A miss at the rack is a miss, not a shot

Tapping a tile and landing a thumb-width off it returned -1 — free court — and
the tap became Space, which instantly armed whatever burst weapon was selected.
Reaching for the flamer and missing by 10px fired the gun: 22px tiles, a second
row the thumb hasn't learned, and a selection that moves under you (a won duel
re-equips the tin it tops up). rackHit now reports a dead margin around the
band (-2), and only the TAP dies there, decided at touchend — a drag or hold
starting in the same spot still steers and still serves, so burst steering
parked low keeps working.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

render.js

@@ -1183,13 +1183,21 @@ function rackGeom() {
   const rows = rackRows();
   return { x0: Math.round((W - rw) / 2), y0: rackTop(), tw, h, rows, n: rows * RACK_ROW, rw };
 }
-export function rackHit(nx, ny) { // normalized [0,1] canvas coords -> slot index, or -1
+// A NEAR-MISS AT THE RACK IS DEAD, NOT A SHOT. A tap that lands a thumb-width off a tile used to
+// return -1 — free court — and input turned it into Space, which INSTANTLY armed whatever burst
+// weapon was selected. So reaching for the flamer and missing by 10px fired the gun: the exact
+// "selecting X activated Y" report, made likely by 22px tiles, a second row the thumb hasn't
+// learned yet, and a selection that can move under you (a won duel re-equips the tin it tops up).
+const RACK_MISS = 18; // px of dead zone around the band: no selection, no swing, no burst
+export function rackHit(nx, ny) { // normalized [0,1] canvas coords -> slot index; -1 free court, -2 dead near-miss
   if (G.mode !== 'splatter' || G.interlude) return -1; // no rack during the tennis-rules duel
   const g = rackGeom(), cx = nx * W, cy = ny * H;
   // The touch band is deliberately BIGGER than the art: up by RACK_GRAB and all the way down to
   // the screen edge, reclaiming the dead margin below. At 22px tall the tiles were ~30 CSS px on a
   // phone — well under the 44px everyone's thumb expects — which is why switching tins felt fiddly.
-  if (cy < g.y0 - RACK_GRAB || cx < g.x0 || cx >= g.x0 + g.rw) return -1;
+  if (cy < g.y0 - RACK_GRAB || cx < g.x0 || cx >= g.x0 + g.rw)
+    return cy >= g.y0 - RACK_GRAB - RACK_MISS && cx >= g.x0 - RACK_MISS && cx < g.x0 + g.rw + RACK_MISS
+      ? -2 : -1;
   // The FIRST five never move: they stay welded to the bottom edge and the second five stack above,
   // so growing the rack doesn't slide the ball out from under a thumb that already knows where it is.
   // Clamped rather than rejected — the RACK_GRAB overhang sits above the top row.