diff --git a/PROJECT.md b/PROJECT.md
index 651c812..6ec9bb9 100644
--- a/PROJECT.md
+++ b/PROJECT.md
@@ -493,7 +493,11 @@ zombie (now an occasional opponent, `TUNE.racketEvery`, not the every-game fixtu
 
 ## Session log: THE READ, the walk-on modal, the training court, movement reads (2026-08-28)
 
-Four items from one phone report. PHONE VERDICT PENDING on all of them.
+Four items from one phone report. PHONE VERDICT PENDING on 2-4; item 1 got its first verdict the
+same day — *"die Gegner sind jetzt etwas zuu einfach"* — and was turned down a notch: `readHabit`
+3 -> 4, `surpRead` 0.85 -> 0.6, `surpSlow` 0.45 -> 0.3, `surpFlub` 0.35 -> 0.22. A surprise is an
+opening the player still has to play, not a point handed over. The whiff-window test pin moved
+0.25 -> 0.15 with it.
 
 ### 1. THE READ — the twist for the post-COACH wall
 Oliver: past the HEAD COACH *"the opponents are very fast and barely make mistakes any more — we
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index a7630be..6dae971 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -675,6 +675,6 @@ if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one' && !window.Capacitor?.isNat
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=309"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=310"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 930d7cf..36e234c 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -608,11 +608,14 @@ export const TUNE = {
   // the champion — "HE RETURNS EVERYTHING" — is exactly the one you beat by setting a habit and
   // breaking it on the big point. Skill, not grind, is what opens the ladder past the coach.
   // Rally lanes only (doHit's aimed player shots); serves keep their own game. Solo match only.
-  readHabit: 3,        // same-lane returns in a row before the opponent has learned the pattern
+  // RETUNED DOWN 2026-08-28 same day (Oliver: "die Gegner sind jetzt etwas zuu einfach"): the
+  // habit takes one more shot to learn and the wrong-foot costs about a third less on every dial,
+  // so a surprise is an opening you still have to play, not a point handed over.
+  readHabit: 4,        // same-lane returns in a row before the opponent has learned the pattern
   readAnticipate: 0.97,// what aiRead climbs toward on an EXPECTED ball at the top rung
-  surpRead: 0.85,      // fraction of aiRead a wrong-footed opponent loses (x rung scale)
-  surpSlow: 0.45,      // fraction of chase speed it loses on the surprise ball (x rung scale)
-  surpFlub: 0.35,      // whiff ADDED at contact on the surprise ball at the top rung
+  surpRead: 0.6,       // fraction of aiRead a wrong-footed opponent loses (x rung scale)
+  surpSlow: 0.3,       // fraction of chase speed it loses on the surprise ball (x rung scale)
+  surpFlub: 0.22,      // whiff ADDED at contact on the surprise ball at the top rung
   // ---- MOVEMENT READS (2026-08-28): the sprites run, the court answers. Two cheap effects, both
   // live-tunable: feet kick the surface's own dust once a body crosses trailMin, and a body moving
   // that fast leaves a two-ghost speed streak behind it (the modal masthead's own trick, sampled
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 880efcf..dcaa33b 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -2110,7 +2110,9 @@ test('THE READ: a habit is learned by repetition and a break wrong-foots the rac
     'a wrong-footed champion runs slower than the head coach at full stride');
   const champFlub = TUNE.matchFlub * Math.pow(TUNE.matchFlubKeep, cfg.LADDER - 1) * cfg.matchFoe(cfg.LADDER).flub;
   assert.ok(champFlub < 0.02, '(the champion barely misses on his own — the wall being answered)');
-  assert.ok(champFlub + TUNE.surpFlub > 0.25, 'the surprise opens a real whiff window in that racket');
+  // 0.15, not 0.25: the same-day retune ("die Gegner sind jetzt etwas zuu einfach") took a third
+  // off every surprise dial — the window must stay REAL, but it is an opening, not a free point
+  assert.ok(champFlub + TUNE.surpFlub > 0.15, 'the surprise opens a real whiff window in that racket');
   assert.ok(TUNE.readAnticipate <= 1, 'anticipation never reads better than perfect');
   assert.ok(TUNE.readHabit >= 2 && TUNE.readHabit <= 6, 'a habit is learnable inside one game');
 });