diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index 400c56f..ed6fc53 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -68,7 +68,10 @@ win (≈ 40%), targets a small score margin — with an occasional off-strategy
 none as the bag empties — and times its moves with a move-number-aware
 right-skewed delay (quick openings, long endgames), a night-sleep window anchored to the opponent's timezone, and nudge
 behaviour — all derived deterministically from the game seed, so it keeps no extra
-state. A background **reaper** seats a pooled robot (matching the game's language) in any open
+state. In a dead-drawn endgame — the last two journal moves are both passes, so the robot is bound
+to pass again — it shortens that delay to a `[0.8, 1.5]×` band around the human's last-move think
+time (the gap between the last two moves), clamped to `[30 s, 8 min]` and `min`-ed with the normal
+delay, so a decided game is not dragged out while the robot never moves slower than usual. A background **reaper** seats a pooled robot (matching the game's language) in any open
 game whose wait window — a fixed **90 s** plus a random **0–90 s** (so **90–180 s**) — has
 elapsed, and the waiting starter is told an opponent took the seat by an in-app
 **opponent_joined** push (carrying their refreshed game state) that fills the opponent card and
diff --git a/backend/internal/game/store.go b/backend/internal/game/store.go
index bcdec97..90ab3a2 100644
--- a/backend/internal/game/store.go
+++ b/backend/internal/game/store.go
@@ -1020,13 +1020,18 @@ func (s *Store) RobotTurns(ctx context.Context, ids []uuid.UUID) ([]RobotTurn, e
 	for _, r := range rows {
 		out = append(out, robotTurnFrom(r.Games, r.GamePlayers))
 	}
+	if err := s.fillEndgamePass(ctx, out); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	return out, nil
 }
 
 // RobotTurnByGame returns the robot turn for a single active game — the seat held by
 // one of ids (the robot pool) — and true, or false when the game is not active, holds
 // no pooled robot, or is gone. It backs the honest-AI after-commit trigger, which
-// drives one game at once rather than scanning the whole pool (RobotTurns).
+// drives one game at once rather than scanning the whole pool (RobotTurns). It leaves
+// EndgamePass false: honest-AI games move at once, so the endgame think-time shrink is a
+// human-mimicry concern computed only on the RobotTurns scan.
 func (s *Store) RobotTurnByGame(ctx context.Context, gameID uuid.UUID, ids []uuid.UUID) (RobotTurn, bool, error) {
 	if len(ids) == 0 {
 		return RobotTurn{}, false, nil
@@ -1079,6 +1084,79 @@ func robotTurnFrom(g model.Games, p model.GamePlayers) RobotTurn {
 	}
 }
 
+// fillEndgamePass marks the turns whose game is a dead-drawn endgame — its two most
+// recent committed moves are both passes, so the board and racks are frozen and the
+// seated robot is bound to pass again — setting EndgamePass and OppLastMove from the
+// move journal so the driver can shorten the robot's think time. Turns whose game is
+// not in that state are left unchanged. A nil or empty slice is a no-op. It runs one
+// batched journal query for the whole scan, so it adds no per-game round trip.
+func (s *Store) fillEndgamePass(ctx context.Context, turns []RobotTurn) error {
+	if len(turns) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	ids := make([]uuid.UUID, len(turns))
+	for i := range turns {
+		ids[i] = turns[i].GameID
+	}
+	info, err := s.endgamePassInfo(ctx, ids)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	for i := range turns {
+		if d, ok := info[turns[i].GameID]; ok {
+			turns[i].EndgamePass = true
+			turns[i].OppLastMove = d
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// endgamePassInfo returns, for each of ids whose two most recent committed moves are
+// both passes, the human's think time on the most recent of them (the gap between the
+// last two journal entries' created_at). Games with fewer than two moves, or whose last
+// two are not both passes, are absent from the map. It reads the move journal only — no
+// schema change — mirroring the analytics.go duration reports. A negative gap (clock
+// skew) is floored to zero.
+func (s *Store) endgamePassInfo(ctx context.Context, ids []uuid.UUID) (map[uuid.UUID]time.Duration, error) {
+	if len(ids) == 0 {
+		return map[uuid.UUID]time.Duration{}, nil
+	}
+	const q = `
+SELECT q.game_id, q.secs FROM (
+  SELECT t.game_id,
+         bool_and(t.action = 'pass') AS both_pass,
+         COUNT(*) AS n,
+         EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM (MAX(t.created_at) - MIN(t.created_at))) AS secs
+  FROM (
+    SELECT m.game_id, m.action, m.created_at,
+           ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY m.game_id ORDER BY m.seq DESC) AS rn
+    FROM backend.game_moves m
+    WHERE m.game_id = ANY($1::uuid[])
+  ) t
+  WHERE t.rn <= 2
+  GROUP BY t.game_id
+) q
+WHERE q.n = 2 AND q.both_pass`
+	rows, err := s.db.QueryContext(ctx, q, uuidArrayLiteral(ids))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("game: endgame pass info: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer rows.Close()
+	out := make(map[uuid.UUID]time.Duration, len(ids))
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var id uuid.UUID
+		var secs float64
+		if err := rows.Scan(&id, &secs); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("game: scan endgame pass info: %w", err)
+		}
+		if secs < 0 {
+			secs = 0
+		}
+		out[id] = time.Duration(secs * float64(time.Second))
+	}
+	return out, rows.Err()
+}
+
 // GameVsAI reports whether a game is an honest-AI game (games.vs_ai) — a cheap
 // single-column read for the social chat/nudge gate, which must reject both in an
 // AI game even though it reports status 'active'. ErrNotFound when the game is gone.
diff --git a/backend/internal/game/types.go b/backend/internal/game/types.go
index 4e7f733..75b472f 100644
--- a/backend/internal/game/types.go
+++ b/backend/internal/game/types.go
@@ -268,6 +268,15 @@ type RobotTurn struct {
 	// VsAI is true when the game is an honest-AI game: the driver then makes the
 	// robot move immediately, with no sleep window and no proactive nudge.
 	VsAI bool
+	// EndgamePass is true when the two most recent committed moves are both passes, so
+	// the board and racks are frozen and the robot is bound to pass again. The driver
+	// then shortens the robot's think time (see robot.endgamePassDelay) so a decided
+	// game is not dragged out. It is false until at least two moves exist.
+	EndgamePass bool
+	// OppLastMove is the human's think time on the most recent move — the gap between
+	// the last two journal entries — used to scale the shortened endgame think time. It
+	// is meaningful only when EndgamePass is true (zero otherwise).
+	OppLastMove time.Duration
 }
 
 // Complaint is a word-check complaint in the admin review queue. It is filed
diff --git a/backend/internal/inttest/robot_test.go b/backend/internal/inttest/robot_test.go
index c653674..5e04982 100644
--- a/backend/internal/inttest/robot_test.go
+++ b/backend/internal/inttest/robot_test.go
@@ -249,3 +249,124 @@ func playHuman(t *testing.T, ctx context.Context, svc *game.Service, gameID, hum
 		t.Fatalf("human pass: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// countMoves returns the number of committed moves in a game's journal.
+func countMoves(t *testing.T, gameID uuid.UUID) int {
+	t.Helper()
+	var n int
+	if err := testDB.QueryRowContext(context.Background(),
+		`SELECT count(*) FROM backend.game_moves WHERE game_id = $1`, gameID).Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("count moves: %v", err)
+	}
+	return n
+}
+
+// setLastTwoMoveTimes rewrites the created_at of a game's two most recent journal entries
+// so the endgame think-time anchor (their gap, the human's last-move think time) is a known
+// value, independent of the millisecond spacing of the manufactured passes.
+func setLastTwoMoveTimes(t *testing.T, gameID uuid.UUID, prevAt, lastAt time.Time) {
+	t.Helper()
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if _, err := testDB.ExecContext(ctx,
+		`UPDATE backend.game_moves SET created_at = $2
+		   WHERE game_id = $1 AND seq = (SELECT max(seq) FROM backend.game_moves WHERE game_id = $1)`,
+		gameID, lastAt); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("set last move time: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := testDB.ExecContext(ctx,
+		`UPDATE backend.game_moves SET created_at = $2
+		   WHERE game_id = $1 AND seq = (SELECT max(seq) - 1 FROM backend.game_moves WHERE game_id = $1)`,
+		gameID, prevAt); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("set prev move time: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestRobotEndgamePassShrinksThinkTime checks the dead-drawn-endgame shrink end to end: when
+// the two most recent moves are both passes, RobotTurns reports EndgamePass with the human's
+// last-move think time (OppLastMove), and the driver answers on the shortened schedule — well
+// before the normal late-game delay — rather than dragging out the decided game. The journal
+// state is manufactured with direct passes so the test isolates the timing mechanism (the
+// SQL anchor and the driver gate) from a full game to an empty bag.
+func TestRobotEndgamePassShrinksThinkTime(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	svc := newGameService()
+	robots := newRobotService(t, svc)
+	if err := robots.EnsurePool(ctx); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ensure pool: %v", err)
+	}
+	robotID, err := robots.Pick(engine.VariantEnglish)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("pick: %v", err)
+	}
+	human := provisionAccount(t)
+	seed := openingSeed(t)
+
+	g, err := svc.Create(ctx, game.CreateParams{
+		Variant: engine.VariantEnglish, Seats: []uuid.UUID{human, robotID},
+		TurnTimeout: 24 * time.Hour, Seed: seed,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("create: %v", err)
+	}
+	const robotSeat = 1
+	store := game.NewStore(testDB)
+
+	turnOf := func(id uuid.UUID) game.RobotTurn {
+		t.Helper()
+		turns, err := store.RobotTurns(ctx, []uuid.UUID{robotID})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("robot turns: %v", err)
+		}
+		for _, rt := range turns {
+			if rt.GameID == id {
+				return rt
+			}
+		}
+		t.Fatalf("no robot turn for game %s", id)
+		return game.RobotTurn{}
+	}
+
+	// One pass so far (the human): not yet a double-pass endgame.
+	if _, err := svc.Pass(ctx, g.ID, human); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("human pass 1: %v", err)
+	}
+	if rt := turnOf(g.ID); rt.EndgamePass {
+		t.Fatalf("EndgamePass after a single pass = true, want false")
+	}
+
+	// Robot then human pass: the two most recent moves are now both passes and it is the
+	// robot's turn — the guaranteed-pass endgame state.
+	if _, err := svc.Pass(ctx, g.ID, robotID); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("robot pass: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := svc.Pass(ctx, g.ID, human); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("human pass 2: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, toMove, _, err := svc.Participants(ctx, g.ID); err != nil || toMove != robotSeat {
+		t.Fatalf("after two passes: toMove %d err %v, want robot seat %d", toMove, err, robotSeat)
+	}
+
+	// Anchor the human's last-move think time to 60s and start the robot's turn at daytime.
+	setLastTwoMoveTimes(t, g.ID, daytime.Add(-60*time.Second), daytime)
+	setTurnStarted(t, g.ID, daytime)
+
+	rt := turnOf(g.ID)
+	if !rt.EndgamePass {
+		t.Fatalf("EndgamePass after a double pass = false, want true")
+	}
+	if d := rt.OppLastMove; d < 59*time.Second || d > 61*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("OppLastMove = %s, want ~60s", d)
+	}
+
+	// The normal schedule for this move is at least the early band floor (~3.75 min); the
+	// 60s-anchored endgame delay is at most 90s for every seed. Driving at +150s is past the
+	// shrunk delay but well before the normal one, so the robot acts only because of the shrink.
+	before := countMoves(t, g.ID)
+	robots.Drive(ctx, daytime.Add(150*time.Second))
+	if after := countMoves(t, g.ID); after != before+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("robot did not act on the shrunk endgame schedule: moves %d → %d (want +1)", before, after)
+	}
+	if _, toMove, _, err := svc.Participants(ctx, g.ID); err != nil || toMove == robotSeat {
+		t.Fatalf("after the shrunk move: still the robot's turn (toMove %d, err %v)", toMove, err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/backend/internal/robot/driver.go b/backend/internal/robot/driver.go
index edac356..aa2b33b 100644
--- a/backend/internal/robot/driver.go
+++ b/backend/internal/robot/driver.go
@@ -128,7 +128,16 @@ func (s *Service) TriggerMove(gameID uuid.UUID) {
 // the opponent during the current turn pulls the move in to the short reply
 // window; otherwise the robot waits out its sampled delay.
 func (s *Service) maybeMove(ctx context.Context, rt game.RobotTurn, oppID uuid.UUID, now time.Time) error {
-	if now.Before(rt.TurnStartedAt.Add(moveDelay(rt.Seed, rt.MoveCount))) {
+	delay := moveDelay(rt.Seed, rt.MoveCount)
+	if rt.EndgamePass {
+		// A dead-drawn endgame (the last two moves are both passes) means the robot is
+		// bound to pass again: answer on the shortened schedule scaled to the human's
+		// last move, taken as a min so it is never slower than the normal think time.
+		if d := endgamePassDelay(rt.Seed, rt.MoveCount, rt.OppLastMove); d < delay {
+			delay = d
+		}
+	}
+	if now.Before(rt.TurnStartedAt.Add(delay)) {
 		last, ok, err := s.social.LastNudgeAt(ctx, rt.GameID, oppID)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/backend/internal/robot/strategy.go b/backend/internal/robot/strategy.go
index a6c9736..07afa93 100644
--- a/backend/internal/robot/strategy.go
+++ b/backend/internal/robot/strategy.go
@@ -49,6 +49,21 @@ const (
 	delayHardMinMinutes = 1.0
 	delayHardMaxMinutes = 90.0
 
+	// In a dead-drawn endgame — the two most recent committed moves are both passes,
+	// so the board and the robot's rack are frozen and the robot is bound to pass
+	// again — the robot drops the long late-game think time and answers on a shortened
+	// schedule scaled to the human's own last-move (pass) think time: a uniform sample
+	// from [endgameLoFactor, endgameHiFactor] of it, clamped to [endgameFloorSeconds,
+	// endgameCapMinutes]. A slow human collapses to the cap (the robot never drags out
+	// a decided game), a fast human is tracked, and the floor keeps the robot from
+	// passing suspiciously instantly. The shrink only ever lowers the delay (it is
+	// taken as a min with the normal schedule), so it never makes the robot slower, and
+	// it composes with the sleep window, which is still honoured before any move.
+	endgameLoFactor     = 0.8
+	endgameHiFactor     = 1.5
+	endgameFloorSeconds = 30.0
+	endgameCapMinutes   = 8.0
+
 	// nudgeReplySpreadMinutes is the width of the quick window, anchored at the move's
 	// lower band (delayBand's lo), within which the robot answers a daytime nudge on
 	// its turn — so a nudged robot replies near the floor of its think time.
@@ -171,7 +186,9 @@ func deviates(seed int64, moveCount, bagLen int) bool {
 // robot's sleep window). It is the sampled think-time delay, deferred to the end of the
 // sleep window when it would otherwise land while the robot is asleep. The driver acts on
 // a scan tick, so the real move lands at the first scan at or after this instant. It is
-// meaningful only on the robot's own turn; the admin console surfaces it as an ETA.
+// meaningful only on the robot's own turn; the admin console surfaces it as an ETA. In a
+// dead-drawn endgame the robot may pass sooner than this (see endgamePassDelay); NextMoveAt
+// remains the normal-schedule upper bound.
 func NextMoveAt(seed int64, moveCount int, turnStartedAt time.Time, opponentTZ string) time.Time {
 	t := turnStartedAt.Add(moveDelay(seed, moveCount))
 	drift := sleepDrift(seed)
@@ -215,6 +232,25 @@ func moveDelay(seed int64, moveCount int) time.Duration {
 	return clampMinutes(lo + (hi-lo)*math.Pow(u, delaySkew))
 }
 
+// endgamePassDelay is the robot's shortened think time for a guaranteed endgame pass
+// (the two most recent moves are both passes), given the human's last-move think time
+// oppLast: a uniform sample from [endgameLoFactor, endgameHiFactor] of oppLast, clamped
+// to [endgameFloorSeconds, endgameCapMinutes]. It is deterministic per (seed, moveCount)
+// like moveDelay, and oppLast is read from the persisted move journal, so the schedule is
+// reproducible across restarts. The caller takes it as a min with moveDelay, so it never
+// slows the robot down. A non-positive oppLast (clock skew) clamps up to the floor.
+func endgamePassDelay(seed int64, moveCount int, oppLast time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	floor := time.Duration(endgameFloorSeconds * float64(time.Second))
+	ceil := time.Duration(endgameCapMinutes * float64(time.Minute))
+	lo := clampDur(time.Duration(float64(oppLast)*endgameLoFactor), floor, ceil)
+	hi := clampDur(time.Duration(float64(oppLast)*endgameHiFactor), floor, ceil)
+	if hi < lo {
+		hi = lo
+	}
+	u := unitFloat(mix(seed, "endgame", moveCount))
+	return lo + time.Duration(float64(hi-lo)*u)
+}
+
 // nudgeReplyDelay is how soon after a daytime nudge the robot answers the move at
 // moveCount: a uniform sample from the quick window [lo, lo+nudgeReplySpreadMinutes],
 // where lo is the move's lower band — so a nudge pulls the move in near the floor of
@@ -254,6 +290,18 @@ func clampMinutes(mins float64) time.Duration {
 	return time.Duration(mins * float64(time.Minute))
 }
 
+// clampDur returns d confined to the inclusive range [lo, hi].
+func clampDur(d, lo, hi time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	switch {
+	case d < lo:
+		return lo
+	case d > hi:
+		return hi
+	default:
+		return d
+	}
+}
+
 // sleepDrift is the per-game shift of the robot's sleep window relative to the
 // opponent's timezone, in [-sleepDriftHours, +sleepDriftHours] hours.
 func sleepDrift(seed int64) time.Duration {
diff --git a/backend/internal/robot/strategy_test.go b/backend/internal/robot/strategy_test.go
index 84ff7fd..f3f5f85 100644
--- a/backend/internal/robot/strategy_test.go
+++ b/backend/internal/robot/strategy_test.go
@@ -342,6 +342,59 @@ func TestProactiveNudgeGap(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestEndgamePassDelayBoundsAndAnchor checks the shortened endgame think time: it always
+// lands in [30s, 8min], collapses a slow human to the cap, floors a fast human, tracks a
+// mid human inside [0.8,1.5]*oppLast, floors a clock-skew negative gap, and is
+// deterministic per (seed, moveCount).
+func TestEndgamePassDelayBoundsAndAnchor(t *testing.T) {
+	const floor = 30 * time.Second
+	const ceil = 8 * time.Minute
+	cases := []struct {
+		name    string
+		oppLast time.Duration
+		lo, hi  time.Duration // expected inclusive output range
+	}{
+		{"clock-skew negative floors", -time.Hour, floor, floor},
+		{"zero floors", 0, floor, floor},
+		{"very fast floors", 3 * time.Second, floor, floor},                        // [2.4s,4.5s] → floor
+		{"fast tracks above floor", 30 * time.Second, floor, 45 * time.Second},     // [24s,45s] → [30s,45s]
+		{"mid tracks in band", 2 * time.Minute, 96 * time.Second, 3 * time.Minute}, // [1.6m,3m]
+		{"at cap boundary", 8 * time.Minute, 384 * time.Second, ceil},              // [6.4m,12m] → [6.4m,8m]
+		{"slow caps", 3 * time.Hour, ceil, ceil},                                   // [2.4h,4.5h] → cap
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+			for seed := int64(1); seed <= 2000; seed++ {
+				d := endgamePassDelay(seed, 30, c.oppLast)
+				if d < floor || d > ceil {
+					t.Fatalf("oppLast=%s seed=%d: delay %s out of hard [%s,%s]", c.oppLast, seed, d, floor, ceil)
+				}
+				if d < c.lo || d > c.hi {
+					t.Fatalf("oppLast=%s seed=%d: delay %s out of expected [%s,%s]", c.oppLast, seed, d, c.lo, c.hi)
+				}
+				if endgamePassDelay(seed, 30, c.oppLast) != d {
+					t.Fatalf("oppLast=%s seed=%d: not deterministic", c.oppLast, seed)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// TestEndgamePassDelayShrinksLateGame checks the endgame think time is always shorter than
+// the normal late-game schedule (band floor 10min vs the 8min cap), so taking the min in the
+// driver actually speeds the robot up rather than ever slowing it down.
+func TestEndgamePassDelayShrinksLateGame(t *testing.T) {
+	for seed := int64(1); seed <= 1000; seed++ {
+		for mc := 28; mc <= 40; mc++ {
+			eg := endgamePassDelay(seed, mc, 3*time.Hour) // worst case: a slow human, caps at 8min
+			if nd := moveDelay(seed, mc); eg >= nd {
+				t.Fatalf("seed=%d mc=%d: endgame %s not shorter than normal %s", seed, mc, eg, nd)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // plays builds candidate plays carrying only the given scores (ranked as passed).
 func plays(scores ...int) []engine.MoveRecord {
 	out := make([]engine.MoveRecord, len(scores))
diff --git a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
index 6a0fc3a..9595419 100644
--- a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
+++ b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
@@ -449,11 +449,21 @@ disguised robot stays indistinguishable from a person.
   band; it proactively nudges the idle human on a **lengthening, randomized schedule** — the
   first ~60-90 min into the turn, each later reminder spaced further out toward 1-6 h — so a long
   wait gets a handful of increasingly-spaced nudges rather than an hourly stream.
+- **Dead-endgame timing**: once the **two most recent moves are both passes**, the board and the
+  robot's rack are frozen and it is bound to pass again, so the robot drops the long late-game
+  think time and answers on a **shortened schedule scaled to the human's own last (pass) think
+  time** — a uniform sample in **[0.8, 1.5]×** of it, clamped to **[30 s, 8 min]** and taken as a
+  **min** with the normal delay, so it never slows down. A slow human collapses to the 8-min cap (a
+  decided game is not dragged out); a fast human is tracked, with the floor keeping the robot from
+  passing suspiciously instantly. The anchor (the gap between the last two journal entries) reads the
+  move journal only — no schema change — stays deterministic from the seed, and still defers to the
+  sleep window.
 - **Observability**: robot accounts accrue ordinary statistics (§9) — the
   authoritative balance metric (target ≈ 40% robot wins) — and a
   `robot_games_finished_total` OTel counter plus a per-finish log give a live view.
   The **admin game card** surfaces each robot seat's per-game play-to-win intent (from
-  the seed) and, on the robot's turn, its deterministic **next-move ETA**.
+  the seed) and, on the robot's turn, its deterministic **next-move ETA** (the normal-schedule
+  upper bound — a dead-endgame pass may land sooner).
 
 ## 8. Lobby & social
 
diff --git a/docs/FUNCTIONAL.md b/docs/FUNCTIONAL.md
index 0a5130c..43d9591 100644
--- a/docs/FUNCTIONAL.md
+++ b/docs/FUNCTIONAL.md
@@ -158,7 +158,9 @@ wins most games), aims for a close score rather than crushing or throwing the ga
 now and then plays a single move against that plan — a surprise lead or a slack move —
 yet holds to the plan once the bag empties, and plays at a human pace — short thinking
 times for most moves, the occasional long one, and a night-time pause that tracks the
-player's own day. It answers a nudge
+player's own day; once a game is clearly decided and both sides are only passing, it stops
+dragging it out, answering its forced passes at roughly the player's own pace rather than
+after a long deliberation. It answers a nudge
 within a few minutes and nudges back when the player has been away a long time. It
 carries a human-like, language-appropriate name — a fresh one each game, drawn from a wide
 international pool of real names and handles, so the arena feels populated by many different
diff --git a/docs/FUNCTIONAL_ru.md b/docs/FUNCTIONAL_ru.md
index cc7ae87..d15ee77 100644
--- a/docs/FUNCTIONAL_ru.md
+++ b/docs/FUNCTIONAL_ru.md
@@ -164,7 +164,9 @@ nudge) приходят от бота **этой партии** — по язы
 поддавки, время от времени делает один ход вопреки этому плану — неожиданный отрыв или
 слабый ход, — но к концу партии (когда мешок пуст) держится плана, и ходит с
 человеческим темпом — чаще короткие раздумья, изредка долгие, и ночная пауза,
-подстроенная под день игрока. На nudge отвечает за несколько минут и
+подстроенная под день игрока; когда партия уже явно решена и обе стороны только пасуют,
+он перестаёт её затягивать — отвечает на вынужденные пасы примерно в темпе самого игрока,
+а не после долгого раздумья. На nudge отвечает за несколько минут и
 сам шлёт nudge, когда игрок надолго пропал. Носит человекоподобное имя, подходящее
 языку партии — каждую партию новое, из широкого международного пула реальных имён и
 никнеймов, так что арена кажется полной разных игроков (в русской партии — в основном