diff --git a/HANDOFF.md b/HANDOFF.md
index 004cb17..5a3ce0f 100644
--- a/HANDOFF.md
+++ b/HANDOFF.md
@@ -186,6 +186,13 @@ zombie (now an occasional opponent, `TUNE.racketEvery`, not the every-game fixtu
   because the wave grows with `hordeGrow` while the panic button was a flat 1 s; he chose scaling the
   melee over shrinking the horde. **Measure the crowd BEFORE calling `meleeSwipe`** — it kills
   everything in reach, so counting after counts the survivors and the cooldown barely moves.
+- **`render()` clears the whole frame to `pal.out` first.** There was NO clear for a long time: the
+  stands cover the top and the out-area quad covers the middle, so it looked complete — but the quad
+  only reached z=30 and BELOW where that projects the canvas was simply transparent. On a phone that
+  read as a duller band across the bottom of the screen. The quad now runs to z=60 as well, so the
+  perspective floor reaches the bottom on any aspect ratio. If you ever add a new orientation or
+  stretch the canvas further, check the bottom rows are opaque — sample `getImageData` alpha, the
+  colour alone will not tell you, because the page behind is deliberately the same green.
 - **The page background behind the canvas tracks the live court apron** (`pageBackground` in
   render.js). It is visible in exactly two places: the strip above the canvas under the status bar,
   and the slivers a phone's ROUNDED DISPLAY CORNERS clip out of the canvas — a flat dark body drew a
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 9b47ef1..c2ea8e5 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -80,6 +80,6 @@
     <p class="start">TAP TO START</p>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="main.js?v=48"></script>
+<script type="module" src="main.js?v=49"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/render.js b/render.js
index bb488e3..4f4f50e 100644
--- a/render.js
+++ b/render.js
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ export function proj(x, y, z) {
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------- sprites ----
 // assets/<name>.png; game falls back to code-drawn figures until sprites load.
-const SPRV = 48; // asset cache-buster — bump with main.js?v=N (see the img.src note below)
+const SPRV = 49; // asset cache-buster — bump with main.js?v=N (see the img.src note below)
 const SPR = {};
 for (const n of ['p_idle1','p_idle2','p_bounce','p_bounce2','p_toss','p_smash','p_run1','p_run2','p_swing1','p_swing2',
                  'o_idle1','o_idle2','o_bounce','o_bounce2','o_toss','o_smash','o_run1','o_run2','o_swing1','o_swing2',
@@ -611,7 +611,13 @@ export function render() {
   }
 
   const pal = palette(), pt = paletteT();
-  pageBackground(pal.out); // keep the page behind the canvas matching the court's apron
+  // CLEAR THE WHOLE FRAME to the apron colour first. There was no clear at all: the stands cover the
+  // top and the out-area quad covers the middle, but the quad only reaches z=30, and below where that
+  // projects the canvas was simply TRANSPARENT — you saw the page through it as a duller band across
+  // the bottom of the screen. Oversized by 8px so a camera shake can never expose an edge.
+  ctx.fillStyle = pal.out;
+  ctx.fillRect(-8, -8, W + 16, H + 16);
+  pageBackground(pal.out); // ...and the page behind it matches, for the rounded display corners
   // stands: the generated crowd, drawn in columns so it can BOUNCE when it cheers.
   // sit the ad strip flush on the court's back edge (the out-area quad below reaches z=-6);
   // pinning to that projected line keeps the boards clear of the lawn in BOTH orientations
@@ -656,7 +662,7 @@ export function render() {
 
   // ground + court (Super Tennis lawn); everything outside the doubles court is OUT
   const dw = COURT.dblW / 2;
-  quadXZ(-14, -6, 14, 30, pal.out);                                // out area
+  quadXZ(-14, -6, 14, 60, pal.out);                                // out area (past the bottom on any aspect)
   quadXZ(-dw - 0.15, -0.15, dw + 0.15, COURT.L + 0.15, '#e8e8dc'); // perimeter border line
   quadXZ(-dw, 0, dw, COURT.L, pal.lawn);                           // lawn (doubles court)
   for (let z = 0; z < COURT.L; z += 2.97) quadXZ(-dw, z, dw, Math.min(z + 1.49, COURT.L), pal.stripe); // mow stripes