A beta release that gives every match a predictable end, reserves final-challenge dates, and introduces a clear Results Day for winners and provisional scorecards.
New
- Final-challenge matches reserve a private wager day and following final-question day when the match is finalized.
- The canonical Match page presents Results Day on the next playable day, announcing a winner or tie only when standings are final.
- Players receive one idempotent wager-opening email with their own frozen score, wager limit, topic, and deadline.
Improved
- Released questions remain available in order through the published regular match end without extending the advertised calendar.
- Manual, featured, and WW-assisted schedules now use the same hard-end and final-challenge date policy.
- Results Day explains when scorecards are still being checked instead of declaring a misleading winner.
Fixed
- New and explicitly rescheduled matches no longer receive the retired three-day post-round cushion.
- Gameplay notification plans remain active through pending regular reviews, final wagering, final answering, and no-answer reconciliation.
- Current player, administrator, beta, and public-site language now distinguishes in-match catch-up from the archived Round 1 schedule.
Known limitations
- Existing finalized matches retain their stored dates unless an eligible administrator explicitly reschedules them.
- The AppSync update must be deployed before the beta.4 web build can rely on the new trusted final-challenge fields.
- A dedicated Cog the Cat Results Day illustration remains future visual work.
A beta release that creates safer environment-specific deployments, restores AppSync packaging headroom, and adds privacy-limited provider delivery receipts for administrators.
New
- System administrators can inspect signed Resend delivery, delay, failure, bounce, complaint, and suppression receipts without exposing message content or recipient addresses.
- AWS deployment scripts now stop before cloud writes when the selected environment, account, region, artifact bucket, or stack namespace does not match the reviewed manifest.
- Email operations clearly explain that provider delivery means mail-server acceptance, not proof that a person read the message.
Improved
- The AppSync schema and largest mapping templates are packaged as separate assets, reducing the packaged CloudFormation template below its 900 KB operating target.
- Infrastructure regressions now assemble the complete AppSync contract across the stack, schema, and packaged resolver files so modularization does not reduce behavioral coverage.
- Invitation email receipts include a non-identifying message classification for operational troubleshooting.
Fixed
- Duplicate provider events are accepted idempotently instead of creating duplicate operational receipts.
- Unsigned, stale, malformed, and oversized delivery webhooks fail closed without storing or logging their payloads.
- Production deployment remains disabled until an exact production account and artifact bucket are deliberately reviewed and configured.
Known limitations
- The Resend webhook endpoint and server-only signing secret must still be configured separately in each deployed web environment.
- Open and click events are intentionally ignored; the delivery ledger does not provide message-read tracking.
- The production AWS environment remains disabled until the dedicated production account and artifact bucket are established.
A beta release that adds versioned host plans and a safer preview-first workflow for importing, inviting, and reconciling group rosters.
New
- System administrators can grant access only from reviewed, versioned plan definitions stored in the catalog, including protected internal and Founding Beta plans.
- Group administrators can preview CSV and XLSX roster files, classify existing and new people, and apply selected invitations without persisting the uploaded file.
- Explicit roster reconciliation can remove selected existing members only after showing the exact removal list and receiving a separate confirmation.
Improved
- Host player capacity is enforced across all groups owned by the same subscription holder, with active people counted once and usable pending invitations reserving space.
- Bulk invitation operations are safely resumable and report per-person outcomes without duplicating successful invitations or delivery requests.
- Roster previews explain existing members, pending invitations, former members, new invitations, selected capacity, and the remaining owner-wide allowance.
Fixed
- Membership removal now updates both group and player records atomically while retaining historical matches, answers, scores, and finalized rosters.
- Retried roster removals repair an already-inactive membership safely without advancing the roster revision a second time.
- Direct and racing roster changes cannot remove the group owner, escape the reviewed operation selection, or proceed without an active owner administrator.
Known limitations
- The development AppSync stack and initial commercial plan catalog must be deployed and verified before this web release can be tested end to end.
- Former-member reactivation remains unavailable until its invitation and match-admission lifecycle is implemented explicitly.
- Bulk roster import currently uses a file picker and inline validation; drag and drop, filters, and downloadable error reports remain future improvements.
A beta release focused on complete multi-round play, the final challenge, hands-free group administration, and clearer operational support.
New
- Two-round matches can finish with a private wager and final answer tied to the final question's subject.
- Group administrators can use featured match subscriptions and automatic-series controls for lower-touch game operation.
- Group announcements and lifecycle email controls are available from group management.
Improved
- Match planning, recovery, and finalization now provide clearer operational state and retry paths.
- Beta support surfaces now provide privacy-safe build diagnostics that testers can copy into a report.
Fixed
- Scoring and final standings retain their authoritative lifecycle state through review and final-challenge completion.
- Automated match preparation avoids duplicate work when a scheduled operation is retried.
Known limitations
- Beta Round 2 validation is still in progress; natural-time evidence for automatic preparation, retry, and finalization remains to be collected.
- Production AWS cutover is not complete, so a web build and its backing AppSync deployment must be verified independently.
- Email delivery reporting does not yet provide complete provider-side inbox observability.