diff --git a/src/pqn_node/api/main.py b/src/pqn_node/api/main.py
index 60ad59e5..8dad6e4e 100644
--- a/src/pqn_node/api/main.py
+++ b/src/pqn_node/api/main.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 from pqn_node.api.routes import rng
 from pqn_node.api.routes import serial
 from pqn_node.api.routes import timetagger
+from pqn_node.api.routes.health import get_effective_availability
 from pqn_node.core.config import GamesAvailability
-from pqn_node.core.config import get_settings
 from pqn_node.core.config import settings
 
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class NodeConfig(BaseModel):
 
 @api_router.get("/games/availability", tags=["games"])
 def get_availability() -> GamesAvailability:
-    return get_settings().games_availability
+    return get_effective_availability()
 
 
 @api_router.get("/node/config", tags=["node"])
diff --git a/src/pqn_node/api/routes/health.py b/src/pqn_node/api/routes/health.py
index dcfdd6e1..e9e711f6 100644
--- a/src/pqn_node/api/routes/health.py
+++ b/src/pqn_node/api/routes/health.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 from pydantic import Field
 
+from pqn_node.core.config import GamesAvailability
 from pqn_node.core.config import settings
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -29,6 +30,31 @@
 _probe_executor = concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4, thread_name_prefix="health-probe")
 
 
+class _AvailabilityCache:
+    """Holds what `/games/availability` reports: the last probe's gated result.
+
+    The invariant, which the sticky-availability bug came from violating:
+
+        value == effective_availability(config.toml, most recent probe)
+
+    `value` is a pure function of those two inputs and carries no history. Every
+    probe *overwrites* it with a freshly computed result — the previous value is
+    never read back as an input, so a stale False cannot influence, and cannot
+    survive, the next probe. This is deliberately a cache beside the settings
+    singleton rather than a mutation of it: `settings.games_availability` stays
+    pristine as the configured baseline, because that baseline is what each
+    recomputation starts from. Mutating it in place (as this code once did) makes
+    the output its own next input, which latches the flags off permanently.
+
+    `value` is None until the first probe runs; see `get_effective_availability`.
+    """
+
+    value: GamesAvailability | None = None
+
+
+_availability_cache = _AvailabilityCache()
+
+
 def _run_with_timeout[T](fn: Callable[[], T], timeout_s: float) -> T:
     return _probe_executor.submit(fn).result(timeout=timeout_s)
 
@@ -212,7 +238,9 @@ def health() -> HealthStatus:
     else:
         follower_node = None
 
-    _apply_games_override(router_status, follower_node)
+    # Refresh what /games/availability reports. Recomputed from the pristine config
+    # (never from the cached value) so games recover once hardware comes back.
+    _availability_cache.value = effective_availability(settings.games_availability, router_status, follower_node)
 
     return HealthStatus(
         router=router_status,
@@ -222,8 +250,32 @@ def health() -> HealthStatus:
     )
 
 
-def _apply_games_override(router_status: ComponentStatus, follower_node: ComponentStatus | None) -> None:
-    ga = settings.games_availability
+def effective_availability(
+    configured: GamesAvailability,
+    router_status: ComponentStatus,
+    follower_node: ComponentStatus | None,
+) -> GamesAvailability:
+    """Gate the configured game availability on live hardware reachability.
+
+    Pure: same inputs always give the same answer, and neither `configured` nor
+    any shared state is mutated. Callers own the returned copy.
+
+    Two properties follow from starting at `configured` and only ever clearing
+    flags, and both are load-bearing:
+
+    - **Games recover on their own.** The result is re-derived from config each
+      call rather than revised from the previous result, so once the hardware is
+      reachable again the next probe returns True with no explicit re-enable
+      step. There is nothing to reset by hand and no restart needed.
+    - **config.toml is an absolute veto.** No branch here assigns True, so a game
+      disabled in config can never be switched on by a healthy probe.
+
+    `configured` must therefore be the pristine values parsed from config.toml —
+    pass `settings.games_availability`, never a previously gated result. Passing
+    a gated result back in reintroduces the latching bug this function replaced:
+    the flags would ratchet toward all-off and stay there.
+    """
+    ga = configured.model_copy()
     if not router_status.reachable:
         ga.chsh = False
         ga.qf = False
@@ -231,3 +283,20 @@ def _apply_games_override(router_status: ComponentStatus, follower_node: Compone
     elif follower_node is not None and not follower_node.reachable:
         ga.chsh = False
         ga.ssm = False
+    return ga
+
+
+def get_effective_availability() -> GamesAvailability:
+    """Return the availability computed by the most recent health probe.
+
+    Backs `GET /games/availability`. Read-only: this does not probe hardware, so
+    the answer is only as fresh as the last `health()` call. Today that means app
+    startup, the daily report, and any manual hit on `/health/` — so hitting
+    `/health/` is what re-enables games on a node whose hardware has recovered.
+
+    Falls back to the configured values when no probe has run yet, so the
+    endpoint reports config rather than claiming everything is disabled.
+    """
+    if _availability_cache.value is None:
+        return settings.games_availability.model_copy()
+    return _availability_cache.value
diff --git a/tests/pytest/test_games_availability.py b/tests/pytest/test_games_availability.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a385b7f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/pytest/test_games_availability.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+"""Regression tests for the games-availability gate.
+
+The bug these cover: the health probe used to mutate the process-wide settings
+singleton and could only ever assign False, so one unreachable-router probe
+disabled every game until the process restarted.
+"""
+
+from pqn_node.api.routes.health import ComponentStatus
+from pqn_node.api.routes.health import effective_availability
+from pqn_node.core.config import GamesAvailability
+from pqn_node.core.config import get_settings
+
+UP = ComponentStatus(reachable=True)
+DOWN = ComponentStatus(reachable=False, error="unreachable")
+
+
+def test_all_games_gated_off_when_router_unreachable() -> None:
+    result = effective_availability(GamesAvailability(chsh=True, qf=True, ssm=True), DOWN, UP)
+    assert (result.chsh, result.qf, result.ssm) == (False, False, False)
+
+
+def test_follower_unreachable_leaves_qf_enabled() -> None:
+    result = effective_availability(GamesAvailability(chsh=True, qf=True, ssm=True), UP, DOWN)
+    assert (result.chsh, result.qf, result.ssm) == (False, True, False)
+
+
+def test_no_follower_configured_does_not_gate() -> None:
+    result = effective_availability(GamesAvailability(chsh=True, qf=True, ssm=True), UP, None)
+    assert (result.chsh, result.qf, result.ssm) == (True, True, True)
+
+
+def test_games_re_enable_once_hardware_recovers() -> None:
+    """The whole point: the gate is re-derived from config, not latched."""
+    configured = GamesAvailability(chsh=True, qf=True, ssm=True)
+
+    while_down = effective_availability(configured, DOWN, UP)
+    assert not while_down.qf
+
+    after_recovery = effective_availability(configured, UP, UP)
+    assert (after_recovery.chsh, after_recovery.qf, after_recovery.ssm) == (True, True, True)
+
+
+def test_config_disabled_game_is_never_enabled_by_a_healthy_probe() -> None:
+    configured = GamesAvailability(chsh=False, qf=True, ssm=False)
+
+    result = effective_availability(configured, UP, UP)
+
+    assert result.chsh is False
+    assert result.ssm is False
+    assert result.qf is True
+
+
+def test_gating_does_not_mutate_the_configured_object() -> None:
+    configured = GamesAvailability(chsh=True, qf=True, ssm=True)
+
+    effective_availability(configured, DOWN, DOWN)
+
+    assert (configured.chsh, configured.qf, configured.ssm) == (True, True, True)
+
+
+def test_gating_does_not_mutate_the_settings_singleton() -> None:
+    """A failed probe must not poison process-wide state."""
+    configured = get_settings().games_availability
+    before = (configured.chsh, configured.qf, configured.ssm)
+
+    effective_availability(configured, DOWN, DOWN)
+
+    after = get_settings().games_availability
+    assert (after.chsh, after.qf, after.ssm) == before