diff --git a/PROJECT.md b/PROJECT.md
index 398f58c..c2915d3 100644
--- a/PROJECT.md
+++ b/PROJECT.md
@@ -499,12 +499,15 @@ Oliver's retest ("schon viel besser") with five polish items, all built:
   screen (his "an vielen Stellen"). All `.chev` buttons and the plaque's arrow use Silkscreen's
   straight ASCII `<`/`>` instead — the announcement face keeps its job, arrows stop leaning.
 - **The plaque wears rounded corners (8px) and real padding** (12/14 against 8/10).
-- **THE WAY-UP RIBBON**: the tag became a banderole — red field, thick white Silkscreen with a
-  light shadow, rotated -45° over the poster's top-left corner, and (Oliver's follow-up) hanging
-  PAST the border on both sides rather than being clipped inside it — sized so the overhang stays
-  out of the neighbouring poster (120px band; the first cut at 148px lay across the poster above).
-  It shows on BOTH picker levels: the top-level ZOMBIE TENNIS poster carries it too (`tag` on the
-  MENU row), so the click path to the promotion is marked from the first screen.
+- **THE WAY-UP RIBBON**: settled after four cuts as a HORIZONTAL band (Oliver's call) — red
+  field, thick white Silkscreen with a light shadow, running in from OVER the left border and
+  dissolving rightward through a real PIXEL FADE: an inline-SVG mask of 6px cells thresholded
+  against a Bayer matrix, four density steps — the dither the game's own art would use, never a
+  smooth gradient (and never a rotated pixel font, which was the diagonal version's sin: the one
+  anti-aliased thing in the menu; the diagonal also hid a text-WRAP bug that made the band a red
+  block). The mask eats band, bevel and shadow together. It shows on BOTH picker levels: the
+  top-level ZOMBIE TENNIS poster carries it too (`tag` on the MENU row), so the click path to the
+  promotion is marked from the first screen.
 - **Poster captions grew**: titles 12 → 15 bold, sub lines 9 → 10 and a brighter grey — "viel
   Text in sehr kleiner Schrift" was true of every banner.
 - **The card performs its entrance**: earned badges and the current crest BREATHE a subtle gold
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index b5de777..3c11b84 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -330,17 +330,21 @@ if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one' && !window.Capacitor?.isNat
   #cdCareer { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 8px; }
   #cdCareer u { font: 700 8px Silkscreen, monospace; color: var(--dim); text-decoration: none;
                 letter-spacing: 1px; }
-  /* the WAY-UP RIBBON: the standing answer to "how do I advance", worn as a banderole laid OVER
-     the poster's corner — deliberately hanging past the border on both sides (Oliver), so it
-     reads as wrapped around the button rather than printed on it. z-index above the border,
-     no clipping anywhere on the path. */
-  .way { position: absolute; top: 20px; left: -24px; width: 108px; transform: rotate(-45deg);
-         z-index: 2; white-space: nowrap;
-         padding: 5px 0; font: 700 10px Silkscreen, monospace; font-style: normal;
-         text-align: center; color: #fff; background: var(--red);
+  /* the WAY-UP RIBBON, horizontal (Oliver's call after two diagonal cuts — a rotated pixel font
+     was the one anti-aliased thing in the menu): a red band running in from OVER the left border,
+     dissolving rightward through a real PIXEL FADE — an inline-SVG mask of 6px cells thresholded
+     against a Bayer matrix (four density steps), the dither the game's own art would use, never a
+     smooth gradient. The mask eats the band, its bevel lines and its shadow together. */
+  .way { position: absolute; top: 12px; left: -8px; z-index: 2; white-space: nowrap;
+         padding: 5px 52px 5px 14px; font: 700 10px Silkscreen, monospace; font-style: normal;
+         color: #fff; background: var(--red);
          border-top: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.35); border-bottom: 1px solid #69201c;
          text-shadow: 1px 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.55); box-shadow: 0 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.45);
-         letter-spacing: 1px; text-decoration: none; }
+         letter-spacing: 1px; text-decoration: none;
+         -webkit-mask-image: url("data:image/svg+xml;utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20180%2024%22%20shape-rendering=%22crispEdges%22%3E%3Cg%20fill=%22%23000%22%3E%3Crect%20x=%220%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%22120%22%20height=%2224%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22120%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22120%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%226%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%2218%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22132%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22132%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22138%22%20y=%226%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22138%22%20y=%2218%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22144%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22144%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E");
+         -webkit-mask-size: 100% 100%; -webkit-mask-repeat: no-repeat;
+         mask-image: url("data:image/svg+xml;utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20180%2024%22%20shape-rendering=%22crispEdges%22%3E%3Cg%20fill=%22%23000%22%3E%3Crect%20x=%220%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%22120%22%20height=%2224%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22120%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22120%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%226%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22126%22%20y=%2218%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22132%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22132%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22138%22%20y=%226%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22138%22%20y=%2218%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22144%22%20y=%220%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3Crect%20x=%22144%22%20y=%2212%22%20width=%226%22%20height=%226%22/%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E");
+         mask-size: 100% 100%; mask-repeat: no-repeat; }
   #plRow s i, #cdBar s i, #cdCareer s i { display: block; height: 100%; width: 0%;
                background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3f9560, var(--acid) 55%, #e8b23a);
                transition: width 0.4s ease; }
@@ -846,6 +850,6 @@ if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one' && !window.Capacitor?.isNat
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=319"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=320"></script>
 </body>
 </html>