diff --git a/library/modules/gpu/gles3.sx b/library/modules/gpu/gles3.sx
index 1f7dfc4..d1f2e82 100644
--- a/library/modules/gpu/gles3.sx
+++ b/library/modules/gpu/gles3.sx
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 // surface/context creation lives in platform/android.sx.
 eglGetProcAddress :: (name: [*]u8) -> *void #foreign;
 
+
 // Functions absent from opengl.sx (it was authored against the SDL
 // desktop subset). We don't currently call these — destroy_* is best
 // effort here; future work can wire `glDeleteProgram` etc. through
@@ -83,23 +84,11 @@ impl GPU for Gles3Gpu {
             self.gl_loaded = true;
         }
 
-        // One shared VAO with the renderer's 12-float layout. Bound here
-        // once; set_vertex_buffer just rebinds the VBO against it.
+        // Create the VAO. Attribute layout is deferred to set_vertex_buffer
+        // because `glVertexAttribPointer` captures the currently-bound
+        // GL_ARRAY_BUFFER into the VAO state — we don't know which VBO
+        // the renderer wants until it tells us via set_vertex_buffer.
         glGenVertexArrays(1, @self.vao);
-        glBindVertexArray(self.vao);
-        // pos (2 floats)
-        glVertexAttribPointer(0, 2, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 0);
-        glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);
-        // uv (2 floats)
-        glVertexAttribPointer(1, 2, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 8);
-        glEnableVertexAttribArray(1);
-        // color (4 floats)
-        glVertexAttribPointer(2, 4, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 16);
-        glEnableVertexAttribArray(2);
-        // params (4 floats)
-        glVertexAttribPointer(3, 4, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 32);
-        glEnableVertexAttribArray(3);
-        glBindVertexArray(0);
 
         glEnable(GL_BLEND);
         glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
@@ -135,10 +124,7 @@ impl GPU for Gles3Gpu {
 
     create_shader :: (self: *Gles3Gpu, vsrc: string, fsrc: string) -> ShaderHandle {
         inline if OS != .android { return 0; }
-        // opengl.sx::create_program takes [:0]u8 (NUL-terminated). The
-        // string literals from the renderer (#string GLSL blocks) are
-        // already NUL-terminated by the sx string-pool emitter, so the
-        // cast is safe.
+
         prog := create_program(xx vsrc, xx fsrc);
         if prog == 0 { return 0; }
         slot : Gles3ShaderSlot = .{
@@ -267,6 +253,18 @@ impl GPU for Gles3Gpu {
         if buf == 0 { return; }
         glBindVertexArray(self.vao);
         glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, buf);
+        // glVertexAttribPointer captures the currently-bound
+        // GL_ARRAY_BUFFER into the VAO state. Reconfigure each frame
+        // so the VAO knows about the live buffer; otherwise drawing
+        // sources attribs from the zero-buffer (invisible geometry).
+        glVertexAttribPointer(0, 2, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 0);
+        glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);
+        glVertexAttribPointer(1, 2, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 8);
+        glEnableVertexAttribArray(1);
+        glVertexAttribPointer(2, 4, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 16);
+        glEnableVertexAttribArray(2);
+        glVertexAttribPointer(3, 4, GL_FLOAT, 0, 48, xx 32);
+        glEnableVertexAttribArray(3);
     }
 
     set_texture :: (self: *Gles3Gpu, slot: u32, handle: TextureHandle) {
@@ -305,10 +303,12 @@ impl GPU for Gles3Gpu {
 
     set_scissor :: (self: *Gles3Gpu, x: s32, y: s32, w: s32, h: s32) {
         inline if OS != .android { return; }
-        glEnable(GL_SCISSOR_TEST);
-        // GL scissor origin is bottom-left; renderer.sx feeds top-left
-        // pixel coordinates, so flip Y.
-        glScissor(x, self.pixel_h - (y + h), w, h);
+        // TODO: re-enable once we figure out why the renderer passes
+        // a 0×0 clip rect on Android (chess's ScrollView path). The
+        // bounds the renderer feeds us land outside the framebuffer
+        // and clip everything off-screen.
+        // glEnable(GL_SCISSOR_TEST);
+        // glScissor(x, self.pixel_h - (y + h), w, h);
     }
 
     disable_scissor :: (self: *Gles3Gpu) {
diff --git a/library/modules/platform/android.sx b/library/modules/platform/android.sx
index 21d642a..290706b 100644
--- a/library/modules/platform/android.sx
+++ b/library/modules/platform/android.sx
@@ -85,14 +85,45 @@ TimeSpec :: struct { sec: s64; nsec: s64; }
 g_android_app  : *void = null;
 g_android_plat : *AndroidPlatform = null;
 
+// `app->activity` (ANativeActivity*) at byte 24.
+// `activity->assetManager` at byte 64 inside ANativeActivity.
+APP_OFF_activity            :s64: 24;
+ACTIVITY_OFF_assetManager   :s64: 64;
+ACTIVITY_OFF_internalData   :s64: 32;
+
+// AAssetManager handle the user's `android_main` stashes via the
+// bootstrap. Consumers that want to read bundled APK assets (font.ttf,
+// piece sprites, level data, ...) read this and feed it into their own
+// file-IO shim — e.g. chess wires it through `vendors/file_utils.c`
+// which routes `read_file_bytes` through AAssetManager_open on Android.
+g_android_asset_manager : *void = null;
+g_android_internal_path : *u8   = null;
+
 // ── Bootstrap (called by user's `android_main`) ────────────────────────
 // Stashes the NDK app pointer the OS handed to `android_main(app)` so
 // the rest of the platform module can find it. Single responsibility —
 // the user's `android_main` calls this once, then calls their own
 // `main()` to enter the normal cross-platform setup flow.
+//
+// Also extracts `AAssetManager*` and `internalDataPath` from the
+// ANativeActivity that the app pointer carries — these are the two
+// pieces consumers need to touch APK assets / per-app storage on
+// Android. Reachable as `g_android_asset_manager` / `g_android_internal_path`.
 
 sx_android_bootstrap :: (app: *void) {
-    g_android_app = app;
+    inline if OS == .android {
+        g_android_app = app;
+        base : s64 = xx app;
+        activity_pp : **void = xx (base + APP_OFF_activity);
+        activity_ptr := activity_pp.*;
+        if activity_ptr != null {
+            act_base : s64 = xx activity_ptr;
+            mgr_pp : **void = xx (act_base + ACTIVITY_OFF_assetManager);
+            g_android_asset_manager = mgr_pp.*;
+            path_pp : **u8 = xx (act_base + ACTIVITY_OFF_internalData);
+            g_android_internal_path = path_pp.*;
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 // ── Helpers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/src/target.zig b/src/target.zig
index e69151a..2b33cc8 100644
--- a/src/target.zig
+++ b/src/target.zig
@@ -331,6 +331,16 @@ pub fn createApk(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, io: std.Io, so_path: []const u8,
     // and zip is on every macOS/Linux host by default.
     try runProcessIn(allocator, io, stage, &.{ "zip", "-q", "-r", unaligned, "lib/" });
 
+    // Bundle the project's `./assets/` directory (if present) at the APK's
+    // top level so AAssetManager_open(path) at runtime can read them.
+    // Resolves relative to the user's CWD at invocation time — matches the
+    // convention chess uses (assets/ next to main.sx).
+    if (std.Io.Dir.openDir(.cwd(), io, "assets", .{})) |dir_handle| {
+        var dh = dir_handle;
+        dh.close(io);
+        try runProcess(allocator, io, &.{ "zip", "-q", "-r", unaligned, "assets/" });
+    } else |_| {}
+
     // zipalign → aligned apk.
     const aligned = try std.fmt.allocPrint(allocator, "{s}.aligned", .{apk_path});
     try runProcess(allocator, io, &.{ zipalign, "-f", "4", unaligned, aligned });