diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 8352c7a79..f65914300 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ lazy val commonSettings = Def.settings(
     Tests.Argument(TestFrameworks.ScalaTest, "-l", "play.api.libs.json.UnstableInScala213")
   ),
   headerLicense := Some(HeaderLicense.Custom(s"Copyright (C) 2009-2021 Lightbend Inc. <https://www.lightbend.com>")),
-  scalaVersion  := Dependencies.Scala212,
+  scalaVersion  := Dependencies.Scala213,
   crossScalaVersions := Seq(Dependencies.Scala212, Dependencies.Scala213, Dependencies.Scala3),
   Compile / javacOptions ++= javacSettings,
   Test / javacOptions ++= javacSettings,
diff --git a/project/plugins.sbt b/project/plugins.sbt
index 3bcc4cfbf..e341af40e 100644
--- a/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
  * Copyright (C) Lightbend Inc. <https://www.lightbend.com>
  */
 
+lazy val plugins = (project in file(".")).settings(
+  scalaVersion := "2.12.17", // TODO: remove when upgraded to sbt 1.8.0
+)
+
 resolvers ++= DefaultOptions.resolvers(snapshot = true)
 resolvers += Resolver.typesafeRepo("releases")
 
-addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.play" % "play-docs-sbt-plugin" % sys.props.getOrElse("play.version", "2.8.16"))
+addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.play" % "play-docs-sbt-plugin" % sys.props.getOrElse("play.version", "2.9.0-M2"))
 
 addSbtPlugin("pl.project13.scala" % "sbt-jmh" % "0.4.3")
 
diff --git a/scripts/test-code.sh b/scripts/test-code.sh
index 0d2a9bf24..0ff2a2128 100755
--- a/scripts/test-code.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-code.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ echo MATRIX_SCALA=$MATRIX_SCALA
 sbt -DscalaJSStage=full ++$MATRIX_SCALA test publishLocal || exit 1
 
 case "$MATRIX_SCALA" in
-  3.*) echo "SKIPPING docs/test" ;;
+  3.* | 2.12.*) echo "SKIPPING docs/test" ;;
+       # ^ because Play 2.9.x does not get published for Scala 2.12.x anymore
        # ^ because there is no play-docs for Scala 3
        #   and we can't use play-docs_2.13 because then:
        #    [error] Modules were resolved with conflicting cross-version suffixes in ProjectRef(uri("file:/d/play-json/"), "docs"):