diff --git a/xwords4/common/board.c b/xwords4/common/board.c
index c272801ab..521cd96cb 100644
--- a/xwords4/common/board.c
+++ b/xwords4/common/board.c
@@ -133,7 +133,6 @@ board_make( MPFORMAL ModelCtxt* model, ServerCtxt* server, DrawCtx* draw,
             XW_UtilCtxt* util )
 {
     BoardCtxt* result = (BoardCtxt*)XP_MALLOC( mpool, sizeof( *result ) );
-    XP_ASSERT( !!draw );
     XP_ASSERT( !!server );
     XP_ASSERT( !!util );
     XP_ASSERT( !!model );
@@ -2995,9 +2994,10 @@ dictChanged( void* p_board, const DictionaryCtxt* oldDict,
              const DictionaryCtxt* newDict )
 {
     BoardCtxt* board = (BoardCtxt*)p_board;
-    XP_ASSERT( !!board->draw );
-    if ( (NULL == oldDict) || (oldDict != newDict) ) {
-        draw_dictChanged( board->draw, newDict );
+    if ( !!board->draw ) {
+        if ( (NULL == oldDict) || (oldDict != newDict) ) {
+            draw_dictChanged( board->draw, newDict );
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/xwords4/common/game.c b/xwords4/common/game.c
index 21ea739c9..d5d74f1f0 100644
--- a/xwords4/common/game.c
+++ b/xwords4/common/game.c
@@ -30,8 +30,11 @@ extern "C" {
 static void
 assertUtilOK( XW_UtilCtxt* util )
 {
-    UtilVtable* vtable = util->vtable;
-    XP_U16 nSlots = sizeof(vtable) / 4;
+    UtilVtable* vtable;
+    XP_U16 nSlots;
+    XP_ASSERT( !!util );
+    vtable = util->vtable;
+    nSlots = sizeof(vtable) / 4;
     while ( nSlots-- ) {
         void* fptr = ((void**)vtable)[nSlots];
         XP_ASSERT( !!fptr );
@@ -90,7 +93,7 @@ game_makeNewGame( MPFORMAL XWGame* game, CurGameInfo* gi,
                               gi->boardSize, gi->boardSize );
 
 #ifndef XWFEATURE_STANDALONE_ONLY
-    if ( !!procs && gi->serverRole != SERVER_STANDALONE ) {
+    if ( gi->serverRole != SERVER_STANDALONE ) {
         game->comms = comms_make( MPPARM(mpool) util,
                                   gi->serverRole != SERVER_ISCLIENT, 
                                   nPlayersHere, nPlayersTotal, procs );