diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e328e2b..fe762f9 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ FROM python:3.12-alpine
 # ponytail: switch to hashed filenames if traffic ever matters.
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=test /tests-passed /tmp/tests-passed
-COPY index.html manifest.webmanifest server.py /app/
+COPY index.html manifest.webmanifest manifest-stg.webmanifest server.py /app/
 COPY src /app/src
 COPY assets /app/assets
 # THE SCORES LIVE HERE AND THIS MUST BE A PERSISTENT VOLUME. Without one the json sits in the
diff --git a/assets/favicon-stg.png b/assets/favicon-stg.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62017e6
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/favicon-stg.png differ
diff --git a/assets/icon-180-stg.png b/assets/icon-180-stg.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba82b7c
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/icon-180-stg.png differ
diff --git a/assets/icon-192-stg.png b/assets/icon-192-stg.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d449dd0
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/icon-192-stg.png differ
diff --git a/assets/icon-512-stg.png b/assets/icon-512-stg.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..903938f
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/icon-512-stg.png differ
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 9337e41..884fdf9 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -14,6 +14,22 @@
 <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="Splatter">
 <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black-translucent">
 <meta name="theme-color" content="#2b2735">
+<!-- STAGING WEARS A DIFFERENT FACE. Both builds get added to the same phone's homescreen, and two
+     identical bloody tennis balls is a coin toss every time you open one. Driven by HOSTNAME, not by
+     the branch: this block is identical on staging and on main, so it never conflicts on a merge and
+     never has to be remembered. Prod is the one named host; everything else (staging, localhost, an
+     IP) is a test build and says so. Runs in <head>, before the install prompt can read any of it. -->
+<script>
+if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one') {
+  for (const [sel, href] of [['link[rel=icon]', 'assets/favicon-stg.png'],
+                             ['link[rel=apple-touch-icon]', 'assets/icon-180-stg.png'],
+                             ['link[rel=manifest]', 'manifest-stg.webmanifest']])
+    document.querySelector(sel).setAttribute('href', href);
+  document.querySelector('meta[name=apple-mobile-web-app-title]').setAttribute('content', 'Splatter STG');
+  document.querySelector('meta[name=theme-color]').setAttribute('content', '#14334a');
+  document.title = 'Splatter Tennis — STAGING';
+}
+</script>
 <style>
   /* pixel HUD font — bundled so it renders offline; used by the canvas scoreboard + rack.
      ?v= like the sprites: server.py caches a VERSIONED asset for a year and an unversioned one for
@@ -400,6 +416,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=176"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=177"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/manifest-stg.webmanifest b/manifest-stg.webmanifest
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c537909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/manifest-stg.webmanifest
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "name": "Splatter STAGING",
+  "short_name": "Splatter STG",
+  "description": "The one that is allowed to be broken.",
+  "start_url": "./",
+  "scope": "./",
+  "display": "standalone",
+  "background_color": "#10141c",
+  "theme_color": "#14334a",
+  "icons": [
+    { "src": "assets/icon-192-stg.png", "sizes": "192x192", "type": "image/png" },
+    { "src": "assets/icon-512-stg.png", "sizes": "512x512", "type": "image/png" },
+    { "src": "assets/icon-512-stg.png", "sizes": "512x512", "type": "image/png", "purpose": "maskable" }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/src/render.js b/src/render.js
index 5053b8f..0f7282e 100644
--- a/src/render.js
+++ b/src/render.js
@@ -769,6 +769,34 @@ function drawDrillHud() {
   }
 }
 
+// YOUR BLOOD, COUNTED. The vignette is the mood and it stays, but Oliver: "you do not immediately
+// know when it is really urgent" — a wash that deepens smoothly cannot answer "how many more can I
+// take", and in the match (8 hp) that is the whole question. So: one pip per hit you have left, in
+// the top-right corner beside the scoreboard, in the same recessed-panel language the game/sets bar
+// under the board already uses. Full pips are blood red, spent ones are an empty socket, and the
+// LAST TWO breathe — the one state where the number matters more than the picture.
+// ponytail: pips, not a bar. hpMax is 4 (gore) or 8 (match); a bar would be a smooth readout of a
+// small integer, which is exactly the ambiguity being fixed. Switch to a bar if a pool ever passes ~12.
+function drawBlood() {
+  if (G.mode !== 'splatter' || !G.hpMax) return;
+  const n = G.hpMax, hp = Math.max(0, Math.min(n, G.hp));
+  const r = 2.6, gap = n > 6 ? 7 : 9, pw = (n - 1) * gap + r * 2;
+  const w = Math.max(46, pw + 10), h = 24, x = W - 6 - w, y = 6;
+  panel(x + 0.5, y + 0.5, w - 1, h - 1, 3, 'rgba(26,6,8,0.82)', 'rgba(163,74,66,0.45)');
+  ctx.textAlign = 'center'; ctx.textBaseline = 'middle';
+  ctx.font = F(7, 0); ctx.fillStyle = hp <= 2 ? UI.bad : '#89a08f';
+  ctx.fillText('BLOOD', x + w / 2, y + 7);
+  // the low-blood breath: the whole row pulses once you are two hits from the end
+  const pulse = hp > 0 && hp <= 2 ? 0.55 + 0.45 * Math.abs(Math.sin(G.idleT * 5)) : 1;
+  const x0 = x + w / 2 - pw / 2 + r;
+  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+    ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(x0 + i * gap, y + 16, r, 0, 7);
+    if (i < hp) { ctx.fillStyle = hexA('#c8232a', pulse); ctx.fill(); }
+    else { ctx.strokeStyle = 'rgba(120,60,58,0.7)'; ctx.lineWidth = 1; ctx.stroke(); }
+  }
+  ctx.textBaseline = 'top';
+}
+
 // The boss's remaining life, over its head, in the scoreboard's own 16-bit language: a dark sunk
 // well, a bevel, and a fill that runs gold -> orange -> red as the pool empties, so the colour says
 // how the fight is going without reading the length. Integer-snapped and a FIXED pixel size — this
@@ -2040,9 +2068,15 @@ export function render() {
     // which game you're in, and the sets banked, permanently — the 1.1s GAME N flash and the
     // scoreboard's own per-row sets column were the only places either showed.
     ctx.textAlign = 'right'; ctx.font = F(7, 0); ctx.fillStyle = bd.dim;
-    ctx.fillText(`GAME ${G.runGames + 1} · ${G.sets[0]} SET${G.sets[0] === 1 ? '' : 'S'}`, bW - 3, bH + 8);
+    // ...and in the MATCH the run is not measured in games at all (blood-only scoring): the ladder
+    // rung you are on and the bodies behind you are what the player is playing for, so this slot
+    // prints those instead. Same slot, same size — the mode changes the words, not the furniture.
+    ctx.fillText(G.match ? `OPPONENT ${G.match.opp} · ${G.match.opp - 1} FELLED`
+      : `GAME ${G.runGames + 1} · ${G.sets[0]} SET${G.sets[0] === 1 ? '' : 'S'}`, bW - 3, bH + 8);
   }
-  if (splat && TUNE.killPips && TUNE.killsPerPoint > 1) { // kills-to-next-point pips, on the panel above
+  // ...and NOT during a match: nothing on that court is killed for points, so the pips were both a
+  // lie and a collision — 'NEXT ○○' ran straight into the OPPONENT line sharing the panel.
+  if (splat && !G.match && TUNE.killPips && TUNE.killsPerPoint > 1) { // kills-to-next-point pips, on the panel above
     ctx.textAlign = 'left'; ctx.font = F(7, 0); ctx.fillStyle = bd.dim; ctx.fillText('NEXT', 4, bH + 8);
     for (let k = 0; k < TUNE.killsPerPoint; k++) {
       ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(34 + k * 8, bH + 8, 2.4, 0, 7);
@@ -2052,6 +2086,7 @@ export function render() {
   }
   ctx.restore();
   ctx.textBaseline = 'top'; ctx.textAlign = 'center';
+  drawBlood(); // how many more hits you have left, beside the board — the vignette says "worse", not "how many"
   if (G.mode === 'splatter' && !G.interlude && !G.drill) drawRack(); // courtside weapon rack (hidden during the tennis-rules duel AND the drill, which is played with plain balls)
   drawDrillHud(); // the triage readout — no-op unless a drill is running
   drawApproachRing(); drawApexBand(); // the match's timing, drawn — no-ops unless a match is running
@@ -2062,17 +2097,23 @@ export function render() {
     ctx.fillStyle = 'rgba(10,4,6,0.72)'; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, W, H);
     // The announcement face, at 26 rather than the card's 30: this is the longest string in the game
     // and at 30 it ran edge to edge on a 270px-wide portrait canvas.
+    // The match bled to death rather than being eaten, and it counts a different thing — see the
+    // matchBest block in killPlayer. Same three lines, its own words: the measure is bodies felled.
+    const m = G.match && G.match.felled !== undefined ? G.match : null;
     ctx.font = B(26);
-    shadowText('GAME, SET, MASSACRE.', W / 2, H / 2 - 44, UI.bad);
+    shadowText(m ? 'BLED OUT.' : 'GAME, SET, MASSACRE.', W / 2, H / 2 - 44, UI.bad);
     ctx.font = F(9);
-    shadowText('SURVIVED ' + G.runGames + ' GAMES · ' + G.sets[0] + ' SETS', W / 2, H / 2 - 14, UI.cream);
-    if (G.newBest) { // a fresh record crows; otherwise show the mark to beat
+    shadowText(m ? 'FELLED ' + m.felled + ' OPPONENT' + (m.felled === 1 ? '' : 'S')
+                   + ' · ' + (score.games[0] + score.games[1]) + ' GAMES'
+                 : 'SURVIVED ' + G.runGames + ' GAMES · ' + G.sets[0] + ' SETS', W / 2, H / 2 - 14, UI.cream);
+    if (m ? m.newBest : G.newBest) { // a fresh record crows; otherwise show the mark to beat
       const pulse = 0.55 + 0.45 * Math.abs(Math.sin(G.eatenT * 4));
       ctx.font = B(20);
       shadowText('★ NEW BEST ★', W / 2, H / 2 + 2, hexA(UI.warm, pulse));
-    } else if (G.best && G.best.games > 0) {
+    } else if (m ? m.best > 0 : (G.best && G.best.games > 0)) {
       ctx.font = F(8);
-      shadowText('BEST  ' + G.best.games + ' GAMES · ' + G.best.sets + ' SETS', W / 2, H / 2 + 4, UI.dim);
+      shadowText(m ? 'BEST  ' + m.best + ' FELLED'
+                   : 'BEST  ' + G.best.games + ' GAMES · ' + G.best.sets + ' SETS', W / 2, H / 2 + 4, UI.dim);
     }
     // gated well past the animation so a panic tap can't skip it (main.js gates the restart the same)
     if (G.eatenT > EATEN_RESTART) { ctx.font = F(8); shadowText(IS_TOUCH ? 'TAP TO PLAY AGAIN' : 'PRESS ANY KEY TO PLAY AGAIN', W / 2, H / 2 + 32, UI.warm); }
diff --git a/src/zombies.js b/src/zombies.js
index 31d3a61..1d45b73 100644
--- a/src/zombies.js
+++ b/src/zombies.js
@@ -302,6 +302,17 @@ export function killPlayer() {
   // runGames/sets/splatT are all still intact at this point.
   const b = endRun(G.runGames, G.sets[0], G.splatT);
   G.best = b; G.newBest = b.newBest; // b is {games, sets, newBest}; render reads games/sets
+  // THE MATCH MEASURES SOMETHING ELSE. Blood-only scoring (model A) means a lost game costs nothing
+  // but the blood already spent, so "games survived" is not the achievement — OPPONENTS FELLED is.
+  // Kept on G.match (which survives to the death screen; restartRun is what clears it) with its own
+  // localStorage best, the pattern drillBest already set. Games ride along as the length of the run.
+  if (G.match) {
+    const felled = G.match.opp - 1;
+    let best = 0;
+    try { best = Number(localStorage.getItem('matchBest')) || 0;
+          if (felled > best) localStorage.setItem('matchBest', String(felled)); } catch {}
+    G.match.felled = felled; G.match.best = best; G.match.newBest = felled > best;
+  }
 }
 
 // One hostile ball, lobbed at where the player is standing. `spread` fans a volley sideways.
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index b735c64..700c302 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -750,5 +750,26 @@ test('regicide: killing the body mid-game wins the game outright', () => {
   assert.ok(oppOf(), 'and the next opponent is on');
 });
 
+test('the match measures OPPONENTS FELLED, with its own best', () => {
+  localStorage.removeItem('matchBest');
+  startMatch();
+  for (let k = 0; k < 8; k++) resolveInterlude('P');   // two games = two bodies down
+  assert.equal(G.match.opp, 3, 'on the third rung');
+  G.hp = 1; resolveInterlude('O');
+  assert.equal(G.mode, 'eaten', 'bled out');
+  assert.equal(G.match.felled, 2, 'the summary counts bodies, not games');
+  assert.ok(G.match.newBest, 'first run of the day is a record');
+  assert.equal(localStorage.getItem('matchBest'), '2', '...and it is written down');
+  // a shorter second run must NOT overwrite the mark, and must know what it is chasing
+  G.mode = 'splatter'; endMatch(); startMatch();
+  for (let k = 0; k < 4; k++) resolveInterlude('P');
+  G.hp = 1; resolveInterlude('O');
+  assert.equal(G.match.felled, 1);
+  assert.equal(G.match.best, 2, 'the mark to beat is shown');
+  assert.ok(!G.match.newBest, 'and one body does not beat two');
+  assert.equal(localStorage.getItem('matchBest'), '2', 'the record survives a worse run');
+  G.mode = 'splatter'; endMatch();
+});
+
 console.log(`\n${passed} tests passed`);
 process.exit(0); // render.js schedules viewport timers at load; don't let them outlive the report