diff --git a/game/btl4main.cpp b/game/btl4main.cpp
index a83f599..19409d3 100644
--- a/game/btl4main.cpp
+++ b/game/btl4main.cpp
@@ -97,6 +97,11 @@ struct BTDriveInput { float throttle; float turn; int forced; int fire; int fire
                       int keyFwd; int keyBack; int keyLeft; int keyRight; int allStop; };
 BTDriveInput gBTDrive = { 0.0f, 0.0f, 0, 0, 0, 1.0f, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };
 
+// The human clicked X (WM_CLOSE).  Read by BTFE_RelaunchSelfAndExit: a
+// user-closed window exits for REAL instead of relaunching into the join
+// wait (the pod's authentic immortality, wrong for a desktop window).
+volatile int gBTUserRequestedExit = 0;
+
 LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
 {
 	switch (uMsg)
@@ -157,6 +162,12 @@ LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
 		}
 		return 0;
 	case WM_CLOSE:
+		// The human clicked X / pressed Alt-F4.  Without this stamp the
+		// relaunch chain treats the resulting RunMissions return like a
+		// round ending and RESURRECTS the client (the pod was immortal by
+		// design; a desktop window must not be) -- see the gate in
+		// BTFE_RelaunchSelfAndExit.
+		gBTUserRequestedExit = 1;
 		DestroyWindow(hWnd);
 		return 0;
 	case WM_DESTROY:
diff --git a/game/glass/btl4console.cpp b/game/glass/btl4console.cpp
index 6dff2a3..9c2ed68 100644
--- a/game/glass/btl4console.cpp
+++ b/game/glass/btl4console.cpp
@@ -137,6 +137,28 @@ static unsigned long
 void
 	BTFE_RelaunchSelfAndExit(const char *arguments)
 {
+	//
+	// THE X BUTTON MEANS QUIT (2026-07-27, operator report: "my local
+	// instance auto-relaunches whenever I stop and start a session, even if
+	// I close my window").  The 1995 pod was IMMORTAL by design -- an arcade
+	// cabinet's join loop never exits -- so every RunMissions return
+	// relaunches, and a human closing the window was indistinguishable from
+	// a round ending.  On a desktop that made the client unkillable outside
+	// Task Manager (the orphaned-plasma zombies).  btl4main's WM_CLOSE now
+	// stamps gBTUserRequestedExit; every relaunch path funnels through here,
+	// so this single gate turns a user-closed window into a REAL exit while
+	// round-end / console-loss / abort relaunches stay exactly as they were.
+	//
+	{
+		extern volatile int gBTUserRequestedExit;
+		if (gBTUserRequestedExit)
+		{
+			MarshalLog("window closed by the user -- exiting for real "
+				"(no relaunch)");
+			ExitProcess(0);
+		}
+	}
+
 	//
 	// RELAUNCH-STORM DAMPER (issue #33, night-2 capture): a client whose
 	// generations die young (stale identity -> HELLO reject -> drop ->