Frequently asked questions

Chess and Stilz is an independent publishing house. We make story experiences for kids who want to be in the story, not just read it. The legal entity is Chess and Stilz Co., LLC, based in the United States. We were founded by parents who want better stories for their own readers. The company is a small operation of people and technology working together, with editorial direction held by people.

The fastest way is email: hello@chessandstilz.com. If you’re reporting something a story did that it shouldn’t have, please include the story title and the reader profile name if you know it — that helps us trace it quickly.

Chess and Stilz stories are made by people, with the help of generative writing technology, what is often called AI. The plot, the characters, and the shape of every chapter are designed by people: what happens, who appears, and in what order. The technology helps draft the prose, and we edit it.

Today, most of what your reader sees is authored. Where generated writing has earned its place, we use it. Each place has been tested to come out the way we expect, and it’s guided by example passages we’ve written. On top of that, a two-pass safety filter checks every generated page before and after it’s written. We’ll add more only as it proves it makes the story better and keeps it consistent, and each step has to meet our editorial standards first.

No system can promise perfection, and we won’t pretend otherwise. If that approach works for your family, we’d love to have you. If it doesn’t, this isn’t the right fit, and we mean that as clarity, not dismissal. Our How our stories are made page walks through this in full.

Suicide and self-harm, sexual content, and other categories we treat as non-negotiable. These are never allowed in a Chess and Stilz story, at any age, for any reader. We won’t pretend the technology is perfect — generation can produce surprises — but this bar is one we own, not a claim we make. If something slips, write hello@chessandstilz.com. We’ll fix it, tell you what happened, and use it to tighten the system. The How our stories are made page covers how this works.

No. There is no chat, no messaging, no comments, no other users. A child reading a Chess and Stilz story is alone with the story.

The reader moves through a story by picking from written choices we’ve prepared — not by typing freely to a character. That’s a deliberate design choice, not a limitation we’ll outgrow. Open-ended input is where editorial control and safety standards get compromised, and we won’t trade those for a feature.

The Parent Zone is a separate surface for the adult on the account. We may add direct support channels there over time as the company grows. The reader experience stays free of chat by design.

The reader side is closed. Your child sees the stories, characters, and worlds available under their profile — nothing else. No store, no feed, no other readers, no ads, no open web. Account settings and billing live in the Parent Zone.

A child exploring the app on their own is exploring stories, not the company. That separation is deliberate. The kid surface is for reading. The parent surface is for decisions.

Two different things can happen here, and they have different responses.

If a story crossed a line we said it wouldn’t cross — something in a category we don’t allow, something violent or sexual, something that doesn’t belong in a Chess and Stilz story at all — that’s on us. Email hello@chessandstilz.com with the story title and the reader profile name if you have it. We’ll trace it, fix the system, and tell you what happened.

If a story was within our published bar but wasn’t right for your child — the fit was wrong, the tone landed harder than expected, your family’s line is tighter than our default — that’s a settings conversation. Locked worlds like Stilz Dark stay closed until you open them. If a control doesn’t go far enough, tell us. That feedback shapes the next version.

We won’t ask you to defend why something didn’t sit right. You know your reader. We’re the publisher — it’s our job to give you the controls and the honesty to work with.

Not every story belongs on every shelf. Our open worlds are calibrated for readers nine and up by default. Some worlds carry stories with darker tone, sharper suspense, or themes that need a parent’s call rather than ours.

Those worlds are locked by default on every reader profile. The lock leads to the Parent Zone.

If a child asks about a locked world and you’re not sure, our suggestion is to open it for that reader and read the first chapter together. You’ll know within a few pages whether it’s right for your reader. That’s the honest version of how this call gets made.

Stilz Dark is our first locked world, in development now. There will be others.

Yes. A gift membership is paid once and never renews, so it’s a gift, not a subscription. You get a gift code to pass along, and it never expires while it sits unopened. The year starts the day a parent or guardian opens the gift and activates it with a $1 card check, which the app refunds right away. At the end of the year, the family can choose to become members, or simply stop. Nothing is charged automatically. If the person you give it to says no thank you, you get the full amount back.

Very little, by design. We built Chess and Stilz so the editorial system needs almost nothing from your child to do its job.

The account email belongs to you, not your child. Stripe handles card processing; we don’t store card numbers. Your child’s reader profile uses a name you choose — a nickname or a character name is encouraged — and an age that lets us calibrate which stories and worlds are available. As your child reads, we track which story they’re in, which choices they’ve made within it, and which worlds you’ve unlocked for them. That’s what makes the product work.

We do not collect birthdates, addresses, school information, photos, voice, contacts, or real-world identifiers about your child. We do not sell reading activity. We do not share reading activity with third parties for advertising.

Today, our generation vendors do not train their models on your child’s reading. The AI landscape is changing fast, and we want room to choose better tools as they appear — but if that ever changes, we will tell you what changed and why before it does.

The privacy policy is the binding document. This is the short version.

After each chapter your reader finishes, Chess writes you a Reader Recap. It’s a short letter about where they went and what they chose, with no scores or grades. It also includes a quick snapshot of how much they read, plus easy ways to adjust settings. Every recap is saved in the Parent Zone, and you can turn them off there anytime.

Chess and Stilz is currently designed for readers nine and up. That’s the floor for our open worlds — the bar we calibrate stories and worlds to by default.

Some readers nine and up will be ready for more than the floor. Some won’t be ready for everything in the open shelf.

Our safety floor does not move with age — what we’ll never include in a story stays the same for every reader, at every age.

Your child opens the app, picks a world, and steps into a story. As they read, they’re given choices that shape what happens next — not multiple-choice questions, not a quiz, but moments where the story branches based on what they decide. A brave choice and a careful choice send the story in different directions. The reading and the choosing are the whole experience.

Wonderland is our first world. New worlds are in the works — at a publishing house, deliveries are surprises.

There’s no chat, no other users, no feed. Just the story your child is in.

Yes, and we’re not there yet. We’re working toward WCAG 2.1 AA conformance — the standard for digital accessibility in the United States and most of the world — but the app at launch won’t meet that bar fully. Screen reader support, audio narration of stories, dyslexia-friendly type options, and other access features are real workstreams for us, not afterthoughts — but they’re on the build list, not in the launch.

If your child has specific access needs we should know about, write to us at hello@chessandstilz.com. We’ll tell you honestly what works today and what doesn’t, and your note will shape what we build next.