diff --git a/app/durableObjects/ChatRoom.server.ts b/app/durableObjects/ChatRoom.server.ts
index 4864b41b..16c3f32f 100644
--- a/app/durableObjects/ChatRoom.server.ts
+++ b/app/durableObjects/ChatRoom.server.ts
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ export class ChatRoom extends Server<Env> {
 			)
 		)
 
-		if (!this.ctx.storage.getAlarm()) {
+		if (!(await this.ctx.storage.getAlarm())) {
 			// start the alarm to broadcast state every 30 seconds
-			this.ctx.storage.setAlarm(30000)
+			this.ctx.storage.setAlarm(Date.now() + 30000)
 		}
 
 		// cleaning out storage used by older versions of this code
@@ -74,16 +74,29 @@ export class ChatRoom extends Server<Env> {
 	}
 
 	broadcastState() {
-		this.broadcast(
-			JSON.stringify({
-				type: 'roomState',
-				state: {
-					users: [...this.getConnections<User>()]
-						.map((connection) => connection.state)
-						.filter((x) => !!x),
-				},
-			} satisfies ServerMessage)
-		)
+		let didSomeoneQuit = false
+		const roomStateMessage = {
+			type: 'roomState',
+			state: {
+				users: [...this.getConnections<User>()]
+					.map((connection) => connection.state)
+					.filter((x) => !!x),
+			},
+		} satisfies ServerMessage
+
+		for (const connection of this.getConnections<User>()) {
+			try {
+				connection.send(JSON.stringify(roomStateMessage))
+			} catch (err) {
+				connection.close(1011, 'Failed to broadcast state')
+				didSomeoneQuit = true
+			}
+		}
+
+		if (didSomeoneQuit) {
+			// broadcast again to remove the user who quit
+			this.broadcastState()
+		}
 	}
 
 	async onMessage(
@@ -100,7 +113,8 @@ export class ChatRoom extends Server<Env> {
 
 			switch (data.type) {
 				case 'userLeft':
-					// TODO: ??
+					connection.close(1000, 'User left')
+					this.broadcastState()
 					break
 				case 'userUpdate':
 					connection.setState(data.user)
@@ -176,7 +190,11 @@ export class ChatRoom extends Server<Env> {
 	}
 
 	onClose() {
-		this.broadcastState()
+		// while it makes sense to broadcast immediately on close,
+		// it's possible that the websocket just closed for an instant
+		//  and will reconnect momentarily.
+		// so let's just let the alarm handler do the broadcasting.
+		// this.broadcastState()
 	}
 
 	onError(): void | Promise<void> {
@@ -187,6 +205,6 @@ export class ChatRoom extends Server<Env> {
 		// technically we don't need to broadcast state on an alarm,
 		// but let's keep it for a while and see if it's useful
 		this.broadcastState()
-		this.ctx.storage.setAlarm(30000)
+		this.ctx.storage.setAlarm(Date.now() + 30000)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/app/hooks/useRoom.ts b/app/hooks/useRoom.ts
index de3f4473..8edd4a23 100644
--- a/app/hooks/useRoom.ts
+++ b/app/hooks/useRoom.ts
@@ -44,13 +44,25 @@ export default function useRoom({
 		},
 	})
 
+	useEffect(() => {
+		function onBeforeUnload() {
+			websocket.send(
+				JSON.stringify({ type: 'userLeft' } satisfies ClientMessage)
+			)
+		}
+		window.addEventListener('beforeunload', onBeforeUnload)
+		return () => {
+			window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', onBeforeUnload)
+		}
+	}, [websocket])
+
 	// setup a simple ping pong
 	useEffect(() => {
 		const interval = setInterval(() => {
 			websocket.send(
 				JSON.stringify({ type: 'partyserver-ping' } satisfies ClientMessage)
 			)
-		}, 10000)
+		}, 5000)
 
 		return () => clearInterval(interval)
 	}, [websocket])