diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 3d663bf..46eba6e 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -203,6 +203,23 @@ function spreadItemsFromCollection( generatorName, offset=1, step=1/10, depth=-.
 	shareLiveEvent('modified list', items)
 }
 
+AFRAME.registerComponent('onemptypinch', { // changed from ondrop to be coherent with event name
+// could support multi
+        events: {
+                emptypinch: function (e) {
+                        let code = this.el.getAttribute('onemptypinch')
+                        // if multi, should also look for onreleased__ not just onreleased
+                        try {   
+				console.log('emptypinch', e.detail.position)
+                                eval( code ) // should be jxr too e.g if (txt.match(prefix)) interpretJXR(txt)
+                        } catch (error) {
+                                console.error(`Evaluation failed with ${error}`);
+                        }
+                }
+        }
+})
+
+
 let page = "Wiki.VirtualRealityInterface";
 // should do then only once graph loaded instead, should emit event
 let pageFromParam = AFRAME.utils.getUrlParameter('page')
@@ -220,7 +237,7 @@ setTimeout( _ => {
 	</a>
 </div>
 
-<a-scene startfunctions >
+<a-scene startfunctions onemptypinch="console.log('empty')">
       <a-gltf-model hide-on-enter-ar="" id="environment" src="../content/CubeRoom.glb" rotation="0 -90 0" position="0 0 1" scale="" ></a-gltf-model>
 	<!-- Cube Room by Anonymous [CC-BY] via Poly Pizza -->
 
diff --git a/jxr-core.js b/jxr-core.js
index 2c990c2..4ea28a2 100644
--- a/jxr-core.js
+++ b/jxr-core.js
@@ -213,6 +213,8 @@ AFRAME.registerComponent('pinchprimary', { // currently only 1 hand, the right o
 		if (selectedElement) {
 			selectedElements.push({element:selectedElement, timestamp:Date.now(), primary:true})
 			selectedElement.emit("picked")
+		} else {
+			AFRAME.scenes[0].emit('emptypinch', {position:event.detail.position, timestamp:Date.now() })
 		}
 		// is it truly world position? See https://github.com/aframevr/aframe/issues/5182
 		// setFeedbackHUD( AFRAME.utils.coordinates.stringify( event.detail.position ) )