diff --git a/server/model/links/links.model.js b/server/model/links/links.model.js
index a55d727..eb43e8a 100644
--- a/server/model/links/links.model.js
+++ b/server/model/links/links.model.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ const core = require('../../core')
 const db = require('./links.db')
 const engagement = require('../../engagement/emit')
 const servers = require('../servers/servers.model')
+const serversDb = require('../servers/servers.db')
 const sidecar = require('../../sidecarClient')
 
 const log = core.logger('links')
@@ -213,7 +214,18 @@ async function redeem({ code, userId }) {
   const settled = asked.find((result) => result.ok || result.reason === 'taken')
   if (settled) return settled
 
-  const rest = await Promise.all(others.map((server) => confirmOne({ server, code, userId })))
+  // **Not the ones this site already knows are down** (F6, option b of the step-2
+  // walk). In parallel is not enough on its own: while any server is down, a code
+  // no issuer holds — every made-up one — still waited out that server's whole
+  // timeout, twelve seconds on both rigs. A server the poll has seen go down cannot
+  // answer, and it is not an issuer, so it cannot hold the code: it counts as
+  // `offline` without the wait. A server with no state yet is asked.
+  const down = await knownDown()
+  const reachable = others.filter((server) => !down.has(String(server.id)))
+  const rest = [
+    ...(await Promise.all(reachable.map((server) => confirmOne({ server, code, userId })))),
+    ...others.filter((server) => down.has(String(server.id))).map(() => ({ ok: false, reason: 'offline' })),
+  ]
   const late = rest.find((result) => result.ok || result.reason === 'taken')
   if (late) return late
 
@@ -224,6 +236,20 @@ async function redeem({ code, userId }) {
   return { ok: false, reason: 'rejected' }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The servers the board poll last saw without a connected game, by id. A failed
+ * read is an empty set — everybody is asked, which is slow and never wrong.
+ */
+async function knownDown() {
+  try {
+    const states = await serversDb.listState()
+    return new Set(states.filter((state) => !Number(state.online)).map((state) => String(state.serverId)))
+  } catch (err) {
+    log.warn('could not read server state for the link fleet', { error: err.message })
+    return new Set()
+  }
+}
+
 /** Remove a link the caller owns. False when they did not hold it. */
 async function unlinkOwned(steamId, userId) {
   const removed = (await db.removeOwned(steamId, userId)) > 0
diff --git a/server/permSync.js b/server/permSync.js
index 375fe84..b64270b 100644
--- a/server/permSync.js
+++ b/server/permSync.js
@@ -146,6 +146,13 @@ function reasonToSync({ desiredHash, sync, state, force }) {
   // the world is up, and the sync goes on the next tick. A human's "sync now" is
   // not held: they asked, and a failure then is theirs to read.
   if (state && state.worldReady === false) return null
+  // Nor while the game is not connected (F7, the step-2 walk). The stored hello is
+  // the LAST one: between a restart and the poll that reads the new boot's hello,
+  // it still says the old world is ready. On Carbon a due audit went out in that
+  // gap, 80 s before "Server startup complete". The poll marks the server offline
+  // the moment it goes away, so offline holds until a fresh hello says otherwise.
+  // Unknown (`online` absent) is not held — a state row always carries it.
+  if (state && state.online !== undefined && state.online !== null && !Number(state.online)) return null
   if (!sync) return 'first'
   if (sync.state !== 'ok' && sync.lastAttemptAt && age(sync.lastAttemptAt) < FAIL_BACKOFF_MS && !sync.dirty) {
     return null
diff --git a/server/test/links.test.js b/server/test/links.test.js
index db28ef1..1eb427b 100644
--- a/server/test/links.test.js
+++ b/server/test/links.test.js
@@ -63,9 +63,13 @@ function withCore({ select = [], onInsert = null } = {}) {
  * `issuers` are the servers the site saw mint a link code in the last few
  * minutes (`account.link.requested`, F5) — none by default, which is also what a
  * code typed before its frame was ingested looks like.
+ *
+ * `down` are the servers the board poll last saw without a connected game
+ * (`online: 0`); every other server has no state row, which is asked like an up one.
  */
-function fleetOf(replies, issuers = []) {
+function fleetOf(replies, issuers = [], down = []) {
   const servers = require('../model/servers/servers.model')
+  const serversDb = require('../model/servers/servers.db')
   const sidecar = require('../sidecarClient')
   const linksDb = require('../model/links/links.db')
 
@@ -73,6 +77,7 @@ function fleetOf(replies, issuers = []) {
   const ids = Object.keys(replies)
 
   servers.listForPolling = async () => ids.map((id) => ({ id, baseUrl: `http://${id}`, token: 't' }))
+  serversDb.listState = async () => down.map((serverId) => ({ serverId, online: 0 }))
   linksDb.recentLinkIssuers = async () => [...issuers]
 
   sidecar.confirmLink = async (server, code) => {
@@ -375,3 +380,52 @@ test('the fleet is asked in parallel, not one dead server after another (F6)', a
   assert.equal(result.ok, true)
   assert.equal(most, 5, 'every server was being asked at once')
 })
+
+test('a server the poll saw go down is not waited on for a code nobody minted (F6, option b)', async () => {
+  // The step-2 walk: with one rig stopped, a made-up code took twelve seconds on
+  // both frameworks — in parallel, but still one whole timeout on the dead server.
+  withCore()
+  const links = require('../model/links/links.model')
+
+  const asked = fleetOf({ a: linkRefused, b: unreachable, c: linkRefused }, [], ['b'])
+
+  assert.equal((await links.redeem({ code: 'ZZZZZZ', userId: 4 })).reason, 'rejected')
+  assert.deepEqual(asked.map((x) => x.server).sort(), ['a', 'c'], 'the server known down was not asked')
+})
+
+test('an issuer is asked even when the poll saw it go down, so a good code stays "unsure"', async () => {
+  // Skipping is for the servers that cannot hold the code. A server that minted
+  // one in the window might — and a player whose code is on it must not be told
+  // the code is wrong.
+  withCore()
+  const links = require('../model/links/links.model')
+
+  const asked = fleetOf({ a: unreachable, b: linkRefused }, ['a'], ['a'])
+
+  assert.equal((await links.redeem({ code: 'K7M2PQ', userId: 4 })).reason, 'unsure')
+  assert.ok(asked.some((x) => x.server === 'a'), 'the down issuer was still asked')
+})
+
+test('a fleet the poll saw all go down is offline, without asking any of it', async () => {
+  withCore()
+  const links = require('../model/links/links.model')
+
+  const asked = fleetOf({ a: unreachable, b: unreachable }, [], ['a', 'b'])
+
+  assert.equal((await links.redeem({ code: 'ZZZZZZ', userId: 4 })).reason, 'offline')
+  assert.equal(asked.length, 0)
+})
+
+test('a state read that fails asks everybody, which is slow and never wrong', async () => {
+  withCore()
+  const links = require('../model/links/links.model')
+  const serversDb = require('../model/servers/servers.db')
+
+  const asked = fleetOf({ a: linkRefused, b: linkRefused })
+  serversDb.listState = async () => {
+    throw new Error('pool closed')
+  }
+
+  assert.equal((await links.redeem({ code: 'ZZZZZZ', userId: 4 })).reason, 'rejected')
+  assert.equal(asked.length, 2)
+})
diff --git a/server/test/planFixesStep2.test.js b/server/test/planFixesStep2.test.js
index 0f1d232..3297459 100644
--- a/server/test/planFixesStep2.test.js
+++ b/server/test/planFixesStep2.test.js
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 //   • F13/F14 — a zone that expired in the game is recorded `expired` by core,
 //     through `ctx.events.expired` (D170, D183)
 //   • F8      — a plugin that loads with permissions re-syncs within a tick (D184)
-//   • F7      — nothing is pushed to a game whose world is still loading
+//   • F7      — nothing is pushed to a game whose world is still loading, or
+//               that the poll saw go away (the step-2 walk)
 //   • D182    — the ZoneManager helper's state reaches the servers page
 
 const test = require('node:test')
@@ -97,6 +98,30 @@ test('no permission sync goes to a world that is still loading — unless a huma
   assert.equal(at({ worldReady: false }, true), 'requested')
 })
 
+test('no permission sync goes to a game the poll saw go away, however ready its last hello said it was', () => {
+  // The step-2 walk, on Carbon: the sidecar came back and a due audit went out in
+  // the same moment, 80 s before "Server startup complete". The stored hello was the
+  // OLD boot's (same boot id, hence "audit" and not "restart", worldReady true);
+  // only `online: 0` — written by the poll when the server went away — said the
+  // game was not there.
+  withCore()
+  const permSync = require('../permSync')
+  const stale = new Date(Date.now() - permSync.AUDIT_MS - 1000)
+  const sync = { state: 'ok', dirty: false, syncedHash: 'h1', bootId: 'boot-1', wipeId: 'w-1', lastAttemptAt: stale }
+  const at = (state, force = false) => permSync.reasonToSync({ desiredHash: 'h1', sync, state, force })
+
+  assert.equal(at({ online: 0, bootId: 'boot-1', wipeId: 'w-1', worldReady: true }), null)
+  assert.equal(at({ online: false, bootId: 'boot-1', wipeId: 'w-1', worldReady: true }), null)
+  // Back, with the new boot's hello still loading: held by worldReady, as before.
+  assert.equal(at({ online: 1, bootId: 'boot-2', wipeId: 'w-1', worldReady: false }), null)
+  // Loaded: the restart sync goes.
+  assert.equal(at({ online: 1, bootId: 'boot-2', wipeId: 'w-1', worldReady: true }), 'restart')
+  // The audit itself still runs for a server that is up.
+  assert.equal(at({ online: 1, bootId: 'boot-1', wipeId: 'w-1', worldReady: true }), 'audit')
+  // A human's "sync now" is not held.
+  assert.equal(at({ online: 0 }, true), 'requested')
+})
+
 test('no title push goes to a world that is still loading', async () => {
   withCore()
   const titleSync = require('../titleSync')