings lock at the close of the Competition Period. We then check the top players for cheating before confirming winners.
• We notify provisional winners by in-app message and email by 31 December 2026, and confirm by 15 January 2027 whether the pool opened, and announce display names (not full names) publicly.
• To claim, winners reply with their full name, country, proof of age and payment details by the claim deadline.
• If a winner is ineligible, disqualified or does not claim in time, the prize passes to the next eligible player on that leaderboard (11th place moves into the top 10, and so on).

10. Fair play

We may remove scores or recruits, or disqualify a player, if we reasonably believe they:

• hacked, modified or automated the game, or exploited a bug
• used fake, duplicate or shared accounts, or fake recruits
• harassed other players or spammed people with invite links
• broke these rules or the app's terms of use

We will tell a disqualified player why and give them a chance to respond before a prize decision is final.

11. Sharing your score or invite link

• Sharing is optional and never required to play or to win on Top Santas.
• Because prizes may be on offer, the default share text says you are competing in the Sunburnt Santa leaderboards. Please keep that disclosure if you edit the post.
• Follow each platform's rules (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and others). Do not post your link in places that ban promotional links.
• Do not claim people will win anything by downloading. Prizes go only to top-ranked players, and only if unlocked.

12. Privacy and general terms

• Privacy: we collect display names, scores, invite data and, for winners, contact and payment details. We use them only to run the game, the leaderboards and this competition, as set out in our Privacy Policy at sunburntsanta.com/legal/privacy. Leaderboards show display names only.
• Changes: if something outside our control (such as a server outage or cheating attack) affects the competition, we may adjust or suspend it fairly and will tell players. We will never change the rules in a way that disadvantages players who have already competed, except to remove cheating.
• Our liability: nothing in these rules limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Otherwise, we are not responsible for lost or delayed scores caused by your device, connection or app store.
• Decisions: our decisions on rankings and eligibility are final, subject to applicable law.
• Governing law: Queensland, Australia.

These rules are shown in full inside the app at all times and at sunburntsanta.com/rules.