diff --git a/PROJECT.md b/PROJECT.md
index 22a2331..de916ec 100644
--- a/PROJECT.md
+++ b/PROJECT.md
@@ -967,6 +967,25 @@ config assertions, which is exactly why it came back twice.**
   floor against catastrophic regressions, not a proxy for Oliver's thumb; his playtest stays the
   real gate for "reachable".
 
+**TWENTIETH PASS — the flight recorder, and the statue with a racket.** Oliver asked to be WATCHED:
+*"can you watch me play in the browser pane and see why I loose"*. A passive 20 Hz recorder was
+injected (samples score/ball/player/opponent, keeps the last 1.5 s of trajectory before every lost
+point, touches nothing) and he played a real match in the pane. Seven losses on record, and the
+verdict was unambiguous — **he swung in every single lost point (4-5 swing frames each) while the
+ball died 2-3 m to his side, and his own x never moved all game.** His timing was fine. He had no
+legs: `autoAssist` keys off `pointer: coarse`, the pane reports a FINE pointer, so auto-run was 0 —
+the exact trap the verification recipe has warned about for weeks, now bitten by the designer
+himself in live play.
+- **`matchAssist` 1.15: the match brings its own legs on every device.** It is a tap-timing game;
+  footwork is the game's job. Held keys still override (the assist only runs with no manual input).
+  Pinned by a test that plays with `autoAssist` 0 — the desktop condition — and asserts he runs.
+- **The vignette curve is sqrt(damage)**, not linear: the match pool is 8, so hit one was a 10%
+  alpha nobody can see ("basically invisible"). sqrt front-loads it — first blood reads at ~0.3 and
+  it still deepens to the cap.
+- **The flight-recorder pattern is worth keeping**: instrument passively, let Oliver play, read the
+  trails. It ended a three-round guessing match in one session — his reports and my autopilot
+  measurements kept disagreeing because the autopilot had legs he did not.
+
 **Open, and every one of them is Oliver's call after he plays it:**
 1. ~~**A ball that carries through the lane can complete two steps at once.**~~ Largely CLOSED by
    the slice removal (seventh pass) — a cut ball picking its own next victim was the main way this
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 0a5424d..353a30f 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -400,6 +400,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=171"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=173"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 9c40e4e..0d71333 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -394,6 +394,9 @@ export const TUNE = {
   matchFlub: 0.08,     // the match's own whiff base — the duel's 0.2 gives away a fifth of all
                        // returns, which across a game is an opponent that beats itself
   matchFlubKeep: 0.82, // ...and it keeps only this much per rung — the ladder now that hp is flat
+  matchAssist: 1.15, // auto-run floor DURING A MATCH, any device. autoAssist keys off pointer:coarse,
+                     // so desktop had no legs at all — the match is a tap-timing game and footwork
+                     // is the game's job. Held keys still override
   matchOppPace: 0.78,   // scale on the opponent's return SPEED for opponent one (~21 m/s instead
                         // of ~27) — the flight time auto-run needs. THE reachability dial
   matchOppPacePer: 0.05,// ...climbing back per rung, capped at full pace
diff --git a/src/gameplay.js b/src/gameplay.js
index 87d75e5..0a8269b 100644
--- a/src/gameplay.js
+++ b/src/gameplay.js
@@ -1312,12 +1312,17 @@ export function update(dt) {
     P.x += mx * TUNE.playerSpeed * slow * dt;
     P.z += mz * TUNE.playerSpeed * slow * dt;
     let assist = 0;
-    if (!mx && !mz && TUNE.autoAssist > 0 && ball.active && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0)) { // auto-fire: you aim by hand, no assist
+    // THE MATCH BRINGS ITS OWN LEGS, on every device. autoAssist keys off pointer:coarse, so the
+    // desktop Browser pane (pointer: fine) had NO auto-run at all — the flight recorder showed
+    // Oliver swinging in every lost point while his x never moved: a statue with a racket. The
+    // match is a tap-timing game; footwork is the game's job. Held keys still override (mx/mz).
+    const assistK = G.match ? Math.max(TUNE.autoAssist, TUNE.matchAssist) : TUNE.autoAssist;
+    if (!mx && !mz && assistK > 0 && ball.active && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0)) { // auto-fire: you aim by hand, no assist
       // splatter: anything travelling back toward you is yours to run down — your own rebound
       // included. The assist puts you there; the volley timing stays honest.
       const chasing = ball.lastHit === 'O' || (G.mode === 'splatter' && !G.interlude && ball.vz > 0);
       // no `slow` here: tapping must not freeze your legs, or anticipating a shot loses it
-      const rate = TUNE.playerSpeed * TUNE.autoAssist * dt * (chasing ? 1 : 0.55);
+      const rate = TUNE.playerSpeed * assistK * dt * (chasing ? 1 : 0.55);
       // Run to the ball — then recover. WHERE you recover to is mode-specific and each rule exists
       // for a reason:
       //   GORE SPLATTER recovers in DEPTH ONLY, holding your lane — recovering to HOME.P's x undid
diff --git a/src/render.js b/src/render.js
index 5ca3467..2cdc1b0 100644
--- a/src/render.js
+++ b/src/render.js
@@ -1971,10 +1971,11 @@ export function render() {
     const dmg = 1 - Math.max(0, G.hp) / (G.hpMax || 1);
     const pulse = G.hurtFlash > 0 ? Math.min(1, G.hurtFlash / 0.3) * 0.3 : 0;
     if (dmg > 0 || pulse > 0) {
-      // dmg * 0.8: at half health the frame is unmistakably bloodied, at 1 hp it closes in hard
-      // ("the vignette can get more pronounced") — the inner radius tightens with damage too, so
-      // deep wounds shrink the clean centre instead of only darkening the rim
-      const a = Math.min(0.85, dmg * 0.8 + pulse);
+      // SQRT of the damage, not the damage: the match pool is 8, so a linear curve made the first
+      // hit a 10% alpha nobody can see — "the vignette is basically invisible". sqrt front-loads it:
+      // hit one on 8 hp reads at ~0.3 alpha, and it still deepens all the way to the cap. The inner
+      // radius tightens with damage too, so deep wounds shrink the clean centre.
+      const a = Math.min(0.85, Math.sqrt(dmg) * 0.8 + pulse);
       const g = ctx.createRadialGradient(W / 2, H / 2, Math.min(W, H) * (0.5 - dmg * 0.22),
                                          W / 2, H / 2, Math.max(W, H) * 0.7);
       g.addColorStop(0, 'rgba(120,8,12,0)');
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 3c2218b..c3b24d5 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -570,6 +570,24 @@ test('THE DEATH LOOP: a fault before a lost point must not arm second-serve fore
   assert.equal(G.serveNum, 1, '...whoever won it');
 });
 
+test('the match brings its own legs: auto-run works even where autoAssist is 0', () => {
+  // The desktop pane (pointer: fine) has autoAssist 0, so the match played as a statue with a
+  // racket — the flight recorder showed a swing in every lost point and an x that never moved.
+  const assist = TUNE.autoAssist; TUNE.autoAssist = 0;   // the desktop condition
+  try {
+    startMatch();
+    for (let i = 0; i < 2.2 * 60; i++) update(DT);
+    G.phase = 'rally';
+    P.x = 0; P.z = 23;
+    ball.active = true; ball.lastHit = 'O'; ball.x = -3; ball.z = 14; ball.y = 1.4;
+    ball.vx = -1; ball.vy = 2; ball.vz = 5;               // incoming, wide of him
+    const x0 = P.x;
+    for (let i = 0; i < 45; i++) update(DT);
+    assert.ok(Math.abs(P.x - x0) > 0.5, 'he RUNS for it with no manual input and no coarse pointer: '
+      + x0.toFixed(1) + ' -> ' + P.x.toFixed(1));
+  } finally { TUNE.autoAssist = assist; }
+});
+
 test('the match recovers to CENTRE between shots — a wide return must not strand you', () => {
   // The match inherited gore-splatter's depth-only recovery (a sidestep-protection rule) by being
   // G.mode 'splatter' — so one wide return pulled you off centre and you STAYED there, and the next