diff --git a/.github/workflows/pages.yml b/.github/workflows/pages.yml
index 605e976..521b519 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pages.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pages.yml
@@ -56,15 +56,33 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      # enablement turns Pages on for the repository if it is off, so the
-      # published link works without anyone visiting the settings page first.
-      - uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
-        with:
-          enablement: true
+      # Publishing needs Pages switched on once, by hand, with Source set to
+      # "GitHub Actions" in Settings -> Pages. It cannot be automated from here:
+      # creating a Pages site needs administration:write, which a workflow token
+      # cannot be granted, and the REST call is refused. Left to itself
+      # configure-pages reports that as "Resource not accessible by
+      # integration", which reads like a broken workflow rather than a setting
+      # nobody has set, so the precondition is checked and named instead.
+      - id: site
+        name: Check that Pages is switched on
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          if gh api "repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/pages" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+            echo "::warning title=Nothing was published::GitHub Pages is not enabled for this repository. Set Settings -> Pages -> Source to \"GitHub Actions\", then re-run this workflow. Creating the site needs administration:write, which no workflow token can hold."
+          fi
+
+      - if: steps.site.outputs.exists == 'true'
+        uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
 
-      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
+      - if: steps.site.outputs.exists == 'true'
+        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
         with:
           path: web
 
       - id: deployment
+        if: steps.site.outputs.exists == 'true'
         uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
diff --git a/web/test/browser.mjs b/web/test/browser.mjs
index b8e7730..2c6565f 100644
--- a/web/test/browser.mjs
+++ b/web/test/browser.mjs
@@ -32,7 +32,13 @@ function parseArgs() {
   };
   return {
     url: get("--url", "http://localhost:8123/index.html"),
-    shots: Number(get("--shots", 40)),
+    // One action of the harness: a placement, or a shot of its own. The bot's
+    // replies happen inside a single wait and do not count. The harness aims at
+    // a random legal ball on purpose, so it plays badly and its games run long
+    // in the tail — one here needed 40 and was still going. The cap is only
+    // here to catch a table that has genuinely stopped making progress, so it
+    // sits well above that rather than close to the average.
+    shots: Number(get("--shots", 120)),
     games: Number(get("--games", 1)),
     screenshot: get("--screenshot", null),
     verbose: args.includes("--verbose"),
@@ -128,7 +134,12 @@ async function main() {
           `${result.fouls} fouls, ` +
           (result.finished ? `winner ${result.winner}` : "shot limit reached")
       );
-      if (!result.finished) throw new Error("game did not reach a conclusion");
+      if (!result.finished) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `game did not reach a conclusion: ${result.shots} shots played in ` +
+            `${shotLimit} turns of the harness, phase "${result.phase}"`
+        );
+      }
       if (result.botShots === 0) throw new Error("the bot never took a shot");
     }
     if (screenshot) await page.screenshot({ path: screenshot, fullPage: true });
@@ -223,6 +234,7 @@ async function playGame(page, shotLimit, verbose = false) {
     potted: history.reduce((a, h) => a + h.potted.filter((n) => n !== 0).length, 0),
     fouls: history.filter((h) => h.foul).length,
     finished: final.phase === "over",
+    phase: final.phase,
     winner: final.winner,
   };
 }