diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Extensions/WebApplicationExtensions.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Extensions/WebApplicationExtensions.cs
index 442ed9e5b..449bb00ae 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Extensions/WebApplicationExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Extensions/WebApplicationExtensions.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
+using System;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Gameboard.Api.Common.Services;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.Games;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.Hubs;
 using Gameboard.Api.Hubs;
+using Gameboard.Api.Services;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using Npgsql.Replication;
 
 namespace Gameboard.Api.Extensions;
 
@@ -52,4 +59,23 @@ public static WebApplication ConfigureGameboard(this WebApplication app, AppSett
 
         return app;
     }
+
+    public static WebApplication SyncActiveSpecsOnStartup(this WebApplication app, ILogger logger)
+    {
+        Task.Run(async () =>
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                using var scope = app.Services.CreateScope();
+                var challengeSpecService = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<ChallengeSpecService>();
+                await challengeSpecService.SyncActiveSpecs(CancellationToken.None);
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                logger.LogError(message: "Failed to synchronize active challenge specs on startup.", exception: ex);
+            }
+        });
+
+        return app;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/ChallengeSpec/ChallengeSpecService.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/ChallengeSpec/ChallengeSpecService.cs
index d19edf125..73fc0bfb1 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/ChallengeSpec/ChallengeSpecService.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/ChallengeSpec/ChallengeSpecService.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using AutoMapper;
+using Gameboard.Api.Common.Services;
 using Gameboard.Api.Data;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.GameEngine;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ namespace Gameboard.Api.Services;
 
 public class ChallengeSpecService : _Service
 {
+    private readonly INowService _now;
     private readonly IStore _store;
     IGameEngineService GameEngine { get; }
 
@@ -22,11 +24,13 @@ public ChallengeSpecService
     (
         ILogger<ChallengeSpecService> logger,
         IMapper mapper,
+        INowService now,
         CoreOptions options,
         IStore store,
         IGameEngineService gameEngine
     ) : base(logger, mapper, options)
     {
+        _now = now;
         _store = store;
         GameEngine = gameEngine;
     }
@@ -83,8 +87,7 @@ public async Task<IEnumerable<BoardSpec>> ListGameSpecs(string gameId)
 
     public async Task Sync(string id)
     {
-        var externals = (await GameEngine.ListSpecs(new SearchFilter()))
-                .ToDictionary(o => o.ExternalId);
+        var externals = await LoadExternalSpecsForSync();
 
         var specs = _store
             .WithTracking<Data.ChallengeSpec>()
@@ -95,12 +98,50 @@ public async Task Sync(string id)
             if (externals.ContainsKey(spec.ExternalId).Equals(false))
                 continue;
 
-            spec.Name = externals[spec.ExternalId].Name;
-            spec.Description = externals[spec.ExternalId].Description;
-            spec.Tags = externals[spec.ExternalId].Tags;
-            spec.Text = externals[spec.ExternalId].Text;
+            SyncSpec(spec, externals[spec.ExternalId]);
         }
 
         await _store.SaveUpdateRange(specs.ToArray());
     }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Updates "active" challenge specs with information from the appropriate
+    /// game engine (for now, only Topomojo.)
+    /// 
+    /// "Active" here is defined as specs that are used by a game with a current
+    /// execution period and 
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns></returns>
+    public async Task SyncActiveSpecs(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var nowish = _now.Get();
+        var activeSpecs = await _store
+            .WithTracking<Data.ChallengeSpec>()
+            .Where(s => s.Game.GameEnd > nowish || s.Game.PlayerMode == PlayerMode.Practice)
+            .ToArrayAsync(cancellationToken);
+
+        var externalSpecs = await LoadExternalSpecsForSync();
+
+        foreach (var spec in activeSpecs)
+        {
+            if (externalSpecs.ContainsKey(spec.ExternalId))
+                SyncSpec(spec, externalSpecs[spec.ExternalId]);
+        }
+
+        await _store.SaveUpdateRange(activeSpecs);
+    }
+
+    internal async Task<IDictionary<string, ExternalSpec>> LoadExternalSpecsForSync()
+    {
+        return (await GameEngine.ListSpecs(new SearchFilter()))
+            .ToDictionary(o => o.ExternalId);
+    }
+
+    internal void SyncSpec(Data.ChallengeSpec spec, ExternalSpec externalSpec)
+    {
+        spec.Name = externalSpec.Name;
+        spec.Description = externalSpec.Description;
+        spec.Tags = externalSpec.Tags;
+        spec.Text = externalSpec.Text;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Game/GameStart/ExternalSyncGameStartService.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Game/GameStart/ExternalSyncGameStartService.cs
index 73c7173b8..b9e8e9a66 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Game/GameStart/ExternalSyncGameStartService.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Game/GameStart/ExternalSyncGameStartService.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using System;
-using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading;
diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Practice/SearchPracticeChallenges.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Practice/SearchPracticeChallenges.cs
index f2c519f64..98adb69af 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Practice/SearchPracticeChallenges.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/Practice/SearchPracticeChallenges.cs
@@ -70,9 +70,14 @@ public async Task<SearchPracticeChallengesResult> Handle(SearchPracticeChallenge
         q = q.OrderBy(s => s.Name);
         var results = await _mapper.ProjectTo<ChallengeSpecSummary>(q).ToArrayAsync(cancellationToken);
 
-        // fix up relative urls
         foreach (var result in results)
         {
+            // hide tags which aren't in the "suggested searches" configured in the practice area
+            // (this is because topo has lots of tags that aren't useful to players, so we only)
+            // want to show them values in the suggested search
+            result.Tags = result.Tags.Where(t => sluggedSuggestedSearches.Contains(_slugger.Get(t)));
+
+            // fix up relative urls
             result.Text = _challengeDocsService.ReplaceRelativeUris(result.Text);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/UnityGames/UnityGameService.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/UnityGames/UnityGameService.cs
index 0950ec140..90c264f0f 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/UnityGames/UnityGameService.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Features/UnityGames/UnityGameService.cs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using AutoMapper;
 using Gameboard.Api.Data;
-using Gameboard.Api.Data.Abstractions;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.Games;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.Games.External;
 using Gameboard.Api.Features.Teams;
diff --git a/src/Gameboard.Api/Program.cs b/src/Gameboard.Api/Program.cs
index 0eefd73bc..21181a2dc 100644
--- a/src/Gameboard.Api/Program.cs
+++ b/src/Gameboard.Api/Program.cs
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@
 var app = builder.Build();
 app
     .InitializeDatabase(settings, app.Logger)
-    .ConfigureGameboard(settings);
+    .ConfigureGameboard(settings)
+    .SyncActiveSpecsOnStartup(app.Logger);
 
 // start!
 startupLogger.LogInformation("Let the games begin!");