THE CRITIC: every 10th day, the flaw is the headline

Days 10, 20, 30... he seats himself. The ticket warns you in red, the
scorecard portrait drains to grayscale, and the scoring changes shape:
the worst row on the card counts DOUBLE. Perfection survives him
untouched (doubling the worst weight of a flawless run moves nothing) —
anything less gets leaned on, exactly where it hurts. His lines are his
own: an S gets 'I came to write a takedown. I cannot. This is the worse
outcome — for me.'; an A learns that 'competent' has never once appeared
in a good review; a failure gets mercy in print, which is worse.

The Daily is exempt (same deal for everyone means the same judge), and
demonstrations reset the flag — he doesn't review his own cooking.

Verified live on day 20: banner up, grayscale portrait, critic line on
the card, day 21 clean; flawless eggs still 10.0 by construction.

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

src/game/game.ts

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import { TOOLS, type ToolId } from '../sim/cutlery';
 import { audio } from '../core/audio';
 import { coolStep } from '../sim/toasting';
 import { SPREADS } from '../sim/spreads';
-import { judge, type Grade } from './judging';
+import { judge, gradeOf, type Grade } from './judging';
 import { DAYS, proceduralOrder, nameBrowning, prepAsk, type Order, type PrepStep } from './orders';
 import { el, Panel } from '../ui/hud';
 import { Title } from '../ui/title';
@@ -989,9 +989,23 @@ export class Game {
     if (this.demoMode) {
       this.judgeView.extraLines = ['A demonstration. None of it counts. Now you.'];
       this.judgeView.shareText = '';
+      this.judgeView.critic = false; // he doesn't review his own cooking
       return;
     }
     const extras: string[] = [];
+    // THE CRITIC: every 10th day he seats himself. He finds the flaw and
+    // leans on it — the worst row counts DOUBLE, and he says so in print.
+    const criticDay = !this.dailyDate && this.order.day % 10 === 0;
+    this.judgeView.critic = criticDay;
+    if (criticDay) {
+      const ws = v.criteria.reduce((a, c) => a + c.weight, 0);
+      v.total = Math.round(((v.total / 10) * ws + v.worst.score * v.worst.weight) / (ws + v.worst.weight) * 100) / 10;
+      v.grade = gradeOf(v.total);
+      if (v.grade === 'S') extras.push('The Critic: I came to write a takedown. I cannot. This is the worse outcome — for me.');
+      else if (v.grade === 'A') extras.push('The Critic: competent. The word has never once appeared in a good review.');
+      else if (v.grade === 'F') extras.push('The Critic: I will be gentle in print. This kitchen has suffered enough today.');
+      else extras.push(`The Critic: the ${v.worst.label.toLowerCase()} betrayed you. It will be the headline.`);
+    }
     // The streak. He notices. He hates that he notices.
     const prev = this.save.streak ?? 0;
     if (v.grade === 'S') {
@@ -1033,6 +1047,7 @@ export class Game {
     this.ticketEl.innerHTML = '';
     el('div', 'ticket-day', this.ticketEl, `DAY ${o.day}`);
     el('div', 'ticket-who', this.ticketEl, o.who);
+    if (o.day % 10 === 0 && !this.dailyDate) el('div', 'ticket-critic', this.ticketEl, 'THE CRITIC is in today. The flaw will be the headline.');
     const demos = (window as unknown as { __t?: { demos?: Record<number, unknown> } }).__t?.demos;
     if (!this.demoMode && demos && demos[o.day]) {
       const watch = el('button', 'btn ghost watch-btn', this.ticketEl, '▶ watch him do it');

src/scenes/judge.ts

@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ export class JudgeView implements View {
   onNext: (() => void) | null = null;
   /** One-shot lines the game adds to this verdict (streaks, regulars' memory). */
   extraLines: string[] = [];
+  /** Every 10th day THE CRITIC seats himself — same face, drained of warmth. */
+  critic = false;
   /** The one-line result SHARE copies to the clipboard. */
   shareText = '';
   /** What the polaroid prints under the photo. */
@@ -264,6 +266,7 @@ export class JudgeView implements View {
     this.lastCaption = { day: order.day, grade: verdict.grade, total: verdict.total, line: lines[1] ?? lines[0] ?? '' };
 
     this.faceEl.src = assetUrl(`/assets/img/judge_${judgeFace(verdict.grade)}.png`);
+    this.faceEl.style.filter = this.critic ? 'grayscale(1) contrast(1.25)' : '';
     this.stampEl.textContent = verdict.grade;
     this.stampEl.className = `judge-stamp grade-${verdict.grade}`;
     // re-trigger the stamp animation

src/style.css

@@ -732,3 +732,12 @@ body.shadow .load {
   border-color: #b98f4e;
   color: #e8c98a;
 }
+
+/* Every 10th day: THE CRITIC. */
+.ticket-critic {
+  color: #b23a2a;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  font-size: 11px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.06em;
+  margin: 2px 0 6px;
+}