diff --git a/PROJECT.md b/PROJECT.md
index 86899af..23d5425 100644
--- a/PROJECT.md
+++ b/PROJECT.md
@@ -739,11 +739,21 @@ Watch: **a roller in the middle of a sequence is seven aimed serves.** Oliver as
 robustness to be kept, so it is — but if a round ever feels like grinding rather than reading, a
 drill-only HP scale is the knob, not a change to the roster.
 
-**TENTH PASS — two testing switches, and neither should be left on by drift.**
-- **`TUNE.drillOneShot` (ON)**: every body on a drill court drops to 1 hp. Asked for to make testing
-  quick, but be aware what it removes — **the roster's HP is what makes the called ORDER matter**. A
-  roller is normally seven serves, so being told to take it third means starting on it first; at one
-  hit that whole layer of planning is gone and the sequence is pure recall. Decide it on feel.
+**TENTH PASS — two switches, and the round-boundary bug.**
+- **`TUNE.drillOneShot` — tried ON for one playtest, now OFF.** *"one-shot is bad - way too easy -
+  also we're losing all the nice gore animation sprites"*. The second half is the one that is easy to
+  miss and worth remembering generally: **a 1 hp body never passes through a wound stage**, so every
+  skin in `ZWOUND` (arm off, ribs out, still walking) is skipped and the roster's best art never
+  renders at all. The HP is also what makes the called ORDER matter — a roller is seven serves, so
+  being told to take it third means starting on it first. Kept as a switch, never a default.
+- **THE ROUND-BOUNDARY CARRY-OVER, and it was a real unfairness.** *"the last kill of a game can
+  carry to the spawn of a new zombie of the next round"*. A ball keeps pace through a kill
+  (`TUNE.zPierce`) and it travels UP-COURT — which is precisely where the next batch is born. So the
+  shot that finished your round flew on into bodies that did not exist when you took it and faulted
+  you on a round you had not been shown yet. **The shot that ends a round is spent** (`ball.active =
+  false` in drillKill's completion branch, and in `drillCaught` for the same reason: that also
+  refills the court up-court). Pierce WITHIN a batch is untouched — that is honest occlusion you
+  could have read; this was not.
 - **`TUNE.drillEaterMax` 3 -> 0 (OFF)**: *"remove the fake zombies for now"*. The drill is the pure
   puzzle with no second threat at the moment. The mechanism is untouched — `spawnEater`, the wide
   entry away from the gang, the never-a-fault rule — so one number brings it back.
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index b2ec5b4..1c7e8ac 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -399,6 +399,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=161"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=162"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 9bebfa7..1abed20 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -374,12 +374,13 @@ export const TUNE = {
                          // brings it back. Past 3 the puzzle stops being readable.
   drillEaterSpeed: 1.15,// they walk a touch faster than the batch: the batch is a list, this is a threat
   drillRampT: 210,  // s to go from the bottom of every curve above to the top
-  // TESTING KNOB, currently ON. Every body in the drill dies to one splat-quality hit, whatever the
-  // roster says it should soak. Flip to 0 for the real thing — and note that this is not purely a
-  // convenience: the roster's HP is what makes the called ORDER matter (a roller is seven serves, so
-  // being told to take it third means starting on it first), and one-shot bodies delete that whole
-  // layer. Decide it on feel rather than leaving it on by drift.
-  drillOneShot: 1,  // >= 0.5: batch bodies AND eaters all drop to 1 hp
+  // TESTING KNOB, and it is OFF again after one playtest: "one-shot is bad - way too easy - also
+  // we're losing all the nice gore animation sprites". Both halves matter and the second is the one
+  // that is easy to miss — a 1 hp body never passes through any of its WOUND STAGES, so every skin
+  // in ZWOUND (arm off, ribs out, still walking) is skipped entirely and the roster's best art never
+  // renders. The HP is also what makes the called ORDER matter: a roller is seven serves, so being
+  // told to take it third means starting on it first. Left here as a switch, not a default.
+  drillOneShot: 0,  // >= 0.5: batch bodies AND eaters all drop to 1 hp
   drillCaughtBack: 45, // s of ramp handed back when one reaches you. A real setback, not a reset
   fps: 60,          // frame cap — 30 halves battery/heat but Oliver felt it; smoothness wins (0 = uncapped)
   lowPower: 1,      // >= 0.5 caps RES at 3 (−44% of pixels painted per frame) — the battery saver,
diff --git a/src/drill.js b/src/drill.js
index 977b662..957984c 100644
--- a/src/drill.js
+++ b/src/drill.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 // render.js reads DRILL_COLS and draws.
 
 import { TUNE } from './config.js';
-import { G } from './state.js';
+import { G, ball } from './state.js';
 import { zombies, spawnZombie } from './zombies.js';
 import { voice } from './audio.js';
 
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ export function drillKill(zb) {
     if (d.step >= d.seq.length) {            // round complete — and the next one is already here
       d.rounds++;
       d.msg = { text: 'GOOD', t: 0.9 };
+      // THE SHOT THAT ENDS A ROUND IS SPENT. A ball keeps pace through a kill (TUNE.zPierce) and it
+      // is travelling UP-COURT — which is exactly where the next batch is about to be born. So the
+      // ball that finished your round flew on into bodies that did not exist when you took the shot
+      // and faulted you on a round you had not been shown yet. Pierce WITHIN a batch stays: that is
+      // honest occlusion you could have read. This is not.
+      ball.active = false;
       newRound(d);
     }
     return;
@@ -206,6 +212,7 @@ export function drillCaught(text = 'CAUGHT') {
   voice('game_opponent', 0.1);
   d.msg = { text, t: 1.8, bad: true };
   zombies.length = 0;
+  ball.active = false;   // same reason as the round-complete case: the court refills up-court
   d.seq = []; d.step = 0; d.faults = 0; d.spawnT = 0;
   d.t = Math.max(0, d.t - TUNE.drillCaughtBack);  // ...and the ramp backs off a little
 }
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 80ad580..5bdd96e 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -490,17 +490,48 @@ test('a wrong kill never leaves an un-winnable round', () => {
   }
 });
 
-test('drillOneShot drops every body on the drill court to a single hit', () => {
+test('the shot that ends a round cannot carry into the next batch', () => {
+  // Oliver: "the last kill of a game can carry to the spawn of a new zombie of the next round". A
+  // ball keeps pace through a kill and travels UP-COURT, which is exactly where the next batch is
+  // born — so it faulted you on a round you had not been shown yet.
+  drillPlaying();
+  const seq = G.drill.seq.slice();
+  for (const v of seq) drillKillType(v);
+  assert.ok(G.drill.rounds >= 1, 'setup: the round completed');
+  assert.equal(ball.active, false, 'the finishing shot is spent, not left in flight');
+  // let the next batch walk on and confirm it arrives untouched
+  for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) update(DT);
+  const gang = zombies.filter(z => z.drill);
+  assert.ok(gang.length >= 2, 'the next batch is on court');
+  assert.equal(G.drill.faults, 0, 'and it did not inherit a fault from the previous round');
+  assert.equal(G.drill.step, 0, 'nor a half-finished sequence');
+});
+
+test('being caught also spends the ball, for the same reason', () => {
+  drillPlaying();
+  ball.active = true; ball.lastHit = 'P';
+  killPlayer();
+  assert.equal(ball.active, false, 'the court refills up-court; a live ball would meet it');
+});
+
+test('drillOneShot is a switch, and OFF means the roster HP is intact', () => {
+  // Off by default: one-shot bodies were "way too easy" AND skipped every wound skin in ZWOUND,
+  // because a 1 hp body never passes through a damage stage. Asserts whichever way the knob is set
+  // rather than being deleted when it was turned off.
   startDrill();
-  assert.ok(TUNE.drillOneShot >= 0.5, 'setup: the testing knob is on');
-  for (const z of zombies) assert.equal(z.hp, 1, z.variant + ' should be one-shot, saw hp ' + z.hp);
-  // and it really dies to ONE splat-quality ball, roster HP notwithstanding
   const tank = zombies.find(z => z.drill && z.variant === 'k')
-            || zombies.find(z => z.drill && z.variant === 'g') || zombies.find(z => z.drill);
-  ball.active = true; ball.lastHit = 'P'; ball.y = 1; ball.pow = 1; ball.bounces = 0;
-  ball.x = tank.x; ball.z = tank.z; ball.vx = ball.vy = ball.vz = 0;
-  update(DT);
-  assert.ok(!zombies.includes(tank), 'one hit put down a ' + tank.variant);
+            || zombies.find(z => z.drill && z.variant === 'g');
+  if (TUNE.drillOneShot >= 0.5) {
+    for (const z of zombies) assert.equal(z.hp, 1, z.variant + ' should be one-shot, saw hp ' + z.hp);
+  } else if (tank) {
+    assert.ok(tank.hp > 1, 'the heavy bodies keep the roster HP: ' + tank.variant + ' at ' + tank.hp);
+    // ...and that is what lets it show a wound stage on the way down
+    ball.active = true; ball.lastHit = 'P'; ball.y = 1; ball.pow = 1; ball.bounces = 0;
+    ball.x = tank.x; ball.z = tank.z; ball.vx = ball.vy = ball.vz = 0;
+    update(DT);
+    assert.ok(zombies.includes(tank), 'one hit does not put down a ' + tank.variant);
+    assert.ok(tank.hp < tank.hpMax, 'but it is wounded: ' + tank.hp + '/' + tank.hpMax);
+  }
 });
 
 test('a batch body that walks past you counts as caught, never as a free escape', () => {