Frequently Asked Questions

A game takes as long as you want it to. You can answer a single question (about 30 seconds) or keep going until you run out of lives. Most players play 3–10 minute sessions.

Every right answer gives clues (1–3 depending on the question's difficulty). When you accumulate enough clues (50 to 200, depending on the next country's difficulty), the game automatically converts them into 1 Ancient Map, which unlocks the next country in your Journal.

80 countries across 6 continents. The easiest cost 3 maps, the rarest 50. The order is fixed for everyone; you start with the most recognisable.

No. Countries unlock in a fixed difficulty order. This is by design: it makes sure every player faces the same challenge in the same order.

You have 5 lives. Each wrong answer or time-out costs 1 life. Lives recharge at 1 per 20 minutes, or, when a video ad is available, you can watch a short video to recover 1 life instantly.

50/50 eliminates two wrong answers, leaving only two options (one right, one wrong). Extra Time adds 6 seconds to the clock. Each has limited charges: 50/50 charges come from the Welcome Pack or the Shop, Extra Time charges from the daily bonus or the Shop.

Rank is based on total stars earned: Novice (0), Apprentice (500), Expert (5,000), Specialist (50,000), Master (100,000), Legend (300,000). Rank counts every star you've ever earned: wrong answers don't reduce it, and neither does spending stars in the Shop.

Not to start. The first 3 questions are completely free and count as a trial. To save progress and discover more countries, you need an account; we create it with a code sent by email, no password.

Your email (for authentication), the username you choose, your game progress (stars, discovered countries, streaks), a one-way device fingerprint hash used only to detect multiple accounts on one device (kept 90 days), your IP address in security logs (removed after 90 days), and usage analytics only if you accept cookies. We never ask for a password. For the full breakdown, read the Privacy Policy.

Each person can only have one account. Our anti-cheat system detects multiple accounts on the same device and flags them for review by a person. No account is suspended automatically on device evidence alone, and confirmed abuse can lead to suspension.

There's no in-app delete button yet: email privacy@starko.app asking for deletion and your data is removed within 30 days, in line with GDPR.

It's automatically transferred to the new account. You don't lose any of the stars or clues you earned without logging in.

Portuguese, English and Spanish, with full parity: every question, description and UI element exists in all three languages.

Not yet. Today your rank and stars are personal progress, and share cards let you show them to friends. Global, regional and clan leaderboards are planned for a future release.

No. STARKO uses one-time purchases only: pay once, get the product. No recurring charges, ever.

Infinite Lives (30 or 60 minutes), 50/50 Pack (20 charges), Welcome Pack (500 stars + 5 lives + 5 charges + 3 premium days), No Ads (an instant life at Game Over with no video, forever), and the 5 premium themes (individually or as a bundle). The Shop also has a Star Store where stars you've earned buy lives and power-up charges.

Yes. Prices shown at checkout include applicable VAT (collected via Stripe Tax). For EU users, VAT is charged according to your country.

Contact us at support@starko.app. Refunds follow Stripe's standard refund policy. Consumable items (stars, lives, power-up charges) that have already been used can't be reversed.

A one-time offer for new players: 500 stars + 5 lives + 5 50/50 charges + 3 days with premium theme access. Only available in the first 48 hours after creating your account, for €2.99.

Yes. The daily bonus gives an Extra Time charge on streak days 3, 4, 6 and 7, and the Star Store in the Shop lets you buy 50/50 and Extra Time charges with stars you've earned in-game. Paying is just a way to speed things up.

Yes. One-time purchase, lifetime. When you run out of lives, you get 1 life back instantly instead of having to watch a video. Timed recovery (1 life every 20 minutes) is the same for everyone.

Partially. Static assets and an offline fallback page are cached via Service Worker. The game itself requires an internet connection to validate answers.

Yes. STARKO is a Progressive Web App (PWA): open the site in Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android) and use 'Add to Home Screen' to install it like a regular app.

We use a multi-layer system: suspicious response timings (too fast or too consistent), sudden accuracy spikes, device fingerprinting for multi-account detection, and atomic answer validation on the server (we never trust the client alone).

Yes. All connections use HTTPS. There are no passwords (email-code authentication). Data at rest is on Neon (managed PostgreSQL) with disk-level encryption.

Recent versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge, on desktop and mobile. On iOS, Safari gives the best experience for installing to the home screen.

Email support@starko.app with what happened, what you expected, and (if possible) a screenshot. We respond within 1–2 business days.