diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/EZGameControl.as b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/EZGameControl.as
index eda63957..f19d3908 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/EZGameControl.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/EZGameControl.as
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@ import flash.display.DisplayObject;
  */
 [Event(name="UserChat", type="com.threerings.ezgame.UserChatEvent")]
 
-
 /**
  * The single point of control for each client in your multiplayer EZGame.
  *
@@ -117,12 +116,17 @@ public class EZGameControl extends BaseControl
 {
     /**
      * Create an EZGameControl object using some display object currently on the hierarchy.
+     *
+     * @param disp the display object that is the game's UI.
+     * @param autoReady if true, the game will automatically be started when initialization is
+     * complete, if false, the game will not start until all clients call {@link #playerReady}.
      */
-    public function EZGameControl (disp :DisplayObject)
+    public function EZGameControl (disp :DisplayObject, autoReady :Boolean)
     {
         var event :DynEvent = new DynEvent();
         event.userProps = new Object();
         populateProperties(event.userProps);
+        event.userProps["autoReady_v1"] = autoReady;
         disp.root.loaderInfo.sharedEvents.dispatchEvent(event);
         if ("ezProps" in event) {
             setEZProps(event.ezProps);
@@ -363,6 +367,16 @@ public class EZGameControl extends BaseControl
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * If the game was not configured to auto-start, all clients must call this function to let the
+     * server know that they are ready, at which point the game will be started. Once a game is
+     * over, all clients can call this function again to start a new game.
+     */
+    public function playerReady () :void
+    {
+        callEZCode("playerReady_v1");
+    }
+
     /**
      * Requests a set of random letters from the dictionary service.  The letters will arrive in a
      * separate message with the specified key, as an array of strings.
diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
index 081d0dfd..dad6b5cf 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/EZGameController.as
@@ -56,7 +56,18 @@ public class EZGameController extends GameController
      * This is called by the GameControlBackend once it has initialized and made contact with
      * usercode.
      */
-    public function userCodeIsConnected () :void
+    public function userCodeIsConnected (autoReady :Boolean) :void
+    {
+        if (autoReady) {
+            playerIsReady();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Called by the GameControlBackend when the game is ready to start. If the game has ended,
+     * this can be called by all clients to start the game anew.
+     */
+    public function playerIsReady () :void
     {
         playerReady();
     }
diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
index a52c399a..f2613cdd 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/ezgame/client/GameControlBackend.as
@@ -141,15 +141,13 @@ public class GameControlBackend
         populateProperties(evt.ezProps);
 
         // ok, we're now hooked-up with the game code
-        _ctrl.userCodeIsConnected();
+        _ctrl.userCodeIsConnected(evt.userProps["autoReady_v1"]);
     }
 
     protected function setUserCodeProperties (o :Object) :void
     {
         // here we would handle adapting old functions to a new version
-
         _ezDispatcher = (o["dispatchEvent_v1"] as Function);
-
         _userFuncs = o;
     }
 
@@ -187,6 +185,7 @@ public class GameControlBackend
         o["gameConfig"] = gameConfig;
 
         // functions
+        o["playerReady_v1"] = playerReady_v1;
         o["setProperty_v1"] = setProperty_v1;
         o["testAndSetProperty_v1"] = testAndSetProperty_v1;
         o["mergeCollection_v1"] = mergeCollection_v1;
@@ -224,13 +223,20 @@ public class GameControlBackend
     }
 
     /**
-     * Set a property.
+     * Called by the client code when it is ready for the game to be started.
+     */
+    public function playerReady_v1 () :void
+    {
+        _ctrl.playerIsReady();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets a property.
      *
-     * Note: immediate defaults to true, even though immediate=false is
-     * the general case. We are providing some backwards compatibility
-     * to old versions of setProperty_v1() that assumed immediate and did
-     * not pass a 4th value.
-     * All callers should now specify that value explicitely.
+     * Note: immediate defaults to true, even though immediate=false is the general case. We are
+     * providing some backwards compatibility to old versions of setProperty_v1() that assumed
+     * immediate and did not pass a 4th value.  All callers should now specify that value
+     * explicitly.
      */
     public function setProperty_v1 (
         propName :String, value :Object, index :int, immediate :Boolean = true) :void