diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
index 166125c0..85c57ad4 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import com.threerings.crowd.data.PlaceObject;
 import com.threerings.crowd.util.CrowdContext;
 
 import com.threerings.parlor.game.client.GameController;
+import com.threerings.parlor.game.data.GameConfig;
 import com.threerings.parlor.game.data.GameObject;
 
 import com.threerings.parlor.turn.client.TurnGameController;
@@ -58,6 +59,13 @@ public class EZGameController extends GameController
      */
     public function userCodeIsConnected (autoReady :Boolean) :void
     {
+        // if we're not a player, we don't need to report anything to the server
+        var bobj :BodyObject = (_ctx.getClient().getClientObject() as BodyObject);
+        if (_gconfig.getMatchType() != GameConfig.PARTY &&
+            _gobj.getPlayerIndex(bobj.getVisibleName()) != -1) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         if (autoReady) {
             // let the game manager know that we're here and we want to start the game now
             playerIsReady();
@@ -99,6 +107,14 @@ public class EZGameController extends GameController
         _panel.backend.turnDidChange();
     }
 
+    // from GameController
+    override protected function shouldAutoPlayerReady (bobj :BodyObject) :Boolean
+    {
+        // we don't want to auto-player ready in willEnterPlace(), we'll do it ourselves after the
+        // client code has connected
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // from GameController
     override public function attributeChanged (event :AttributeChangedEvent) :void
     {
@@ -116,22 +132,6 @@ public class EZGameController extends GameController
         }
     }
 
-    // from GameController
-    override protected function playerReady () :void
-    {
-        // we require the user to be connected, and we redundantly only do this if the user is in
-        // the players array
-        if (_panel.backend.isConnected()) {
-            var bobj :BodyObject = (_ctx.getClient().getClientObject() as BodyObject);
-            if (_gobj.getPlayerIndex(bobj.getVisibleName()) != -1) {
-                super.playerReady();
-            }
-
-        } else {
-            log.debug("Waiting to call playerReady, userCode not yet connected.");
-        }
-    }
-
     // from GameController
     override protected function gameDidStart () :void
     {
diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
index 1b80e968..4552e983 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
@@ -540,7 +540,8 @@ public class GameControlBackend
     }
 
     /**
-     * Called by the client code when it is ready for the game to be started.
+     * Called by the client code when it is ready for the game to be started (if called before the
+     * game ever starts) or rematched (if called after the game has ended).
      */
     protected function playerReady_v1 () :void
     {
diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/parlor/game/client/GameController.as b/src/as/com/threerings/parlor/game/client/GameController.as
index 44b8f4ec..f478f318 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/parlor/game/client/GameController.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/parlor/game/client/GameController.as
@@ -95,14 +95,15 @@ public /*abstract*/ class GameController extends PlaceController
         // and add ourselves as a listener
         _gobj.addListener(this);
 
-        // we don't want to claim to be finished until any derived classes that overrode this
-        // method have executed, so we'll queue up a runnable here that will let the game manager
-        // know that we're ready on the next pass through the distributed event loop
-        log.info("Entering game " + _gobj.which() + ".");
-        if (_gobj.getPlayerIndex(bobj.getVisibleName()) != -1) {
-            // finally let the game manager know that we're ready to roll
+        // potentially let the game manager know that we're ready to roll
+        if (shouldAutoPlayerReady(bobj)) {
+            // we don't want to claim to be finished until any derived classes that overrode this
+            // method have executed, so we'll queue up a runnable here that will let the game
+            // manager know that we're ready on the next pass through the distributed event loop
             _ctx.getClient().callLater(playerReady);
         }
+
+        log.info("Entered game " + _gobj.which() + ".");
     }
 
     /**
@@ -222,6 +223,14 @@ public /*abstract*/ class GameController extends PlaceController
         return false;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns true if we should automatically call playerReady() in willEnterPlace().
+     */
+    protected function shouldAutoPlayerReady (bobj :BodyObject) :Boolean
+    {
+        return (_gobj.getPlayerIndex(bobj.getVisibleName()) != -1);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Called after we've entered the game and everything has initialized
      * to notify the server that we, as a player, are ready to play.