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diff --git a/scripts/test_scroll_card_renders.py b/scripts/test_scroll_card_renders.py
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_scroll_card_renders.py
@@ -0,0 +1,232 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Golden-image guard for the scroll/Vegas game card.
+
+WHY THIS EXISTS
+---------------
+The plugin safety harness (core `scripts/check_plugin.py`) renders every
+scoreboard in `switch` mode, so its output comes from the full-screen scorebug
+in sports.py. `game_renderer.py` -- the scroll/Vegas card renderer -- is
+imported but never called. Replacing `render_game_card`, `_draw_upcoming_center`,
+`_center_gap_width` and `_logo_slot_width` with functions that raise leaves all
+16 of hockey's harness renders passing and byte-identical to the clean tree.
+
+Setting `*_display_mode: "scroll"` in a harness.json variant does not help: the
+resulting renders come out byte-identical to the switch ones, so the mode never
+reaches the card path from there either.
+
+That gap is not theoretical. Two consolidations of game_renderer.py -- the
+sports_card helpers and the geometry mixin -- were each reported "byte-identical
+across 176 renders" while not one of those renders touched the file being
+changed. B5 shipped four of eight scoreboards with scroll mode broken while
+every gate was green, for the same reason.
+
+WHAT IT DOES
+------------
+Drives GameRenderer directly, which is the real card path, and compares the
+result to goldens committed next to each plugin. Any change to the rendered
+card -- geometry, colour, font sizing, logo slot -- shows up here.
+
+    python scripts/test_scroll_card_renders.py            # check
+    python scripts/test_scroll_card_renders.py --update   # regenerate goldens
+
+Exit 0 pass, 2 skip (no core checkout), 1 fail.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib.util
+import logging
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+REPO = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+#: Three sizes, not all eight: the smallest panel where the centre gap and the
+#: logo slot fight hardest, the common design size, and the largest chain.
+SIZES = [(64, 32), (128, 64), (256, 128)]
+TYPES = ["live", "recent", "upcoming"]
+
+#: league key in config, logo directory, and two teams that have logo files.
+PLUGINS = {
+    "afl":        ("afl",          "afl_logos",    "GEEL", "COLL"),
+    "baseball":   ("mlb",          "mlb_logos",    "NYY",  "BOS"),
+    "basketball": ("nba",          "nba_logos",    "LAL",  "BOS"),
+    "football":   ("nfl",          "nfl_logos",    "KC",   "PHI"),
+    "hockey":     ("nhl",          "nhl_logos",    "BOS",  "TOR"),
+    "lacrosse":   ("ncaa_lax_men", "ncaa_logos",   "SYR",  "ND"),
+    "nrl":        ("nrl",          "nrl_logos",    "BRI",  "PEN"),
+    "soccer":     ("eng.1",        "soccer_logos", "ARS",  "LIV"),
+}
+
+EXPECTED = len(PLUGINS) * len(SIZES) * len(TYPES)
+
+
+def core_root():
+    env = os.environ.get("LEDMATRIX_CORE")
+    if env and (Path(env) / "src").is_dir():
+        return Path(env)
+    for cand in (REPO.parent / "LEDMatrix", Path.home() / "LEDMatrix"):
+        if (cand / "src").is_dir():
+            return cand
+    return None
+
+
+def build_game(kind, league, home, away, logo_dir=None):
+    """One game, with every key any of the eight renderers reads."""
+    game = {
+        "home_abbr": home, "away_abbr": away,
+        "home_team": home, "away_team": away,
+        "home_id": "1", "away_id": "2",
+        "home_score": "3", "away_score": "1",
+        "home_record": "10-2", "away_record": "7-5",
+        "league": league,
+        "game_date": "Sep 19", "game_time": "7:00 PM",
+        "start_time": "2026-09-19T23:00:00Z",
+        "start_time_utc": "2026-09-19T23:00:00Z",
+        # Deliberately no logo paths. The first version of this guard loaded
+        # real logos from the core checkout and 21 of its 72 goldens differed
+        # in CI on the *same* Pillow -- because the logo files themselves vary
+        # between checkouts (main dropped case-colliding duplicates), so the
+        # goldens encoded one machine's asset set rather than the plugin's
+        # rendering. Without them the only inputs are the repo's own fonts.
+        # The geometry is still exercised: _logo_slot_width and
+        # _center_gap_width are computed to lay the card out either way.
+        "home_logo_path": None,
+        "away_logo_path": None,
+        "home_logo_url": None, "away_logo_url": None,
+        "period_text": "P2", "clock": "12:34", "status_text": "P2 12:34",
+        "status": {"type": {"state": "in"}},
+        "is_live": kind == "live", "is_final": kind == "recent",
+        "is_upcoming": kind == "upcoming",
+        "is_halftime": False, "is_period_break": False, "is_tournament": False,
+        "home_shots": "22", "away_shots": "18", "odds": None,
+    }
+    if kind == "upcoming":
+        game.update(home_score="0", away_score="0", period_text="", clock="",
+                    status_text="", is_live=False, status={"type": {"state": "pre"}})
+    elif kind == "recent":
+        game.update(period_text="Final", clock="", status_text="Final",
+                    is_live=False, status={"type": {"state": "post"}})
+    return game
+
+
+def load_renderer(plugin):
+    """Import this plugin's game_renderer.py under its own module name."""
+    pdir = REPO / "plugins" / f"{plugin}-scoreboard"
+    name = f"_cardguard_{plugin}"
+    sys.modules.pop(name, None)
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(pdir))
+    try:
+        spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(name, pdir / "game_renderer.py")
+        mod = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+        sys.modules[name] = mod
+        spec.loader.exec_module(mod)
+        return mod.GameRenderer
+    finally:
+        sys.path.remove(str(pdir))
+
+
+def main(update: bool) -> int:
+    core = core_root()
+    if core is None:
+        print("  [skip] no LEDMatrix core checkout found (set LEDMATRIX_CORE)")
+        return 2
+
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(core))
+    # The renderers log an error per missing logo. That is expected here -- the
+    # cards are deliberately logo-free -- and 144 such lines would bury a real
+    # failure in the CI log.
+    logging.disable(logging.ERROR)
+    # The plugins' default logo_dir values are RELATIVE ("assets/sports/..."),
+    # so they only resolve with the core as the working directory. Anywhere
+    # else silently renders logo-less cards that still compare clean.
+    os.chdir(core)
+
+    from PIL import Image  # noqa: E402  (needs core on sys.path first)
+
+    covered = failed = written = 0   # covered counts cards ATTEMPTED
+    problems = []
+
+    for plugin, (league, logo_dirname, home, away) in sorted(PLUGINS.items()):
+        pdir = REPO / "plugins" / f"{plugin}-scoreboard"
+        if not (pdir / "game_renderer.py").is_file():
+            problems.append(f"{plugin}: no game_renderer.py")
+            failed += 1
+            covered += len(SIZES) * len(TYPES)
+            continue
+        try:
+            GameRenderer = load_renderer(plugin)
+        except Exception as exc:                      # noqa: BLE001
+            problems.append(f"{plugin}: import failed -- {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
+            failed += 1
+            covered += len(SIZES) * len(TYPES)
+            continue
+
+        config = {
+            # Pin the zone. Without it the card's time renders in the machine's
+            # local zone -- America/New_York here, UTC on the runner -- and the
+            # goldens then encode where they were generated rather than what
+            # the plugin draws. "Etc/UTC" not "UTC": the plugins treat a bare
+            # "UTC" as a leftover from an old write-back bug and override it.
+            "timezone": "Etc/UTC",
+            league: {"enabled": True},
+            "scroll_card": {}, "customization": {},
+            "display": {"use_short_date_format": False},
+        }
+        golden_root = pdir / "test" / "golden-cards"
+
+        for (w, h) in SIZES:
+            for kind in TYPES:
+                rel = f"{w}x{h}/{kind}.png"
+                covered += 1
+                try:
+                    renderer = GameRenderer(w, h, config, logo_cache={})
+                    img = renderer.render_game_card(
+                        build_game(kind, league, home, away), kind
+                    ).convert("RGB")
+                except Exception as exc:              # noqa: BLE001
+                    problems.append(f"{plugin} {rel}: render raised "
+                                    f"{type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
+                    failed += 1
+                    continue
+
+                golden = golden_root / rel
+                if update:
+                    golden.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+                    img.save(golden, optimize=True)
+                    written += 1
+                    continue
+
+                if not golden.is_file():
+                    problems.append(f"{plugin} {rel}: no golden "
+                                    f"(run with --update to create it)")
+                    failed += 1
+                elif Image.open(golden).convert("RGB").tobytes() != img.tobytes():
+                    problems.append(f"{plugin} {rel}: differs from golden")
+                    failed += 1
+
+    if update:
+        print(f"  wrote {written} golden card(s)")
+        if written != EXPECTED:
+            print(f"  [FAIL] wrote {written}, expected {EXPECTED}")
+            return 1
+        return 0
+
+    # Assert the COUNT, not just the mismatch total. A comparison whose inputs
+    # silently went missing reports zero differences and reads as a pass.
+    if covered != EXPECTED:
+        problems.append(f"covered {covered} card(s), expected {EXPECTED} "
+                        f"-- the matrix or a plugin went missing")
+        failed += 1
+
+    for p in problems:
+        print(f"  [FAIL] {p}")
+    if failed:
+        print(f"  {covered} cards covered, {failed} problem(s)")
+        return 1
+    print(f"  [pass] {covered} scroll/Vegas cards match their goldens")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main(update="--update" in sys.argv))