The embers actually show: off the shield's top edge, not across it

They were running the whole time (0.85 opacity, measured) — they were just
flying ACROSS the artwork, where a 3px gold speck disappears into a pixel
shield. They lift off the top edge into the dark above it now, seven per badge
on a shorter delay window: spread over 2.6s the shield stood empty half the
time, which is what "ich sehe kein glimmen" was looking at.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/main.js

@@ -602,10 +602,12 @@ const countUp = (write, target, dur = 700) => {
 // leichtes feuer"). CSS keyframes, not a loop: the menu deliberately parks the game loop, and six
 // two-pixel sparks per badge have no business waking it. The randomness is baked into each spark's
 // own delay, duration and lane at build time, so no two shields burn in step.
-const embers = won => !won ? '' : Array.from({ length: 5 }, () =>
-  `<em style="left:${(14 + Math.random() * 62).toFixed(0)}%;` +
-  `animation-delay:${(Math.random() * 2.6).toFixed(2)}s;` +
-  `animation-duration:${(1.9 + Math.random() * 1.5).toFixed(2)}s"></em>`).join('');
+const embers = won => !won ? '' : Array.from({ length: 7 }, () =>
+  `<em style="left:${(16 + Math.random() * 58).toFixed(0)}%;` +
+  // a SHORT delay window: spread over 2.6s the shield was empty half the time, which is why the
+  // first cut read as nothing happening at all
+  `animation-delay:${(Math.random() * 1.7).toFixed(2)}s;` +
+  `animation-duration:${(1.7 + Math.random() * 1.1).toFixed(2)}s"></em>`).join('');
 
 function buildCard() {
   for (const t of cardTimers) clearTimeout(t);