diff --git a/app/lib/scripts/ScriptManager.coffee b/app/lib/scripts/ScriptManager.coffee
index 69ef4427c..4fbcde254 100644
--- a/app/lib/scripts/ScriptManager.coffee
+++ b/app/lib/scripts/ScriptManager.coffee
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ module.exports = ScriptManager = class ScriptManager extends CocoClass
     @originalScripts = options.scripts
     @view = options.view
     @session = options.session
+    @debugScripts = @view.getQueryVariable 'dev'
     @initProperties()
     @addScriptSubscriptions()
 
@@ -146,7 +147,7 @@ module.exports = ScriptManager = class ScriptManager extends CocoClass
       continue unless @scriptPrereqsSatisfied(script)
       continue unless scriptMatchesEventPrereqs(script, event)
       # everything passed!
-      console.log "SCRIPT: Running script '#{script.id}'"
+      console.log "SCRIPT: Running script '#{script.id}'" if @debugScripts
       script.lastTriggered = new Date().getTime()
       @triggered.push(script.id) unless alreadyTriggered
       noteChain = @processScript(script)
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ module.exports = ScriptManager = class ScriptManager extends CocoClass
     @notifyScriptStateChanged()
     @scriptInProgress = true
     @currentTimeouts = []
-    console.log "SCRIPT: Starting note group '#{nextNoteGroup.name}'"
+    console.log "SCRIPT: Starting note group '#{nextNoteGroup.name}'" if @debugScripts
     for module in nextNoteGroup.modules
       @processNote(note, nextNoteGroup) for note in module.startNotes()
     if nextNoteGroup.script.duration
@@ -220,7 +221,7 @@ module.exports = ScriptManager = class ScriptManager extends CocoClass
     @ignoreEvents = true
     for noteGroup, i in @noteGroupQueue
       break unless noteGroup.skipMe
-      console.log "SCRIPT: Skipping note group '#{noteGroup.name}'"
+      console.log "SCRIPT: Skipping note group '#{noteGroup.name}'" if @debugScripts
       @processNoteGroup(noteGroup)
       for module in noteGroup.modules
         notes = module.skipNotes()
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@ module.exports = ScriptManager = class ScriptManager extends CocoClass
     return if @ending # kill infinite loops right here
     @ending = true
     return unless @currentNoteGroup?
-    console.log "SCRIPT: Ending note group '#{@currentNoteGroup.name}'"
+    console.log "SCRIPT: Ending note group '#{@currentNoteGroup.name}'" if @debugScripts
     clearTimeout(timeout) for timeout in @currentTimeouts
     for module in @currentNoteGroup.modules
       @processNote(note, @currentNoteGroup) for note in module.endNotes()
diff --git a/app/views/kinds/CocoView.coffee b/app/views/kinds/CocoView.coffee
index 0c13c5f8d..780743391 100644
--- a/app/views/kinds/CocoView.coffee
+++ b/app/views/kinds/CocoView.coffee
@@ -196,12 +196,12 @@ module.exports = class CocoView extends Backbone.View
 
   # Utilities
 
-  getQueryVariable: (param) ->
+  getQueryVariable: (param, defaultValue) ->
     query = document.location.search.substring 1
     pairs = (pair.split("=") for pair in query.split "&")
-    for pair in pairs
-      return decodeURIComponent(pair[1]) if pair[0] is param
-    null
+    for pair in pairs when pair[0] is param
+      return {"true": true, "false": false}[pair[1]] ? decodeURIComponent(pair[1])
+    defaultValue
 
   getRootView: ->
     view = @
diff --git a/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee b/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
index 140336419..205b66ded 100644
--- a/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
@@ -128,9 +128,9 @@ module.exports = class TomeView extends View
         spellKey = pathComponents.join '/'
         @thangSpells[thang.id].push spellKey
         unless method.cloneOf
-          skipProtectAPI = @getQueryVariable("skip_protect_api") is "true" or @options.levelID isnt 'brawlwood'
-          skipProtectAPI = false if @options.levelID is 'dungeon-arena'
-          skipFlow = @getQueryVariable("skip_flow") is "true" or @options.levelID is 'brawlwood'
+          skipProtectAPI = @getQueryVariable "skip_protect_api", not @options.ladderGame
+          skipFlow = @getQueryVariable "skip_flow", @options.levelID is 'brawlwood'
+          console.log 'skip protect api', skipProtectAPI, 'skip flow', skipFlow
           spell = @spells[spellKey] = new Spell programmableMethod: method, spellKey: spellKey, pathComponents: pathPrefixComponents.concat(pathComponents), session: @options.session, supermodel: @supermodel, skipFlow: skipFlow, skipProtectAPI: skipProtectAPI, worker: @worker
     for thangID, spellKeys of @thangSpells
       thang = world.getThangByID thangID