diff --git a/static/js/animations.js b/static/js/animations.js
index a4165db..fa6e3ae 100644
--- a/static/js/animations.js
+++ b/static/js/animations.js
@@ -77,7 +77,14 @@ export function updateDiceInPlace(snap, onComplete, winForMe = false) {
   const player = state.myId ? snap.players[state.myId] : undefined;
   const wrappers = /** @type {HTMLElement[]} */ ([...document.querySelectorAll('.zone-unmatched .die-wrapper')]);
 
-  if (!player || wrappers.length === 0) {
+  // If the board on screen was built for a different round, we fell behind the
+  // server — a round-advance broadcast was lost (flaky link) — and are only now
+  // catching up through this roll response. Animating in place would paint the
+  // new round's dice onto the stale board: old locks kept, new target stacking
+  // on top (the dropped-broadcast frankenboard). Hard-rebuild to the round the
+  // snapshot actually describes.
+  const staleBoard = state.boardRound != null && snap.round_num !== state.boardRound;
+  if (!player || wrappers.length === 0 || staleBoard) {
     renderMyArea(snap);
     renderPlayersBar(snap);
     if (onComplete) onComplete();
@@ -161,11 +168,28 @@ export function updateDiceInPlace(snap, onComplete, winForMe = false) {
       return;
     }
 
-    const matchedZone = document.querySelector('.zone-matched');
     if (newlyMatchedCount > 0) {
       const popT = setTimeout(() => {
+        // A pop the round has moved past must not drop its now-stale matched
+        // dice into the next round's fresh zone, so bail once a later snapshot
+        // (a round advance) has replaced ours.
+        if (state.currentState && state.currentState.round_num !== snap.round_num) {
+          if (onComplete) onComplete();
+          return;
+        }
+        // Reconcile the locked zone to exactly this snapshot's matched dice
+        // instead of blindly appending prevMatchedCount→length. Under a
+        // reveal/rebuild race the live zone can already hold a different count
+        // than prevMatchedCount assumed, and a blind append then stacks it past
+        // 10 (the "locked dice keep stacking beyond 10" bug). Re-query the live
+        // zone, trim any excess, then pop in only the genuinely-missing dice so
+        // the animation still plays.
+        const matchedZone = document.querySelector('.zone-matched');
         if (matchedZone) {
-          for (let i = state.prevMatchedCount; i < newMatched.length; i++) {
+          while (matchedZone.children.length > newMatched.length) {
+            matchedZone.lastElementChild?.remove();
+          }
+          for (let i = matchedZone.children.length; i < newMatched.length; i++) {
             const scene = makeDie(newMatched[i], effectiveTarget);
             scene.classList.add('popping');
             matchedZone.appendChild(scene);
diff --git a/static/js/game-render.js b/static/js/game-render.js
index 534263b..29dc504 100644
--- a/static/js/game-render.js
+++ b/static/js/game-render.js
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ export function renderPlayersBar(snap) {
 export function renderMyArea(snap) {
   const player = state.myId ? snap.players[state.myId] : undefined;
   if (!player) return;
+  // Record the round this board belongs to so a later reveal can tell whether
+  // the board is still current (see updateDiceInPlace's stale-board guard).
+  state.boardRound = snap.round_num;
 
   const effectiveTarget = player.has_rolled ? snap.target : -1;
   const matched = player.dice.filter((d) => d === effectiveTarget);
diff --git a/static/js/net.js b/static/js/net.js
index ec438db..df9a87d 100644
--- a/static/js/net.js
+++ b/static/js/net.js
@@ -276,6 +276,19 @@ function handleMessage(msg) {
       return;
     case 'state':
       if (msg.qr) state.qr = msg.qr; // re-sent on a lobby reconnect
+      // Authoritative catch-up: a frame for a round AHEAD of the one we're
+      // showing means we missed the round-advance broadcast (dropped on a flaky
+      // link). A newer round supersedes any in-flight roll, so apply it now
+      // rather than stashing it behind a reveal that might never run — otherwise
+      // a client that also stops rolling stays parked on the old round while the
+      // server and everyone else move on.
+      if (msg.started && state.currentState
+          && typeof msg.round_num === 'number'
+          && msg.round_num > (state.currentState.round_num ?? 0)) {
+        resetRollState();
+        showFor(msg);
+        return;
+      }
       // My own roll response (private, pre-broadcast): hold it for tryReveal
       // so the shake/reveal animation drives the change instead of a hard
       // re-render. A newer broadcast landing mid-reveal is stashed separately
diff --git a/static/js/state.js b/static/js/state.js
index b4bb77d..ba0cd36 100644
--- a/static/js/state.js
+++ b/static/js/state.js
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ export const state = {
   // ── Game board / roll choreography (driven by the game view) ──
   /** @type {string | null} Fingerprint to skip needless my-area re-renders. */
   lastMyDiceKey: null,
+  /** @type {number | null} Round the my-area board was last (re)built for. Lets
+   *  the reveal detect a stale board — a round-advance broadcast we never got —
+   *  and hard-rebuild instead of animating new dice onto the old round. */
+  boardRound: null,
   /** True while the shake animation is running. */
   rolling: false,
   /** True while waiting on the server's roll response. */