diff --git a/src/arena/MatchWatcher.java b/src/arena/MatchWatcher.java
index 3be1ef8..0191d47 100644
--- a/src/arena/MatchWatcher.java
+++ b/src/arena/MatchWatcher.java
@@ -77,15 +77,44 @@ public final class MatchWatcher {
 
         // The host may still be starting up; a match container brings both up at
         // once and the ordering between them is not guaranteed.
+        // Retry the socket, not just the handshake.
+        //
+        // `AbstractClient.connect()` opens the connection once and returns
+        // whether it worked; it never retries, and it starts no thread and
+        // registers no listener when it fails, so calling it again is safe.
+        // Attempting it once *before* this loop and then only polling
+        // isConnected() meant a single attempt decided the match: the
+        // entrypoint starts this JVM beside the host so their cold starts
+        // overlap, so that attempt almost always lands before MatchHost has
+        // finished loading its unit cache and bound the port, and the loop
+        // then spent its whole deadline waiting on a client that would never
+        // try again. Every match ran with no observer and uploaded no turn
+        // reports.
+        //
+        // Two clocks, because they answer different questions: the socket is
+        // retried every couple of seconds, and `connected` - which the server
+        // sets on its welcome packet, not on open() - is polled in between.
         long connectDeadline = System.currentTimeMillis() + 120_000L;
-        observer.connect();
+        long nextAttempt = 0L;
+        int attempts = 0;
         while (!observer.isConnected()) {
-            if (System.currentTimeMillis() > connectDeadline) {
-                System.err.println("[watch] could not connect to " + host + ":" + port + " within 120s");
+            long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            if (now > connectDeadline) {
+                System.err.println("[watch] could not connect to " + host + ":" + port
+                      + " within 120s (" + attempts + " attempts)");
                 System.exit(1);
             }
+            if (now >= nextAttempt) {
+                attempts++;
+                observer.connect();
+                nextAttempt = now + 2_000L;
+            }
             Thread.sleep(250L);
         }
+        if (attempts > 1) {
+            System.out.println("[watch] connected on attempt " + attempts
+                  + "; the host was still starting up");
+        }
         System.out.println("[watch] connected to " + host + ":" + port + "; spooling to " + spool.toAbsolutePath());
 
         // Deliberately NOT done. Until every human seat is filled, MatchHost