diff --git a/app/templates/play/level/level_loading.jade b/app/templates/play/level/level_loading.jade
index 58cf16592..8a1936f3f 100644
--- a/app/templates/play/level/level_loading.jade
+++ b/app/templates/play/level/level_loading.jade
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@
     .progress.progress-striped.active
       .progress-bar.progress-bar-success
 
-  h4 Tip: you can shift+click a position on the map to insert it into the spell editor.
\ No newline at end of file
+  h4= tip
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/play/level/level_loading_view.coffee b/app/views/play/level/level_loading_view.coffee
index 44c134df9..9f5a61c2a 100644
--- a/app/views/play/level/level_loading_view.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/level/level_loading_view.coffee
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 View = require 'views/kinds/CocoView'
 template = require 'templates/play/level/level_loading'
 
+
+tips = [
+  "Tip: you can shift+click a position on the map to insert it into the spell editor."
+  "You can toggle play/paused with ctrl+p."
+  "Pressing ctrl+[ and ctrl+] rewinds and fast-forwards."
+]
+
 module.exports = class LevelLoadingView extends View
   id: "level-loading-view"
   template: template
@@ -17,7 +24,7 @@ module.exports = class LevelLoadingView extends View
     @$el.find('.progress-bar').css('width', (100 * @progress) + '%')
 
   showReady: ->
-    return
+    @$el.find('h2').addClass('ready').text 'Ready!'
 
   unveil: ->
     _.delay @reallyUnveil, 1000
@@ -37,4 +44,5 @@ module.exports = class LevelLoadingView extends View
 
   getRenderData: (c={}) ->
     super c
+    c.tip = _.sample tips
     c
diff --git a/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee b/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
index 9640a98d0..65af01739 100644
--- a/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/level/tome/tome_view.coffee
@@ -129,7 +129,6 @@ module.exports = class TomeView extends View
         @thangSpells[thang.id].push spellKey
         unless method.cloneOf
           skipProtectAPI = @getQueryVariable("skip_protect_api") is "true" or @options.levelID isnt 'brawlwood'
-          skipProtectAPI = true  # gah, it's so slow :( and somehow still affects simulation
           skipProtectAPI = false if @options.levelID is 'dungeon-arena'
           skipFlow = @getQueryVariable("skip_flow") is "true" or @options.levelID is 'brawlwood'
           spell = @spells[spellKey] = new Spell programmableMethod: method, spellKey: spellKey, pathComponents: pathPrefixComponents.concat(pathComponents), session: @options.session, supermodel: @supermodel, skipFlow: skipFlow, skipProtectAPI: skipProtectAPI, worker: @worker