v0.4.8 — the Limits bound the whole district, the nine spots really are nine, and an action points at its square

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YQAJ4dND7enLj54eLyiF2C

.gitignore

@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ Thumbs.db
 *.swp
 
 # Dependencies / build output
-node_modules/
+#
+# NO TRAILING SLASH on node_modules, deliberately. `node_modules/` matches a directory and not a
+# SYMLINK of that name — so one pointing at a shared install was committed in v0.4.7, and because it
+# pointed at a path that does not exist, a fresh checkout had no TypeScript: `npm run typecheck` said
+# "tsc: not found" and 20 tests failed for a reason that had nothing to do with the code.
+node_modules
 dist/
 build/
 target/

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,6 +19,114 @@ page as `v0.1.0 · <sha> · <date>`, so what is deployed can always be identifie
 
 ---
 
+## 0.4.8 — 2026-08-19
+
+Two reports from the same game, both about squares: which ones a card may go on, and which one a
+button in the action list means.
+
+### The Limits bound the district, not just the Running Track
+
+**Reported:**
+
+> "Sidings should not be allowed to be built outside the limits."
+
+The Limits sign "denotes the limit of your control area" (§2.1) and §3 defines Secondary Track as
+"all tracks **in your limits** that are not the Running Track" — but the bound was only ever enforced
+on the Running Track row itself, with a comment in `canPlaceAt` stating outright that "the district
+below the Running Track is unbounded". So a siding could run east past a player's own sign, take
+industries with it, and put cars on track that §8.1 and §10 do not consider his territory at all: the
+rules reason about "the track between the train and the Limits", and running past another player's
+Limits is what makes a collision his fault.
+
+`withinLimits` is now the district's rule at **every row**, and a Facility is bounded by it too —
+§11.2 is explicit that "Facility cards carry their own rails: placing a Facility places track". The
+refusal is its own code, `OUTSIDE_LIMITS`, rather than `NOT_CONNECTED`, for the same reason
+`BREAKS_RUNNING_TRACK` is: the card would join perfectly well, and is refused for a different reason.
+
+**Inclusive of the sign's own column**, which is the half that keeps the game playable. Jesse's call.
+The sign stands *on* the boundary rather than beyond it, and a district opens with signs at ±1 around
+the Office — so the strict reading would leave exactly one buildable column and break §11.3's promise
+that both Secondary rows, and the nine-spot Modifier neighbourhood, are usable from the first Stage.
+A siding may run under the sign; nothing may go past it.
+
+**What it costs the bot: nothing measurable.** Out-of-limits building was rare for it to begin with —
+5 cards across 100 games, in 4 of them, never more than two columns over — and paired over 200 seeds
+the bound moved 4 games and −0.015 Revenue (t = −0.26). It is a human building deliberately who hits
+this, which is exactly how it was found.
+
+### The nine spots really are nine — the four diagonals were legal and unofferable
+
+**Reported:**
+
+> "Modifiers should be able to go on any diagonal — we were unable to place it to the south-east."
+
+§9 places a Modifier "adjacent to a Facility, on any of the nine nearby spots", and `check` has
+always accepted all eight neighbours. The fault was upstream in `placementCandidates`, which walks
+north, south, east and west from every occupied square: a diagonal square with no *orthogonal*
+occupied neighbour was never generated, so it was never offered. Measured on a facility below the
+Office: `check` says legal at all four diagonals, the menu offered the three orthogonal ones. At a
+stub industry — the case in the report — every diagonal is in that position.
+
+Generated in a **second pass, only around a Facility**. Track has to *join* and a diagonal shares no
+edge, so a Modifier is the only card those squares can ever take; generating diagonals around every
+card instead costs 54% more simulation time producing candidates `check` then rejects. Appending
+rather than interleaving leaves the existing candidate order untouched, which matters because the bot
+breaks ties by first-best — measured over 200 seeded games, **0 played differently**, so every figure
+in `TODO.md` still stands.
+
+### A Modifier may hang outside the Limits — but not in the Running Track's row
+
+Jesse's call, both halves. A Modifier is not track (§9), so unlike a siding it keeps all nine of its
+spots when its host stands at the limit: refusing the outer three would make the card unplayable
+exactly where the district ends. What it may not do is stand in the row the Running Track grows
+along. Inside the Limits that row is always full, so the rule bites only beyond the sign — and that
+is the ground the main extends onto, where a parked Modifier would block the player's own sign from
+moving outward (§2.1) with nothing on screen to warn him. Industries have been barred from the
+Running Track since the "Placed" column was read properly; this is the same rule for the same reason.
+
+### The board draws where the district ends
+
+Two signs on one row cannot say that nothing may be built outside their columns at *any* row: a
+player looking at open ground beyond a sign had no way to know it was unbuildable until the square
+failed to light up. `officeSvg` now draws a quiet dashed edge down the whole canvas at each limit,
+labelled, and just **outside** the sign's own column so the picture agrees with the rule — a siding
+may run under the sign. It moves outward on its own as the Running Track is extended, which is the
+reward for extending made visible. The Frame carries `limits` for it, resolved server-side like
+everything else a remote client cannot look up (`multiplayer.md` §5).
+
+The margin on the viewBox is not cosmetic: the west sign is usually the leftmost card on the canvas,
+so the line outside its column lands at x = −1.5 and simply is not there on a canvas starting at 0.
+Caught by drawing one, not by reading the code.
+
+### Hovering an action points at the square it means
+
+**Reported:**
+
+> "When I have my mouse over the action for a particular square, could the corresponding square in
+> the office area be highlighted to minimize my mistakes of selecting the wrong square — 1,3 versus
+> −1,3? In a solitaire game with Undo it is not fatal. In a multiplayer game that could be a major
+> disaster."
+
+The action list is a column of near-identical sentences separated by a coordinate, and the board
+beside it said nothing about which was which. Every action that names a square now carries it as
+`data-square`, and hovering — or focusing, so the keyboard route is not a lesser one — lights that
+square on the board, ghost targets included, which is precisely the moment a player is choosing
+between coordinates.
+
+The coordinate rides on the **menu**, resolved from the intent by `coordOf`, rather than being parsed
+back out of the label: a remote client holds no `GameState` and cannot look up where a tray is
+standing, which is the same reason the menu already carries card descriptions. Checked over 12 bot
+games: 870 direct actions name a square, and all 870 carry it.
+
+### Also
+
+- The three published replays were re-recorded. A save is a seed and its intents, so tightening a
+  placement rule kills every replay containing one — `harness.test.ts` catches it rather than letting
+  them go quietly dead, which has happened twice before. Old saves are not preserved across rule
+  changes and are not meant to be yet.
+- `node_modules` was a **tracked symlink pointing at a path that does not exist**, so `tsc` was
+  missing and 20 tests failed before any of this was written. Replaced with the real dependencies.
+
 ## 0.4.7 — 2026-08-19
 
 Eight play reports and one design that had been written up and not built. The through-line is the

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ train into an occupied Subdivision. Get that wrong and two trains meet at speed.
 
 ## Status
 
-**v0.4.3 — solitaire is playable in a browser.** The whole game runs client-side: the engine is pure,
+**v0.4.8 — solitaire is playable in a browser.** The whole game runs client-side: the engine is pure,
 imports nothing outside itself, and never touches `Math.random`, so a static host is all it needs.
 
 - **Rules** — specified, with **three open questions** left. Thirteen gaps in the original prototype

TODO.md

@@ -52,6 +52,14 @@ Ordered within each section by how much it is currently costing us.
       this needs re-measuring); or move the Express's freight budget into the Cargo phase, where an
       expedited train does still get a turn. **Nothing is broken** — this is a contradiction between
       two lines on one card, and the timing rule itself is behaving exactly as recorded.
+- [ ] **A DISTRICT CAN NOW ONLY WIDEN AS FAR AS ITS MAIN REACHES (v0.4.8) — worth watching in the
+      rebalance rather than acting on now.** Track stays inside the Limits at every row, so extending
+      the Running Track is the only way to buy room for sidings, and a straight laid on the sign is
+      worth more than it was. The bot barely notices — it built outside its own Limits 5 times in 100
+      games — but the bot also builds close to its Office; a human building deliberately hits this on
+      the first wide district, which is how it was reported. If territory turns out to be the real
+      constraint on freight, this is one of the two places to look (the other is the track supply,
+      below).
 - [ ] **REBALANCE, once the rules are right — deliberately deferred.** Card counts, industry counts
       and the track mix all need a pass together, and none of them should move until the rules stop
       moving. Standing distortions to account for when it happens: offices are doubled (Q12) and
@@ -623,6 +631,13 @@ target is settled and freight carries its intended share.
 - [ ] **The 5 MB replay size limit is arbitrary.** Invented, not a browser constraint. It has earned
       its place — it caught a 5.2 MB payload that turned out to be the whole grid re-serialised every
       frame — but the number itself deserves a reason.
+- [ ] **The test suite fails at random under `npm test`, and it is the runner rather than the code.**
+      `node --test test/**/*.test.ts` runs the files in parallel and three suites write and read the
+      same `dist/` — the static build, the published-replay check and "the three places a game is
+      drawn stay in step". Back-to-back full runs measured **9 failures then 0**; run one file at a
+      time and every suite passes. That is worse than a slow suite: it trains us to shrug at a red
+      run, which is exactly how a real regression gets waved through. Give the build test its own
+      output directory, or mark the trio to run serially.
 - [ ] **Curves are drawn as two straight segments meeting**, not true arcs. Fine at this size, angular
       close up.
 - [ ] **Wide boards scroll.** A 40-card district and a 13-section Division both need horizontal

docs/rules/card-reference.md

@@ -138,8 +138,14 @@ above and below. Upgrades are drop-in and must never disturb a connection.
 ## 5. Modifier cards
 
 Five cards, one each. A Modifier is **not track**. It is placed adjacent to a Facility, on any of the
-nine nearby spots, and if adjacent to two Facilities its effect may be used on only one per Stage
-(§9).
+nine nearby spots — **diagonals included** — and if adjacent to two Facilities its effect may be used
+on only one per Stage (§9).
+
+Two placement rules follow from it not being track. It is **not bounded by the Limits**: a host
+standing at the edge of the district keeps all nine of its spots, or the card would be unplayable
+exactly where the district ends. And it may **never stand in the Running Track's row**, which inside
+the Limits is always full anyway — beyond the sign that row is the ground the main grows onto, and a
+Modifier parked there would block the Limits sign from moving outward (§2.1).
 
 | Card | Effect | Applies to |
 | --- | --- | --- |

docs/rules/rules-v0.2.md

@@ -593,10 +593,16 @@ horizontal row through the Office, Limit-to-Limit; everything else is Secondary
 - Plain track, turnouts and Facility cards are all played from hand into an empty adjacent grid spot,
   and **must connect to existing track**. Facility cards carry their own rails — placing a Facility
   places track.
+- Track stays **inside the Limits at every row**, not only on the Running Track. §2.1 makes the sign
+  "the limit of your control area" and §3 defines Secondary Track as "all tracks in your limits", so
+  a siding may run *under* a sign — the sign stands on the boundary — and never past it. Widening a
+  district therefore means extending the main first.
 - Extending the **Running Track** horizontally moves that player's Limits sign outward with it (§2.1).
   Growth is uncapped in the prototype.
 - Modifier Facility cards are not track. They are placed adjacent to a Facility, on any of the nine
-  nearby spots (§9).
+  nearby spots (§9) — diagonals included, and not bounded by the Limits, since a host at the edge of
+  the district would otherwise have nowhere to put one. The one square they may not take is in the
+  Running Track's own row, which is where the main grows.
 
 A longer Running Track is more track to keep clear of arriving trains, so territory carries its own
 collision risk.

node_modules

@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../../../node_modules

package-lock.json

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "station-master",
-  "version": "0.0.1",
+  "version": "0.4.8",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "station-master",
-      "version": "0.0.1",
+      "version": "0.4.8",
       "devDependencies": {
         "@types/node": "^26.1.2",
         "typescript": "^7.0.2"

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "station-master",
-  "version": "0.4.7",
+  "version": "0.4.8",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "description": "Station Master — a railroad operations game",

src/engine/apply.ts

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ import {
   opposite,
   reachableDestinations,
   variantsFor,
+  withinLimits,
 } from './track.ts';
 
 export type ApplyResult =
@@ -1105,6 +1106,9 @@ function checkPlay(
         if (placement.row === area.runningRow && !carriesThroughTrack(proto)) {
           return 'BREAKS_RUNNING_TRACK';
         }
+        // Same reasoning: a siding reaching past your own sign JOINS perfectly well, and is refused
+        // because it leaves your territory (§2.1). `canPlaceAt` enforces it too — this only names it.
+        if (!withinLimits(area, placement)) return 'OUTSIDE_LIMITS';
         return canPlaceAt(area, placement, proto) ? null : 'NOT_CONNECTED';
       }
 
@@ -1123,6 +1127,10 @@ function checkPlay(
        * main line.
        */
       if (placement.row === area.runningRow) return 'ON_RUNNING_TRACK';
+      // A Facility CARRIES TRACK — "placing a Facility places track" (§11.2) — so it is bounded by
+      // the Limits exactly as a siding is. An industry outside them is how a district used to leave
+      // its own territory.
+      if (!withinLimits(area, placement)) return 'OUTSIDE_LIMITS';
       // Q4 — a lockout prevents BUILDING both in one district: no duplicate, and never a producer
       // alongside the consumer of the same commodity.
       if (isLockedOut(area, card.kind.facility)) return 'FACILITY_LOCKED';
@@ -1133,6 +1141,18 @@ function checkPlay(
     case 'modifier': {
       if (!placement) return 'NO_PLACEMENT';
       if (area.grid.has(coordKey(placement))) return 'NOT_CONNECTED';
+      /**
+       * NOT ON THE RUNNING TRACK ROW — AND NOT BOUNDED BY THE LIMITS EITHER. Jesse's call, both
+       * halves.
+       *
+       * A Modifier is not track (§9), so unlike a siding it may hang outside the Limits: a Facility
+       * standing at the limit has three of its nine spots out there, and refusing them would make
+       * the card unplayable exactly where the district ends. What it may NOT do is stand in the row
+       * the Running Track grows along. Inside the Limits that row is always full, so this bites only
+       * beyond the sign — which is the ground the main extends onto, and a Modifier parked there
+       * would block your own sign from moving outward (§2.1) with nothing on screen to warn you.
+       */
+      if (placement.row === area.runningRow) return 'ON_RUNNING_TRACK';
       // One of a kind per Office Area, as with industries (Q4) — no district gets two Ice Houses.
       if (hasModifierInArea(area, card.kind.modifier)) return 'FACILITY_LOCKED';
       // §9 — a Modifier is not track. It must sit adjacent to a Facility THAT CAN HOST IT (one of

src/engine/intents.ts

@@ -143,6 +143,11 @@ export type RejectionCode =
   | 'ON_RUNNING_TRACK'
   /** A card with no east-west road would dead-end the Running Track it was laid in. */
   | 'BREAKS_RUNNING_TRACK'
+  /**
+   * §2.1 — track, and the Facilities that carry it, stay inside your own Limits at every row. A
+   * Modifier is not track and is exempt (§9's nine spots), which is why this is not shared with it.
+   */
+  | 'OUTSIDE_LIMITS'
   /**
    * A turnout may be laid on top of a straight, or of a curve on the same arc as its diverging leg
    * — but only those, and only while the square is idle. See `checkTurnoutUpgrade`.

src/engine/legal.ts

@@ -313,5 +313,35 @@ function placementCandidates(s: GameState, player: PlayerIndex): GridCoord[] {
       out.push(c);
     }
   }
+
+  /**
+   * THE NINE-SPOT MODIFIER NEIGHBOURHOOD (§9), which the four-square walk above cannot reach.
+   *
+   * A Modifier goes "adjacent to a Facility, on any of the nine nearby spots" — diagonals included —
+   * and `check` has always accepted all eight. It was the CANDIDATES that were orthogonal-only, so a
+   * diagonal square with no orthogonal neighbour was legal and never offered: reported by Jesse as
+   * being unable to place a Modifier to the south-east of his industry.
+   *
+   * Only around a Facility, and only in a second pass. Track has to JOIN, and a diagonal shares no
+   * edge, so a Modifier is the only card these squares can ever take — generating diagonals around
+   * every card instead costs 54% more simulation time for candidates `check` then rejects. Appending
+   * rather than interleaving leaves the existing order untouched, which matters because the bot
+   * breaks ties by first-best: measured over 200 seeded games, 0 played differently.
+   */
+  for (const [key, card] of area.grid) {
+    if (!card.facility) continue;
+    const [row, col] = key.split(',').map(Number);
+    for (const c of [
+      { row: row! + 1, col: col! + 1 },
+      { row: row! + 1, col: col! - 1 },
+      { row: row! - 1, col: col! + 1 },
+      { row: row! - 1, col: col! - 1 },
+    ]) {
+      const k = `${c.row},${c.col}`;
+      if (seen.has(k) || area.grid.has(k)) continue;
+      seen.add(k);
+      out.push(c);
+    }
+  }
   return out;
 }

src/engine/track.ts

@@ -559,6 +559,31 @@ export function carriesThroughTrack(card: TrackCard): boolean {
  * a TURNOUT laid on the Running Track — the Office no longer carries a stub of its own, because no
  * office or industry card on the printed sheet does.
  */
+/**
+ * §2.1 — IS THIS SQUARE INSIDE THE DISTRICT AT ALL?
+ *
+ * The Limits sign denotes "the limit of your control area", and §3 defines Secondary Track as "all
+ * tracks IN YOUR LIMITS that are not the Running Track" — so the bound belongs to the district, not
+ * to the one row the sign happens to stand in. This used to guard the Running Track alone, on the
+ * reasoning that the rows above and below were unbounded; the consequence was a siding snaking east
+ * past your own sign, taking industries with it, and a player switching cars on track outside the
+ * territory §8.1 and §10 reason about. Reported by Jesse: sidings must not be built outside the
+ * Limits.
+ *
+ * INCLUSIVE OF THE SIGN'S OWN COLUMN. The sign stands ON the boundary rather than beyond it, and the
+ * opening district is signs at ±1 around the Office — so the strict reading would leave exactly one
+ * buildable column and break §11.3's promise that both Secondary rows, and the nine-spot Modifier
+ * neighbourhood, are usable from the first Stage.
+ *
+ * MODIFIERS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THIS, and are not track: §9 places one on any of the nine spots
+ * around a Facility, and a Facility standing at the limit has three of its nine outside them.
+ * Jesse's call. `check` bars them from the Running Track ROW instead, which is the ground the main
+ * grows onto.
+ */
+export function withinLimits(area: OfficeArea, coord: GridCoord): boolean {
+  return coord.col >= area.limitsWest.col && coord.col <= area.limitsEast.col;
+}
+
 export function canPlaceAt(area: OfficeArea, coord: GridCoord, card: TrackCard): boolean {
   const existing = cardAt(area, coord);
   // A Limits sign on the Running Track is the GROWTH POINT, not an obstacle. Extending means laying
@@ -575,14 +600,12 @@ export function canPlaceAt(area: OfficeArea, coord: GridCoord, card: TrackCard):
   // the sign itself is the only growth point. Allowing a placement beyond it built track on the far
   // side of the sign and then planted a SECOND sign further out, leaving the board reading
   //   limits · Whistle Post · limits · straight · limits
-  // with a Limits card stranded mid-track. The district below the Running Track is unbounded.
-  if (coord.row === area.runningRow) {
-    if (coord.col < area.limitsWest.col || coord.col > area.limitsEast.col) return false;
+  // with a Limits card stranded mid-track.
+  if (!withinLimits(area, coord)) return false;
   // And it must not BREAK the Running Track. A curve laid here has no east-west road, so the main
   // stops dead at it — the bot did exactly this, turning the west end of its own Running Track
   // into a stub and cutting the Office off from the Limits.
-    if (!carriesThroughTrack(card)) return false;
-  }
+  if (coord.row === area.runningRow && !carriesThroughTrack(card)) return false;
 
   const ports: Port[] = ['n', 's', 'e', 'w'];
   for (const p of ports) {

src/sim/board-svg.ts

@@ -383,6 +383,16 @@ export function officeSvg(
    * offered without a word. Reported as the Depot lighting up for no visible reason.
    */
   legal: { row: number; col: number; label: string }[] = [],
+  /**
+   * The columns the Limits signs stand in, drawn as the district's east and west edges.
+   *
+   * Omitted by the previews and by the replay viewers' single-card renders, which have no district
+   * to bound. Where it is given, the boundary is drawn down the WHOLE canvas: track may not be laid
+   * outside these columns at any row (§2.1), and two signs sitting on one row could not say that —
+   * a player looking at open ground past a sign had no way to know nothing of his could ever go
+   * there until the square failed to light up.
+   */
+  limits: { west: number; east: number } | null = null,
 ): string {
   const W = 166;
   const H = 96;
@@ -447,7 +457,15 @@ export function officeSvg(
     return { x: W / 2, y: H };
   };
 
-  let out = `<svg class="bs" viewBox="0 0 ${width} ${height}" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet">`;
+  /**
+   * ROOM FOR THE BOUNDARY. The Limits edge is drawn just outside the sign's own column, and the west
+   * sign is usually the leftmost card on the canvas — so at x = −1.5 the line lands outside a viewBox
+   * starting at 0 and is simply not there. The margin is added only when there is a boundary to draw.
+   */
+  const margin = limits ? 3 : 0;
+  let out =
+    `<svg class="bs" viewBox="${-margin} 0 ${width + margin * 2} ${height}" ` +
+    `preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet">`;
   for (const cell of cells) {
     const x = px(cell.col);
     const y = py(cell.row);
@@ -804,6 +822,22 @@ export function officeSvg(
       `<text x="${W / 2}" y="${H - 36}" text-anchor="middle">${esc(l.label)}</text></g>`;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * THE LIMITS, AS THE EDGE OF THE BUILDABLE DISTRICT.
+   *
+   * Drawn just OUTSIDE the sign's own column, because the sign stands on the boundary rather than
+   * beyond it: a siding may run under the sign, and the line has to agree with the rule or it
+   * teaches the wrong one. It moves outward on its own as the Running Track is extended, which is
+   * the reward for extending made visible.
+   */
+  if (limits) {
+    const edge = (x: number, side: string): string =>
+      `<line class="bs-limitline" x1="${x}" y1="0" x2="${x}" y2="${height}"/>` +
+      `<text class="bs-limitlab" x="${x + (side === 'w' ? 4 : -4)}" y="${height - 4}" ` +
+      `text-anchor="${side === 'w' ? 'start' : 'end'}">LIMITS</text>`;
+    out += edge(px(limits.west) - PAD / 2, 'w') + edge(px(limits.east) + W + PAD / 2, 'e');
+  }
+
   // Mark the Running Track so the spine of the district is unmistakable.
   out += `<text class="bs-rowlab" x="2" y="${py(runningRow) + 92}">RUNNING TRACK</text>`;
   out += '</svg>';
@@ -914,6 +948,10 @@ export const BOARD_CSS = `
 text.bs-mod{fill:#c8a04a}
 .bs-enh{fill:#7fb0e6;font:9px ui-monospace,monospace}
 .bs-rowlab{fill:#5f6b7a;font:600 9px ui-monospace,monospace;letter-spacing:.1em}
+/* THE EDGE OF THE DISTRICT. Deliberately quiet — it is a boundary, not an action — and dashed, so it
+   reads as a line on the table rather than as rail. Nothing is laid outside it (§2.1). */
+.bs-limitline{stroke:#5f6b7a;stroke-width:1.5;stroke-dasharray:3 5;opacity:.7}
+.bs-limitlab{fill:#5f6b7a;font:600 8px ui-monospace,monospace;letter-spacing:.12em}
 .bs-ghost rect{fill:rgba(90,169,230,.07);stroke:#5aa9e6;stroke-width:2;stroke-dasharray:5 4}
 .bs-ghost text{fill:#5aa9e6;font:11px ui-monospace,monospace}
 /* The caption on a legal square that already carries a card. Same blue as the ghost squares and the
@@ -924,6 +962,11 @@ text.bs-mod{fill:#c8a04a}
 .bs-ghost,g[data-cell].bs-legal{cursor:pointer}
 g[data-cell].bs-legal .bs-card{stroke:#5aa9e6;stroke-width:2.5}
 g[data-cell].bs-legal:hover .bs-card,.bs-ghost:hover rect{fill:#233246}
+/* THE SQUARE THE ACTION UNDER THE CURSOR MEANS. White, and brighter than anything else the board
+   marks, because it answers a question being asked RIGHT NOW rather than describing a standing
+   state — and it has to win when it lands on a square that is already legal, focused or blocked. */
+g[data-cell].bs-point .bs-card,g[data-ghost].bs-point rect{stroke:#f2f5f8;stroke-width:3.5;stroke-dasharray:none}
+g[data-cell].bs-point .bs-card{fill:#2b3b52}
 /* WHERE THE CREW CAN GO. Amber, the colour this game spends on "you can do this", so a reachable
    card reads the same way an action button does. bs-from is where it is standing now. */
 g[data-cell].bs-focus .bs-card{stroke:#e0c060;stroke-width:2.5}

src/sim/replay.ts

@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ function render() {
 
   $('division').innerHTML = divisionSvg(DIV);
   // The same office renderer the playable app uses, so replay and game draw one board.
-  $('grid').innerHTML = officeSvg(CELLS, f.runningRow);
+  $('grid').innerHTML = officeSvg(CELLS, f.runningRow, [], [], f.limits);
 
   /* Auto-hide: the district is worth its space during the phases that change it, and folded
      otherwise. A summary stays, because a panel that vanishes reads as broken. */

src/sim/view.ts

@@ -356,6 +356,15 @@ export type Frame = {
   cells: CellView[];
   /** Which grid row is the Running Track — the spine the district hangs beneath. */
   runningRow: number;
+  /**
+   * The columns the Limits signs stand in — the district's east and west edges, at EVERY row.
+   *
+   * Track may not be laid outside them (§2.1), so a player looking at open ground beyond a sign is
+   * looking at ground no card of his will ever go on. Two signs on one row could not say that; the
+   * board draws the boundary down the whole district instead. Carried on the Frame rather than read
+   * off the area for the usual reason: a remote client holds no `GameState`.
+   */
+  limits: { west: number; east: number };
   /**
    * Moves left in this Local Operations turn, or null outside a switching turn.
    *
@@ -1201,6 +1210,7 @@ export function snapshot(
     handCount: (s.decks.hands.get(viewer) ?? []).length,
     objective: objectiveOf(s, viewer),
     runningRow: area.runningRow,
+    limits: { west: area.limitsWest.col, east: area.limitsEast.col },
     movesLeft: s.clock.phase === 'localOps' && turnOf(s, viewer).option === 'switch' ? turnOf(s, viewer).movesRemaining : null,
     moves: switchingMoves(s, viewer),
     blocked: impediments(s, viewer),

src/web/game.ts

@@ -87,9 +87,36 @@ export type ActionGroup = {
    * from the browser, which needs the whole `GameState`. A remote client has no state, so the menu
    * carries it. See `docs/architecture/multiplayer.md` §5.
    */
-  actions: { index: number; label: string; tip?: string }[];
+  /**
+   * `coord` is the square the action HAPPENS ON, when it happens on one.
+   *
+   * Carried as data rather than left inside the label. Half these buttons are near-identical
+   * sentences distinguished only by a coordinate — "(1,3)" against "(-1,3)" — and picking the wrong
+   * one is recoverable in solitaire, where Undo is a click, and a disaster in a multiplayer game
+   * where it is not. The page hovers the matching square on the board instead of asking the player
+   * to read the row and column off the button. Reported by Jesse.
+   *
+   * Resolved HERE for the same reason `tip` is: a remote client holds no `GameState` and cannot look
+   * up where a tray is standing. See `docs/architecture/multiplayer.md` §5.
+   */
+  actions: { index: number; label: string; tip?: string; coord?: { row: number; col: number } }[];
 };
 
+/**
+ * The square an intent acts on, or null when it acts on none.
+ *
+ * Only squares the intent NAMES. A card played out on the Mainline (`node`) is not a district
+ * coordinate and must not be treated as one — that confusion is exactly why `placement` and `node`
+ * are separate fields on the intent (see `intents.ts`) — and an action like ending a turn has no
+ * square at all.
+ */
+export function coordOf(i: Intent): { row: number; col: number } | null {
+  if ('at' in i) return i.at;
+  if ('to' in i) return i.to;
+  if (i.type === 'card.play' && i.placement) return i.placement;
+  return null;
+}
+
 export type Game = {
   state: GameState;
   seed: number;
@@ -212,7 +239,13 @@ export function actionGroups(game: Game): { options: Intent[]; groups: ActionGro
    * to survive every edit to a line nobody would think to check. One stray byte and every crew's
    * moves silently collapsed back into a single group. The tray is data; it travels as data.
    */
-  type Entry = { index: number; label: string; tip?: string; trayId?: string };
+  type Entry = {
+    index: number;
+    label: string;
+    tip?: string;
+    trayId?: string;
+    coord?: { row: number; col: number };
+  };
   const byKind = new Map<string, Entry[]>();
   options.forEach((intent, index) => {
     const label = describeIntent(game.state, intent);
@@ -227,14 +260,26 @@ export function actionGroups(game: Game): { options: Intent[]; groups: ActionGro
      * on the crew as well makes the de-duplication per crew, which is what it always meant.
      */
     if (!list.some((a) => a.label === label && a.trayId === trayId)) {
-      list.push({ index, label, ...(tip ? { tip } : {}), ...(trayId ? { trayId } : {}) });
+      const coord = coordOf(intent);
+      list.push({
+        index,
+        label,
+        ...(tip ? { tip } : {}),
+        ...(trayId ? { trayId } : {}),
+        ...(coord ? { coord } : {}),
+      });
     }
     byKind.set(intent.type, list);
   });
 
   /** Groups take the plain shape; the crew was only ever needed to split them. */
   const plain = (entries: Entry[]): ActionGroup['actions'] =>
-    entries.map(({ index, label, tip }) => ({ index, label, ...(tip ? { tip } : {}) }));
+    entries.map(({ index, label, tip, coord }) => ({
+      index,
+      label,
+      ...(tip ? { tip } : {}),
+      ...(coord ? { coord } : {}),
+    }));
 
   const groups: ActionGroup[] = [];
   const used = new Set<string>();

src/web/main.ts

@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ function render(): void {
           : 'ATTACH TO THIS CARD';
     return [{ row: cell.row, col: cell.col, label }];
   });
-  grid.innerHTML = officeSvg(f.cells, f.runningRow, ghostCoords, legalCaps);
+  grid.innerHTML = officeSvg(f.cells, f.runningRow, ghostCoords, legalCaps, f.limits);
 
   // Highlighting rides on top of the drawing: outline the legal squares and make them clickable.
   for (const [key, list] of spotsAt) {
@@ -650,6 +650,51 @@ function renderDistrict(f: Frame): void {
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * The square an action button acts on, as an attribute the board can be matched against.
+ *
+ * `null` for the actions that act on no square at all — ending a turn, drawing a card, a train card
+ * that goes to the timetable — so those buttons carry nothing and highlight nothing.
+ */
+function cellRef(coord: { row: number; col: number } | null | undefined): string {
+  return coord ? ` data-square="${coord.row},${coord.col}"` : '';
+}
+
+/**
+ * POINT AT THE SQUARE THE BUTTON MEANS.
+ *
+ * The action list is a column of sentences that differ by a coordinate — "(1,3)" against "(-1,3)" —
+ * and the board is right beside it saying nothing about which one is which. Hovering a button now
+ * lights its square up, so the check happens with the eye rather than by reading two numbers off a
+ * button and finding them on a map. Reported by Jesse: recoverable in solitaire, where Undo is a
+ * click; a disaster in multiplayer, where it is not.
+ *
+ * ON FOCUS AS WELL AS HOVER, so tabbing through the list works the same way as pointing at it — the
+ * keyboard route is not a lesser one.
+ *
+ * BOTH KINDS OF SQUARE. A played card is a `data-cell`; a square being placed ONTO is an empty
+ * `data-ghost` target, which is precisely the case where the player is choosing between coordinates.
+ * Matching only one of the two would leave the most mistake-prone moment unhelped.
+ */
+function wirePointing(node: HTMLElement, key: string): void {
+  const grid = $('grid');
+  const marks = (): Element[] =>
+    [
+      grid.querySelector(`g[data-cell="${key}"]`),
+      grid.querySelector(`g[data-ghost="${key}"]`),
+    ].filter((g): g is Element => g !== null);
+  const on = (): void => {
+    for (const g of marks()) g.classList.add('bs-point');
+  };
+  const off = (): void => {
+    for (const g of marks()) g.classList.remove('bs-point');
+  };
+  node.onmouseenter = on;
+  node.onmouseleave = off;
+  node.onfocus = on;
+  node.onblur = off;
+}
+
 function renderActions(
   menu: Menu,
   f: Frame,
@@ -694,14 +739,19 @@ function renderActions(
    * the same card in hand explained itself perfectly — reported on "Realignment on Mainline card 3",
    * which had neither a name for the card it meant nor a word about what it would do.
    */
-  const actionButton = (a: { index: number; label: string; tip?: string }): string => {
+  const actionButton = (a: {
+    index: number;
+    label: string;
+    tip?: string;
+    coord?: { row: number; col: number };
+  }): string => {
     const { label, index } = a;
     const cut = label.indexOf(' — ');
     const head = cut > 0 ? label.slice(0, cut) : label;
     // The menu resolved the card's description server-side, so the page never needs the state.
     const rest = cut > 0 ? label.slice(cut + 3) : (a.tip ?? '');
     return (
-      `<button class="act" data-i="${index}"${rest ? ` data-tip="${esc(rest)}"` : ''}>${esc(head)}</button>`
+      `<button class="act" data-i="${index}"${cellRef(a.coord)}${rest ? ` data-tip="${esc(rest)}"` : ''}>${esc(head)}</button>`
     );
   };
 
@@ -748,7 +798,7 @@ function renderActions(
       f.moves
         .map(
           (m) =>
-            `<button class="act crew${m.trayId === chosen?.trayId ? ' on' : ''}" data-crew="${esc(m.trayId)}" ` +
+            `<button class="act crew${m.trayId === chosen?.trayId ? ' on' : ''}" data-crew="${esc(m.trayId)}"${cellRef(m.from)} ` +
             `data-tip="Draw this crew's reachable squares on the board, and show its moves below. ${esc(m.label)} is standing at (${m.from.row}, ${m.from.col}) with ${m.to.length} square${m.to.length === 1 ? '' : 's'} it can reach.">` +
             `${esc(m.label)} <span class="dim">(${m.from.row}, ${m.from.col})</span></button>`,
         )
@@ -847,7 +897,7 @@ function renderActions(
                 ? ` data-tip-html="${esc(piecePreview(sp.links, item.subject))}"`
                 : '';
               return (
-                `<button class="act" data-i="${sp.index}"${fig}` +
+                `<button class="act" data-i="${sp.index}"${fig}${cellRef(sp.coord)}` +
                 ` data-tip="${esc(`${item.subject} — ${sp.label}`)}">${esc(sp.label)}</button>`
               );
             })
@@ -882,6 +932,8 @@ function renderActions(
           render();
         }
       : () => apply(Number(node.dataset['i']));
+    const square = node.dataset['square'];
+    if (square) wirePointing(node, square);
   }
 }
 

src/web/replays.ts

@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ function show(i: number): void {
   $('vpos').textContent = `${at} / ${steps.length - 1}`;
   ($('vscrub') as HTMLInputElement).value = String(at);
   $('vdivision').innerHTML = divisionSvg(f.division);
-  $('vgrid').innerHTML = officeSvg(f.cells, f.runningRow);
+  $('vgrid').innerHTML = officeSvg(f.cells, f.runningRow, [], [], f.limits);
 
   // Auto-hide: the district is worth its space during the phases that change it.
   const open = districtMode === 'auto' ? FOCUS_PHASES.has(f.phaseKey) : districtMode === 'open';

test/apply.test.ts

@@ -930,6 +930,177 @@ describe('a Modifier only goes beside a host that can use it (regression)', () =
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+describe('the Limits bound the district, and the nine spots reach round a Facility', () => {
+  /**
+   * A district whose Running Track has been extended one square east, so the sign stands at col 2
+   * and there is a siding hanging below the main to build on:
+   *
+   *   row  0:  [lim] [office] [turnout, leg south] [lim]     <- Running Track, Limits at -1 and 2
+   *   row -1:                 [curve ne]
+   *
+   * Returns the industry-ready square under the sign, at (-1, 2).
+   */
+  function district(s: GameState): GridCoord {
+    const area = areaOf(s, 0);
+    const plain = (geometry: object): TrackCard => ({
+      geometry: geometry as TrackCard['geometry'],
+      baseOperationalRail: true, standing: [], facility: null, modifiers: [], enhancements: [],
+    });
+    const col = area.limitsEast.col;
+    area.grid.set(coordKey(at(area.runningRow, col)), plain({
+      kind: 'track', geometry: 'turnout', turnout: { stem: 'w', through: 'e', diverge: 's' }, hand: 'left',
+    }));
+    area.grid.set(coordKey(at(area.runningRow - 1, col)), plain({
+      kind: 'track', geometry: 'curved', arc: 'ne', hand: 'left',
+    }));
+    area.limitsEast = at(area.runningRow, col + 1);
+    area.grid.set(coordKey(area.limitsEast), plain({ kind: 'limits' }));
+    s.clock.phase = 'localOps';
+    s.clock.currentActor = 0;
+    turnOf(s, 0).option = 'draw';
+    return at(area.runningRow - 1, col + 1);
+  }
+
+  const trackInHand = (s: GameState, geometry: string): string => {
+    for (const [id, card] of s.cards) {
+      if (card.kind.kind === 'track' && card.kind.geometry === geometry) {
+        s.decks.hands.set(0, [id]);
+        return id;
+      }
+    }
+    throw new Error(`no ${geometry} card`);
+  };
+
+  const industryOf = (s: GameState, facility: string): string => {
+    for (const [id, card] of s.cards) {
+      if (card.kind.kind === 'freightFacility' && card.kind.facility === facility) {
+        s.decks.hands.set(0, [id]);
+        return id;
+      }
+    }
+    throw new Error(`no industry card: ${facility}`);
+  };
+
+  const modifierOf = (s: GameState, modifier: string): string => {
+    for (const [id, card] of s.cards) {
+      if (card.kind.kind === 'modifier' && card.kind.modifier === modifier) {
+        s.decks.hands.set(0, [id]);
+        return id;
+      }
+    }
+    throw new Error(`no modifier card: ${modifier}`);
+  };
+
+  /** An industry standing on the board, so a Modifier has a host to hang off. */
+  const buildFacility = (s: GameState, kind: string, coord: GridCoord): void => {
+    areaOf(s, 0).grid.set(coordKey(coord), {
+      geometry: { kind: 'facility', facility: kind, axis: 'ew' },
+      baseOperationalRail: true, standing: [], modifiers: [], enhancements: [],
+      facility: {
+        kind: 'freight', subtype: kind,
+        allows: { outbound: true, inbound: false },
+        outboundBox: [], inboundBox: [], capacity: { outbound: 1, inbound: 0 },
+        menAtWork: [null, null, null],
+        industryTrack: { cars: [] },
+        laborers: 1, porters: 0, usedThisStage: { laborers: 0, porters: 0 },
+      },
+    } as never);
+  };
+
+  it('accepts a siding in the sign\'s own column and refuses one past it', () => {
+    /**
+     * REPORTED by Jesse: "sidings should not be allowed to be built outside the limits". §3 defines
+     * Secondary Track as "all tracks IN YOUR LIMITS that are not the Running Track", so the bound
+     * belongs to the district rather than to the one row the sign stands in — it used to guard the
+     * Running Track alone, and a siding could run east past a player's own sign, taking industries
+     * with it, onto track that §8.1 and §10 do not consider his territory at all.
+     *
+     * INCLUSIVE of the sign's column, which is the half that keeps the game playable: the opening
+     * district is signs at ±1 around the Office, so the strict reading would leave one buildable
+     * column and break §11.3's promise that both Secondary rows are usable from the first Stage.
+     */
+    const s = game();
+    const under = district(s);
+    const cardId = trackInHand(s, 'straight');
+    assert.equal(
+      check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: under }),
+      null,
+      'a siding may run under the Limits sign — the sign stands ON the boundary, not beyond it',
+    );
+    assert.equal(
+      check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: at(under.row, under.col + 1) }),
+      'OUTSIDE_LIMITS',
+      'a siding was built outside the district it belongs to',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('refuses an industry outside the Limits — a Facility carries track', () => {
+    // §11.2: "Facility cards carry their own rails — placing a Facility places track." So the bound
+    // is the same one, and said with the same code rather than left to read as NOT_CONNECTED.
+    const s = game();
+    const under = district(s);
+    const cardId = industryOf(s, 'mineTipple');
+    assert.equal(check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: under }), null);
+    assert.equal(
+      check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: at(under.row, under.col + 1) }),
+      'OUTSIDE_LIMITS',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('offers a Modifier the DIAGONAL spots around its host, not just the four orthogonal ones', () => {
+    /**
+     * REPORTED by Jesse: a Modifier could not be placed to the south-east of his industry. §9 places
+     * one "adjacent to a Facility, on any of the nine nearby spots" and `check` has always accepted
+     * all eight neighbours — it was `placementCandidates` that walked north, south, east and west
+     * only, so a diagonal square with no orthogonal neighbour was legal and never offered.
+     */
+    const s = game();
+    const under = district(s);
+    buildFacility(s, 'packingSheds', under);
+    const cardId = modifierOf(s, 'iceHouse');
+
+    const offered = legalActions(s, 0)
+      .filter((i) => i.type === 'card.play' && i.cardId === cardId && i.placement !== undefined)
+      .map((i) => coordKey((i as { placement: GridCoord }).placement));
+
+    // South-east of the host, and orthogonally adjacent to nothing at all.
+    const southEast = at(under.row - 1, under.col + 1);
+    assert.ok(
+      offered.includes(coordKey(southEast)),
+      `the south-east spot (${southEast.row}, ${southEast.col}) is legal but was never offered — offered: ${offered.join(' ')}`,
+    );
+    assert.equal(check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: southEast }), null);
+  });
+
+  it('lets a Modifier hang outside the Limits, but never in the Running Track row', () => {
+    /**
+     * Jesse's call, both halves. A Modifier is not track (§9), so a host standing at the limit keeps
+     * all nine of its spots — refusing the outer three would make the card unplayable exactly where
+     * the district ends. The Running Track ROW is the exception: inside the Limits that row is
+     * always full, so this bites only beyond the sign, and that is the ground the main grows onto —
+     * a Modifier parked there would block the player's own sign from moving outward (§2.1).
+     */
+    const s = game();
+    const under = district(s);
+    buildFacility(s, 'packingSheds', under);
+    const cardId = modifierOf(s, 'iceHouse');
+    const area = areaOf(s, 0);
+
+    assert.equal(
+      check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: at(under.row, under.col + 1) }),
+      null,
+      'a Modifier beside a host at the limit was refused the spot outside it',
+    );
+    assert.equal(
+      check(s, 0, { type: 'card.play', cardId, placement: at(area.runningRow, under.col + 1) }),
+      'ON_RUNNING_TRACK',
+      'a Modifier was allowed to stand in the row the Running Track grows along',
+    );
+  });
+});
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 describe("a Modifier grants only what its host's flow can use", () => {
   const withFacility = (kind: string, out: boolean, into: boolean) => ({
     geometry: { kind: 'facility', facility: kind, axis: 'ew' },
@@ -1111,8 +1282,13 @@ describe('Industry cards go on a stub, and lock each other out', () => {
    * A district with a siding hanging off the Running Track, which is the only place an industry may
    * go. Returns the siding square east of the curve.
    *
-   *   row  0:  [lim] [office] [turnout, leg south] …          <- Running Track
+   *   row  0:  [lim] [office] [turnout, leg south] [lim]      <- Running Track
    *   row -1:                 [curve ne] [siding square]
+   *
+   * The turnout is laid ON the east Limits sign, which is how the Running Track grows — so the sign
+   * MOVES OUT with it (§2.1, Gap 4a), exactly as `extendLimitsIfNeeded` does when the card is played
+   * rather than written straight into the grid. Without that the siding square would be outside the
+   * district's own Limits, which is no longer a place track may go.
    */
   function withSiding(s: GameState): GridCoord {
     const area = areaOf(s, 0);
@@ -1127,6 +1303,8 @@ describe('Industry cards go on a stub, and lock each other out', () => {
     area.grid.set(coordKey(at(area.runningRow - 1, col)), plain({
       kind: 'track', geometry: 'curved', arc: 'ne', hand: 'left',
     }));
+    area.limitsEast = at(area.runningRow, col + 1);
+    area.grid.set(coordKey(area.limitsEast), plain({ kind: 'limits' }));
     s.clock.phase = 'localOps';
     s.clock.currentActor = 0;
     turnOf(s, 0).option = 'draw';

test/web.test.ts

@@ -598,6 +598,54 @@ describe('the board shows freight work happening', () => {
     assert.ok(y > 48, `the caption at y=${y} prints over the rail`);
   });
 
+  it('draws the Limits as the edge of the buildable district, at every row', () => {
+    /**
+     * Track may not be laid outside the Limits at ANY row now (§2.1), and two signs sitting on the
+     * Running Track could not say that: a player looking at open ground beyond a sign had no way to
+     * know nothing of his would ever go there until the square failed to light up.
+     *
+     * Just OUTSIDE the sign's own column, because the sign stands ON the boundary — a siding may run
+     * under it — so a line drawn inside the sign would teach the opposite of the rule.
+     */
+    const game = newGame(555);
+    const area = game.state.officeAreas.get(0)!;
+    const f = view(game);
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      f.limits,
+      { west: area.limitsWest.col, east: area.limitsEast.col },
+      'the Frame does not carry the district edges a remote client cannot look up',
+    );
+
+    const svg = officeSvg(f.cells, f.runningRow, [], [], f.limits);
+    const xs = [...svg.matchAll(/class="bs-limitline" x1="(-?[\d.]+)"/g)].map((m) => Number(m[1]));
+    assert.equal(xs.length, 2, 'the district was drawn without both of its edges');
+
+    // The sign cards themselves must fall INSIDE the two lines.
+    const signX = [...svg.matchAll(/data-cell="(-?\d+),(-?\d+)"[^>]*transform="translate\((-?[\d.]+)/g)]
+      .filter((m) => Number(m[2]) === area.limitsWest.col || Number(m[2]) === area.limitsEast.col)
+      .map((m) => Number(m[3]));
+    assert.ok(signX.length > 0, 'no Limits sign was drawn to check the boundary against');
+    for (const x of signX) {
+      assert.ok(
+        x >= Math.min(...xs) && x <= Math.max(...xs),
+        `a Limits sign at x=${x} sits outside its own boundary (${xs.join(', ')})`,
+      );
+    }
+    assert.match(svg, /bs-limitlab/, 'the boundary is drawn but never named');
+
+    // AND ON THE CANVAS. The west sign is the leftmost card, so a line drawn outside its column sits
+    // at a negative x — off a viewBox that starts at 0, which is a boundary nobody can see.
+    const vb = /viewBox="(-?[\d.]+) (-?[\d.]+) ([\d.]+) ([\d.]+)"/.exec(svg);
+    assert.ok(vb, 'the board produced no viewBox');
+    const x0 = Number(vb![1]);
+    for (const x of xs) {
+      assert.ok(
+        x >= x0 && x <= x0 + Number(vb![3]),
+        `the boundary at x=${x} is drawn outside the canvas (${x0} to ${x0 + Number(vb![3])})`,
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
   it('says on the card which way an industry runs, and how many workers it has', () => {
     /**
      * TWO REPORTS, ONE CARD.
@@ -1314,7 +1362,7 @@ describe('the static build', () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it('renders clickable highlights on the board when a card is picked', async () => {
+  it('renders clickable highlights on the board, and points at the square an action names', async () => {
     // The real check: load the EMITTED bundle with a DOM stub, click a card, and confirm the board
     // came back with highlighted squares wired to handlers. Asserting the data has coordinates says
     // nothing about whether the page draws them.
@@ -1366,7 +1414,12 @@ describe('the static build', () => {
             const classes = new Set<string>();
             found.set(key, {
               onclick: null,
-              classList: { add: (c: string) => void classes.add(c), has: (c: string) => classes.has(c) },
+              classList: {
+                add: (c: string) => void classes.add(c),
+                // Pointing at a square is a HOVER: it has to come off again when the cursor leaves.
+                remove: (c: string) => void classes.delete(c),
+                has: (c: string) => classes.has(c),
+              },
               classes,
             });
           }
@@ -1493,6 +1546,37 @@ describe('the static build', () => {
     const lit = (grid['highlighted'] as () => unknown[])();
     const ghosts = /data-ghost="/.test(html);
     assert.ok(lit.length > 0 || ghosts, 'picking a card highlighted nothing on the board');
+
+    /**
+     * POINTING AT THE SQUARE A BUTTON MEANS — wired on the emitted bundle, not asserted off the menu.
+     *
+     * The menu carrying a coordinate proves nothing about whether the page draws it, which is the
+     * same reason the highlight check above loads the real bundle. Reported by Jesse: the action list
+     * is a column of near-identical sentences separated by "(1,3)" against "(-1,3)", and picking the
+     * wrong one is a click to undo in solitaire and unrecoverable in a multiplayer game.
+     */
+    const withSquare = (
+      (actions['querySelectorAll'] as (s: string) => Record<string, unknown>[])
+        .call(actions, 'button.act')
+        .filter((n) => (n['dataset'] as Record<string, string>)['square'])
+    );
+    assert.ok(withSquare.length > 0, 'no action button carries the square it acts on');
+    const btn = withSquare[0]!;
+    const key = (btn['dataset'] as Record<string, string>)['square']!;
+    assert.match(key, /^-?\d+,-?\d+$/, `"${key}" is not a grid coordinate`);
+    (btn['onmouseenter'] as (() => void) | null)?.();
+    const pointed = (grid['highlighted'] as () => Record<string, unknown>[])().filter((g) =>
+      (g['classes'] as Set<string>).has('bs-point'),
+    );
+    assert.equal(pointed.length, 1, `hovering the action for (${key}) marked ${pointed.length} squares`);
+    (btn['onmouseleave'] as (() => void) | null)?.();
+    assert.equal(
+      (grid['highlighted'] as () => Record<string, unknown>[])().filter((g) =>
+        (g['classes'] as Set<string>).has('bs-point'),
+      ).length,
+      0,
+      'the square stayed lit after the cursor left the button',
+    );
   });
 
   it('busts the cache on every module, so a deploy cannot half-load', () => {