diff --git a/tools/release/game-static.mjs b/tools/release/game-static.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ff1fec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/release/game-static.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+/**
+ * Minimal static server for the built game.
+ *
+ * A dependency-free replacement for the separate `game-web` Caddy service,
+ * started by `start-all.mjs`. Content-hashed assets are cached hard; the shell
+ * must revalidate so an update is actually picked up (PRD §27.4).
+ *
+ * Two things a real file server does that this one used to skip, both found
+ * when Þrøngva's album shipped and not one track of it played in production:
+ *
+ * - **The URL is percent-decoded before it touches the filesystem.** The
+ *   browser asks for `Þrøngva/After%20the%20Winter%20of%20Want/001.%20...`;
+ *   looking that up literally finds nothing, and the SPA fallback answered
+ *   every track with `index.html` and a 200. Any file with a space or a
+ *   non-ASCII letter in its name had never been servable, including the old
+ *   `More Than Enough.mp3`.
+ * - **Byte ranges.** An `<audio>` element seeks and, in Safari, starts
+ *   playback with `Range` requests, and Safari will not play media from a
+ *   server that ignores them. Files are streamed rather than read whole, so a
+ *   9 MB track is not buffered in memory per listener.
+ */
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import http from "node:http";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const TYPES = {
+  ".html": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
+  ".js": "text/javascript; charset=utf-8",
+  ".css": "text/css; charset=utf-8",
+  ".json": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
+  ".webmanifest": "application/manifest+json",
+  ".svg": "image/svg+xml",
+  ".png": "image/png",
+  ".webp": "image/webp",
+  ".woff2": "font/woff2",
+  ".ktx2": "image/ktx2",
+  ".glb": "model/gltf-binary",
+  ".webm": "audio/webm",
+  ".mp3": "audio/mpeg",
+  ".m3u": "audio/x-mpegurl",
+  ".wasm": "application/wasm",
+};
+
+/**
+ * Parse a single `bytes=` range against a file size.
+ *
+ * Returns `null` when there is no usable range header (serve the whole file),
+ * `"invalid"` for a range that cannot be satisfied (416), or the inclusive
+ * `[start, end]`. Multi-range requests are answered with the whole file, which
+ * the spec allows and no media element sends.
+ */
+export function parseRange(header, size) {
+  if (!header) return null;
+  const match = /^bytes=(\d*)-(\d*)$/.exec(header.trim());
+  if (!match) return null;
+  const [, from, to] = match;
+  if (from === "" && to === "") return "invalid";
+  let start;
+  let end;
+  if (from === "") {
+    // Suffix range: the last N bytes.
+    const length = Number(to);
+    if (length === 0) return "invalid";
+    start = Math.max(0, size - length);
+    end = size - 1;
+  } else {
+    start = Number(from);
+    end = to === "" ? size - 1 : Math.min(Number(to), size - 1);
+  }
+  if (start >= size || start > end) return "invalid";
+  return [start, end];
+}
+
+/** @param {string} dist absolute path of the built game */
+export function createGameServer(dist) {
+  const root = path.resolve(dist);
+
+  const sendShell = (req, res) => {
+    // SPA fallback so client-side routes work on reload.
+    fs.readFile(path.join(root, "index.html"), (error, html) => {
+      if (error) {
+        res.writeHead(404, { "content-type": "application/json" });
+        res.end(JSON.stringify({ error: "not_found" }));
+        return;
+      }
+      res.writeHead(200, {
+        "content-type": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
+        "cache-control": "no-cache",
+      });
+      res.end(req.method === "HEAD" ? undefined : html);
+    });
+  };
+
+  return http.createServer((req, res) => {
+    let url;
+    try {
+      url = decodeURIComponent((req.url ?? "/").split("?")[0]);
+    } catch {
+      // Malformed percent-encoding.
+      res.writeHead(400).end();
+      return;
+    }
+
+    if (url === "/health/live" || url === "/health/ready") {
+      res.writeHead(200, { "content-type": "application/json" });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "ok", service: "game-web" }));
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // Strip the /play prefix the gateway forwards.
+    let relative = url.replace(/^\/play(?=\/|$)/, "") || "/";
+    if (relative.endsWith("/")) relative += "index.html";
+
+    // Resolve and confirm the result stays inside dist: a static server is a
+    // classic path-traversal surface, and decoding makes `%2e%2e%2f` a real
+    // `../`. The separator matters: a bare prefix test would also admit a
+    // sibling directory such as `dist-old`.
+    const resolved = path.resolve(root, `.${relative}`);
+    if (relative.includes("\0") || !resolved.startsWith(root + path.sep)) {
+      res.writeHead(403).end();
+      return;
+    }
+
+    fs.stat(resolved, (error, stat) => {
+      if (error || !stat.isFile()) {
+        sendShell(req, res);
+        return;
+      }
+
+      const hashed = /\.[a-f0-9]{8,}\./.test(path.basename(resolved));
+      const headers = {
+        "content-type": TYPES[path.extname(resolved).toLowerCase()] ?? "application/octet-stream",
+        "cache-control": hashed ? "public, max-age=31536000, immutable" : "no-cache",
+        "accept-ranges": "bytes",
+      };
+
+      const range = parseRange(req.headers.range, stat.size);
+      if (range === "invalid") {
+        res.writeHead(416, { ...headers, "content-range": `bytes */${stat.size}` }).end();
+        return;
+      }
+      const [start, end] = range ?? [0, stat.size - 1];
+      const length = stat.size === 0 ? 0 : end - start + 1;
+      res.writeHead(range ? 206 : 200, {
+        ...headers,
+        "content-length": length,
+        ...(range ? { "content-range": `bytes ${start}-${end}/${stat.size}` } : {}),
+      });
+      if (req.method === "HEAD" || length === 0) {
+        res.end();
+        return;
+      }
+      fs.createReadStream(resolved, { start, end })
+        .on("error", () => res.destroy())
+        .pipe(res);
+    });
+  });
+}
diff --git a/tools/release/game-static.test.ts b/tools/release/game-static.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f79e9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/release/game-static.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import type { AddressInfo } from "node:net";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+// @ts-expect-error -- plain .mjs, run by node in production; no declarations.
+import { createGameServer, parseRange } from "./game-static.mjs";
+
+/**
+ * The production game file server. Its first version never percent-decoded
+ * the URL, so every album track (spaces, and a Þ in the artist folder) got
+ * `index.html` with a 200 and no track played.
+ */
+const ALBUM = "audio/music/Þrøngva/After the Winter of Want";
+const TRACK = `${ALBUM}/001. Frost on the Oar.mp3`;
+const BYTES = Buffer.from(Array.from({ length: 1000 }, (_, i) => i % 256));
+
+let dir: string;
+let dist: string;
+let base: string;
+let server: ReturnType<typeof createGameServer>;
+
+const encoded = (p: string) => p.split("/").map(encodeURIComponent).join("/");
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "nc7-static-"));
+  dist = join(dir, "dist");
+  mkdirSync(join(dist, ALBUM), { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(join(dist, "index.html"), "<!doctype html><title>shell</title>");
+  writeFileSync(join(dist, TRACK), BYTES);
+  // A sibling a bare prefix check would wrongly admit.
+  mkdirSync(join(dir, "dist-old"));
+  writeFileSync(join(dir, "dist-old", "secret.txt"), "secret");
+
+  server = createGameServer(dist);
+  await new Promise<void>((resolve) => server.listen(0, "127.0.0.1", resolve));
+  base = `http://127.0.0.1:${(server.address() as AddressInfo).port}`;
+});
+
+afterAll(() => {
+  server.close();
+  rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe("game static server", () => {
+  it("serves a track whose path has spaces and non-ASCII letters", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/${encoded(TRACK)}`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(res.headers.get("content-type")).toBe("audio/mpeg");
+    expect(res.headers.get("accept-ranges")).toBe("bytes");
+    expect(Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()).equals(BYTES)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("answers a byte range with 206 and just those bytes", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/${encoded(TRACK)}`, {
+      headers: { range: "bytes=100-199" },
+    });
+    expect(res.status).toBe(206);
+    expect(res.headers.get("content-range")).toBe("bytes 100-199/1000");
+    expect(Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()).equals(BYTES.subarray(100, 200))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects a range past the end with 416", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/${encoded(TRACK)}`, {
+      headers: { range: "bytes=5000-" },
+    });
+    expect(res.status).toBe(416);
+    expect(res.headers.get("content-range")).toBe("bytes */1000");
+  });
+
+  it("still falls back to the shell for an unknown route", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/some/client/route`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(await res.text()).toContain("<title>shell</title>");
+  });
+
+  it("does not let decoding open a path out of dist", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/%2e%2e%2fdist-old%2fsecret.txt`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects malformed percent-encoding", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(`${base}/play/%E0%A4%A`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(400);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("parseRange", () => {
+  it("reads open, closed and suffix ranges", () => {
+    expect(parseRange(undefined, 1000)).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=0-", 1000)).toEqual([0, 999]);
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=10-19", 1000)).toEqual([10, 19]);
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=-100", 1000)).toEqual([900, 999]);
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=990-5000", 1000)).toEqual([990, 999]);
+  });
+
+  it("refuses what cannot be satisfied", () => {
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=1000-", 1000)).toBe("invalid");
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=20-10", 1000)).toBe("invalid");
+    expect(parseRange("bytes=-", 1000)).toBe("invalid");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tools/release/start-all.mjs b/tools/release/start-all.mjs
index cef452a..ca7a58a 100644
--- a/tools/release/start-all.mjs
+++ b/tools/release/start-all.mjs
@@ -16,10 +16,9 @@
  * server is dead is worse than an honest restart.
  */
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
-import http from "node:http";
-import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import process from "node:process";
+import { createGameServer } from "./game-static.mjs";
 
 const ROOT = process.cwd();
 const PUBLIC_PORT = Number(process.env.PORT ?? 8080);
@@ -60,81 +59,9 @@ function start(name, command, args, env) {
   return child;
 }
 
-/**
- * Minimal static server for the built game.
- *
- * A dependency-free replacement for the separate `game-web` Caddy service.
- * Content-hashed assets are cached hard; the shell must revalidate so an
- * update is actually picked up (PRD §27.4).
- */
+/** Serve the built game; see `game-static.mjs`. */
 function startGameStatic() {
-  const dist = path.join(ROOT, "apps/game/dist");
-  const types = {
-    ".html": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
-    ".js": "text/javascript; charset=utf-8",
-    ".css": "text/css; charset=utf-8",
-    ".json": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
-    ".webmanifest": "application/manifest+json",
-    ".svg": "image/svg+xml",
-    ".png": "image/png",
-    ".webp": "image/webp",
-    ".woff2": "font/woff2",
-    ".ktx2": "image/ktx2",
-    ".glb": "model/gltf-binary",
-    ".webm": "audio/webm",
-    ".mp3": "audio/mpeg",
-    ".wasm": "application/wasm",
-  };
-
-  const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
-    const url = (req.url ?? "/").split("?")[0];
-
-    if (url === "/health/live" || url === "/health/ready") {
-      res.writeHead(200, { "content-type": "application/json" });
-      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "ok", service: "game-web" }));
-      return;
-    }
-
-    // Strip the /play prefix the gateway forwards.
-    let relative = url.replace(/^\/play/, "") || "/";
-    if (relative.endsWith("/")) relative += "index.html";
-
-    // Resolve and confirm the result stays inside dist — a static server is a
-    // classic path-traversal surface.
-    const resolved = path.resolve(dist, `.${relative}`);
-    if (!resolved.startsWith(dist)) {
-      res.writeHead(403).end();
-      return;
-    }
-
-    fs.readFile(resolved, (error, data) => {
-      if (error) {
-        // SPA fallback so client-side routes work on reload.
-        fs.readFile(path.join(dist, "index.html"), (fallbackError, html) => {
-          if (fallbackError) {
-            res.writeHead(404, { "content-type": "application/json" });
-            res.end(JSON.stringify({ error: "not_found" }));
-            return;
-          }
-          res.writeHead(200, {
-            "content-type": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
-            "cache-control": "no-cache",
-          });
-          res.end(html);
-        });
-        return;
-      }
-
-      const ext = path.extname(resolved);
-      const hashed = /\.[a-f0-9]{8,}\./.test(path.basename(resolved));
-      res.writeHead(200, {
-        "content-type": types[ext] ?? "application/octet-stream",
-        "cache-control": hashed ? "public, max-age=31536000, immutable" : "no-cache",
-      });
-      res.end(data);
-    });
-  });
-
+  const server = createGameServer(path.join(ROOT, "apps/game/dist"));
   server.listen(PORTS.game, () => log("game-web", `listening on ${PORTS.game}`));
   children.push({ name: "game-web", child: { kill: () => server.close() } });
 }