diff --git a/gameplay.js b/gameplay.js
index 9362334..c1ce0b5 100644
--- a/gameplay.js
+++ b/gameplay.js
@@ -594,24 +594,28 @@ export function deliverTin() {
   aside('ump_new_balls_dark', 2.0); // "...and a new opponent, apparently."
   // THE PRIZE GETS ITS OWN CARD, with the tin's own icon on it. It used to borrow G.flash — the
   // same channel as PERFECT and DOUBLE KILL — so the one thing you played the duel FOR arrived as a
-  // word in the praise slot and read as another compliment. weaponModal still fires the first time
-  // a tin is seen (it has rules to teach); every time after, this card is the announcement, and it
+  // word in the praise slot and read as another compliment. The first time a tin is seen the modal
+  // announces it (and teaches its rules), so the card would be the SAME news twice, back to back —
+  // it only speaks when the modal doesn't. Every time after, the card is the announcement, and it
   // does not want a tap: you have just won a point, not been asked a question.
-  G.card = { title: WEAPONS[id].label, sub1: 'DELIVERED TO THE RACK',
-             sub2: (WEAPONS[id].desc && WEAPONS[id].desc[0]) || '',
-             icon: WEAPONS[id].icon, color: UI.warm, t: TUNE.tinCardT };
-  weaponModal(id);
+  if (!weaponModal(id))
+    G.card = { title: WEAPONS[id].label, sub1: 'DELIVERED TO THE RACK',
+               sub2: (WEAPONS[id].desc && WEAPONS[id].desc[0]) || '',
+               icon: WEAPONS[id].icon, color: UI.warm, t: TUNE.tinCardT };
 }
 
 // The one-per-run "what this thing does" popup, shared by the duel ladder and the barrels.
 // THE GATE LIVES HERE, not at the call sites. The barrels gated themselves and the tin ladder did
 // not, so the four delivered weapons re-explained themselves every three games for a whole run
 // while a barrel weapon explained itself once — the same popup behaving two different ways.
+// Returns whether it actually announced, so a caller with its own announcement (the tin card, the
+// barrel's flash) can stay quiet rather than say the same thing twice.
 export function weaponModal(id) {
-  if (G.seen['w' + id]) return;
+  if (G.seen['w' + id]) return false;
   G.seen['w' + id] = true;
   const w = WEAPONS[id];
   showModal({ title: w.label, body: w.desc, icon: w.icon, iconH: 40, color: UI.warm });
+  return true;
 }
 
 // ---- TEST MODE. Triple-tap the scoreboard. A sandbox for trying the new content without playing
diff --git a/zombies.js b/zombies.js
index 6cef2fc..a0894cf 100644
--- a/zombies.js
+++ b/zombies.js
@@ -359,9 +359,9 @@ function popBarrel(zb) {
     vx: (Math.random() * 2 - 1) * 4, vy: 1.2 + Math.random() * 3.5, vz: (Math.random() * 2 - 1) * 4,
     t: 0.35 + Math.random() * 0.5, pink: true });
   grantWeapon(zb.wid);
-  const w = WEAPONS[zb.wid];
-  G.flash = { text: w.label, t: 1.1 };
-  weaponModal(zb.wid); // first sight only — the gate lives in weaponModal, for both callers
+  // first sight only — the gate lives in weaponModal, for both callers — and the flash keeps quiet
+  // when the modal spoke, so the same weapon isn't named twice in the same beat
+  if (!weaponModal(zb.wid)) G.flash = { text: WEAPONS[zb.wid].label, t: 1.1 };
 }
 
 // dark smoke: one puff, drifting up and spreading. Not gravity-bound like gore (see the parts loop).