diff --git a/session-server/arena-manager.mjs b/session-server/arena-manager.mjs
index f46bd40ca4..1f0cf1bf86 100644
--- a/session-server/arena-manager.mjs
+++ b/session-server/arena-manager.mjs
@@ -206,6 +206,11 @@ export class ArenaManager {
   receiveCmd(handle, frame) {
     const rec = this.players.get(handle);
     if (!rec) return;
+    if (!rec._firstCmdLogged) {
+      console.log(`🏟️  cmd:first handle=${handle} cmds=${(frame.cmds || []).length}`);
+      rec._firstCmdLogged = true;
+    }
+    rec._cmdRxCount = (rec._cmdRxCount || 0) + 1;
     rec.lastSeenMs = this.now();
 
     // Snap-ack: client tells us which snap they last saw.
@@ -282,6 +287,20 @@ export class ArenaManager {
     if (this.tick % TICK_RATE === 0) this.sweepStale(nowMs);
 
     if (this.tick % SNAP_EVERY === 0) this.broadcastSnapshots();
+
+    // Periodic rate log (every 5s at TICK_RATE=60).
+    if (this.tick % (TICK_RATE * 5) === 0 && this.players.size > 0) {
+      const rows = [];
+      for (const rec of this.players.values()) {
+        const cmdRx = rec._cmdRxCount || 0;
+        const snapTx = rec._snapTxCount || 0;
+        const transport = rec.udpChannelId != null ? "UDP" : "WS";
+        rows.push(`${rec.handle}(${transport} rx=${cmdRx} tx=${snapTx})`);
+        rec._cmdRxCount = 0;
+        rec._snapTxCount = 0;
+      }
+      console.log(`🏟️  stats[5s] ${rows.join(" ")}`);
+    }
   }
 
   sweepStale(nowMs) {
@@ -403,6 +422,7 @@ export class ArenaManager {
       if (!ok && rec.wsId != null && this.sendWS) {
         this.sendWS(rec.wsId, "arena:snap", snap);
       }
+      if (ok || rec.wsId != null) rec._snapTxCount = (rec._snapTxCount || 0) + 1;
     }
 
     // Probes: always WS, full snap, messageNum=0 (they don't ack).
diff --git a/system/public/aesthetic.computer/lib/udp.mjs b/system/public/aesthetic.computer/lib/udp.mjs
index 6bc7280e61..8486da22ec 100644
--- a/system/public/aesthetic.computer/lib/udp.mjs
+++ b/system/public/aesthetic.computer/lib/udp.mjs
@@ -114,7 +114,17 @@ function connect(port = 8889, url = undefined, send, explicitTurnHost = null) {
     }
 
     function respond(name, content) {
-      content = JSON.parse(content);
+      // Geckos auto-parses JSON envelopes: if the sender emitted an object,
+      // `content` already arrives as an object; if the sender emitted a
+      // pre-stringified payload (the pattern client→server uses), it arrives
+      // as a string that still needs parsing. Handle both.
+      if (typeof content === "string") {
+        try { content = JSON.parse(content); }
+        catch (err) {
+          console.warn(`🩰 UDP ${name}: JSON.parse failed`, err?.message);
+          return;
+        }
+      }
       if (logs.udp) console.log(`🩰 UDP Received:`, content);
       send({
         type: "udp:receive",
diff --git a/system/public/sw.js b/system/public/sw.js
index d2c42380cd..80d859a7d7 100644
--- a/system/public/sw.js
+++ b/system/public/sw.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Aesthetic Computer Service Worker
 // Caches JavaScript modules for faster subsequent loads
 
-const CACHE_NAME = 'ac-modules-v6'; // Bump to invalidate cached disk.mjs/bios.mjs after the piece-runs telemetry shape fix
+const CACHE_NAME = 'ac-modules-v7'; // Bump to force fresh udp.mjs with robust respond() parsing (fixes arena:snap drops)
 const CACHE_DURATION = 60 * 60 * 1000; // 1 hour in ms (dev-friendly)
 
 // Critical modules to precache on install