diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yml b/.github/dependabot.yml
index 1d43844a5..27dfe8261 100644
--- a/.github/dependabot.yml
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yml
@@ -33,14 +33,6 @@ updates:
     cooldown:
       default-days: 7
     open-pull-requests-limit: 5
-    # @playwright/test 1.61 rewrote its config loader to call
-    # `require(..., {conditions})` and to return module sources from an ESM
-    # `load` hook. Yarn PnP supports neither, so every version past 1.60
-    # dies before the first test file is collected. Held back until PnP
-    # catches up or the frontend moves off it.
-    ignore:
-      - dependency-name: "@playwright/test"
-        versions: [ ">= 1.61" ]
     groups:
       frontend:
         applies-to: version-updates
diff --git a/services/frontend/package.json b/services/frontend/package.json
index 4550a105a..bcacaf041 100644
--- a/services/frontend/package.json
+++ b/services/frontend/package.json
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     "@eslint/js": "^10.0.1",
     "@hey-api/openapi-ts": "0.99.0",
     "@originjs/vite-plugin-commonjs": "^1.0.3",
-    "@playwright/test": "1.60.0",
+    "@playwright/test": "1.63.0",
     "@types/luxon": "^3.7.5",
     "@types/node": "^26.2.0",
     "@types/webfontloader": "^1.6.38",
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/board-slice-open.motion.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/board-slice-open.motion.spec.ts
index f4570b93d..4b36449e9 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/board-slice-open.motion.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/board-slice-open.motion.spec.ts
@@ -267,13 +267,8 @@ test.describe("a member's slice opening on a phone", () => {
 
 test.describe("a member's slice opening for a visitor who asked for less motion", () => {
   test("clamps both movements to the ceiling the island allows", async ({page}) => {
-    /*
-     * Asked of the page rather than declared as an option, which is what the season spec next
-     * door does and for the same reason: on Playwright 1.60 `use.reducedMotion` does not reach
-     * the page at all, so `matchMedia` answers false however the option is set — #852. A test of
-     * what a visitor with the preference gets has to actually be one, so it says so here. Once
-     * #852 is fixed this line is what should go.
-     */
+    // Asked of the page rather than taken from the project: this file runs in the motion
+    // project, which is the one project that asks for no preference at all.
     await page.emulateMedia({reducedMotion: "reduce"})
     const watched = await boardOnAPhone(page)
 
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts
index 832ab3250..15528e1b3 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts
@@ -266,10 +266,8 @@ test.describe("dragging the board page", () => {
   /**
    * What a visitor who asked for reduced motion gets, which is the gesture without its tails.
    *
-   * The preference is emulated for this test rather than taken from the project, because
-   * `use.reducedMotion` does not reach the page on Playwright 1.60 — #852 — so every
-   * "deterministic" project in this suite is in fact running with full motion. The same line and
-   * the same reasoning are in `esports-season-on-show.spec.ts`; when #852 is fixed, both go.
+   * The preference is emulated for this test rather than taken from the project: this file runs
+   * in the motion project, which is the one project that asks for no preference at all.
    *
    * The durations are read off the animations themselves rather than timed with a clock. Eight
    * workers share four vCPUs here, so a wall-clock measurement of "it settled quickly" is a
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards.spec.ts
index 2cb070493..96882a5b4 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/boards.spec.ts
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ const restingDissolve = (page: Page): Promise<number> => page.evaluate(() => (
  * it computes. A named direction in here at all is a picture fading the wrong way — to the
  * right, across the reading direction, which is the shape this one replaced.
  *
- * The depth is left loose on purpose. This suite runs with full motion whatever the config says
- * (#852), so the depth read a moment after a press is wherever the eased dissolve had got to,
- * and a whole number of percent is a coin toss on how busy the machine is. Where it comes to
- * rest is asserted frame by frame in the motion spec, which is the layer that can watch it.
+ * The depth is left loose on purpose. The dissolve is eased even under the reduced ceiling, so
+ * the depth read a moment after a press is wherever it had got to, and a whole number of percent
+ * is a coin toss on how busy the machine is. Where it comes to rest is asserted frame by frame in
+ * the motion spec, which is the layer that can watch it.
  */
 const DOWNWARDS = /^linear-gradient\(rgb\(0, 0, 0\) 0px, rgb\(0, 0, 0\) \d+(?:\.\d+)?%, rgba\(0, 0, 0, 0\) 100%\)$/
 
@@ -793,10 +793,10 @@ test.describe("board page", () => {
     /*
      * How far down each of the two has gone, as a percentage of the picture's band.
      *
-     * Both read inside one `evaluate`, so both are the same frame's answer. This suite runs
-     * with full motion whatever the config says (#852), so the depth a moment after a press is
-     * wherever the ease had got to — which is exactly why the two have to be read together and
-     * why the pair is polled until it settles rather than sampled once.
+     * Both read inside one `evaluate`, so both are the same frame's answer. The dissolve is eased
+     * even under the reduced ceiling, so the depth a moment after a press is wherever it had got
+     * to — which is exactly why the two have to be read together and why the pair is polled until
+     * it settles rather than sampled once.
      */
     const depths = () => member.getByRole("button").evaluate((body) => {
       const depth = (style: CSSStyleDeclaration) => {
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-drag.motion.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-drag.motion.spec.ts
index 4f0354fc2..b970d1d84 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-drag.motion.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-drag.motion.spec.ts
@@ -365,11 +365,10 @@ test.describe("dragging the esports index between seasons", () => {
   /**
    * What a visitor who asked for reduced motion gets, which is the gesture without its tails.
    *
-   * The preference is emulated for this test rather than taken from the project, because
-   * `use.reducedMotion` does not reach the page on Playwright 1.60 — #852 — so every
-   * "deterministic" project in this suite is in fact running with full motion. The same line and
-   * the same reasoning are in `boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts` and `esports-season-on-show.spec.ts`;
-   * when #852 is fixed, all of them go.
+   * The preference is emulated for this test rather than taken from the project, because this
+   * file runs in the motion project, which asks for no preference on purpose. A reduced-motion
+   * case living here has to say so itself. The same line and the same reasoning are in
+   * `boards-swipe.motion.spec.ts` and `board-slice-open.motion.spec.ts`.
    *
    * The durations are read off the animations themselves rather than timed with a clock. Eight
    * workers share four vCPUs here, so a wall-clock measurement of "it settled quickly" is a
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-on-show.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-on-show.spec.ts
index 5aafc35e4..a4113aa9a 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-on-show.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-on-show.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {expect, test} from "./test"
 import {installApiMocks} from "./mocks"
-import {landing} from "./sliceBand"
+import {landingFrom} from "./sliceBand"
 
 /**
  * The season a page opens on, and that it is the same season everything on it describes.
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import {landing} from "./sliceBand"
  * about which season is arrived at. The movement itself is in
  * `esports-season-swipe.motion.spec.ts`.
  *
- * Those projects are meant to emulate reduced motion and do not: see #852. So nothing here may
- * assume the choreography is switched off, and the one test below that is about the preference
- * sets it for itself.
+ * Those projects run as a visitor who asked for reduced motion, which shortens the pass rather
+ * than removing it: the two stops are both on the page for the clamped duration, so a landing is
+ * watched for from before the season is asked for rather than sampled after the fact.
  *
  * CS:GO is the game that makes these assertions mean something: it played the older of the two
  * seasons and nothing since, so a page that lets the api pick a season per game shows it, and
@@ -95,14 +95,17 @@ test.describe("the season a page opens on", () => {
     await page.getByTestId("esports-game-CS2").hover()
     await expect(page.getByTestId("esports-game-CS2")).toHaveClass(/slice--open/)
 
+    // Watched from before the change is asked for: this visitor's pass is a tenth of a second,
+    // which is shorter than the round trip a loaded runner takes to install a watch.
+    const drawn = await landingFrom(page, SWIPE, "esports-game-CS2", "esports-game-CSGO")
+
     await page.getByTestId("esports-season-node-19").click()
     await expect(page.getByTestId("season-swipe")).toHaveAttribute("data-swipe", "past")
 
     // Open in the frame the arriving season is first drawn in, while the pass is still on,
     // rather than growing again once it is over. CS:GO is what says the band is the older
     // season's, the slice being read having stood on the season before it as well.
-    const drawn = await landing(page, SWIPE, "esports-game-CS2", "esports-game-CSGO")
-    expect(drawn).toEqual({open: true, panels: 2})
+    expect(await drawn()).toEqual({open: true, panels: 2})
 
     // The season travelled. The subject did not change under them on the way.
     await expect(page.getByTestId("esports-game-CS2")).toHaveClass(/slice--open/)
@@ -118,15 +121,7 @@ test.describe("the season a page opens on", () => {
   })
 
   test("crosses the seasons over rather than travelling, for a visitor who asked for less motion", async ({page}) => {
-    // Asked for here rather than left to the project.
-    //
-    // `use.reducedMotion: "reduce"` is set on every project but the motion one, and on
-    // Playwright 1.60 it does not reach the page: `matchMedia("(prefers-reduced-motion:
-    // reduce)")` answers false throughout the deterministic suites. That is a fault in the
-    // harness rather than in this behaviour — #852 — and it is not this spec's to fix, but a
-    // test of what a visitor with the preference gets has to actually be one. Once #852 is
-    // fixed this line is what should go.
-    await page.emulateMedia({reducedMotion: "reduce"})
+    // The preference comes from the project, which every project but the motion one sets.
     await installApiMocks(page)
 
     await page.goto("/esports/competitive-scene")
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-swipe.motion.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-swipe.motion.spec.ts
index 89d7a2c9e..db2ad7c8f 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-swipe.motion.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/esports-season-swipe.motion.spec.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import {expect, test} from "./test"
 import {installApiMocks} from "./mocks"
 import {eightSeasonFixtures} from "./esportsStrip"
-import {landing} from "./sliceBand"
+import {landingFrom} from "./sliceBand"
 
 /**
  * Moving between seasons, and which way.
@@ -66,12 +66,13 @@ test.describe("swiping between seasons", () => {
     await page.goto("/esports/valorant")
     await page.getByTestId("season-swipe").waitFor()
 
+    const drawn = await landingFrom(page, SWIPE, "team-roster-52")
+
     await page.getByTestId(`esports-season-node-${OLDER}`).click()
 
     // Its team's slice is open in the frame the band is first drawn in, with the pass still on:
     // the pass is the whole animation, so nothing grows once it is over.
-    const drawn = await landing(page, SWIPE, "team-roster-52")
-    expect(drawn).toEqual({open: true, panels: 2})
+    expect(await drawn()).toEqual({open: true, panels: 2})
 
     // The season that left is gone rather than parked off-screen, and the one that arrived is
     // where the band always sits.
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/membership.spec.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/membership.spec.ts
index 41b70432d..66107dbde 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/membership.spec.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/membership.spec.ts
@@ -108,12 +108,9 @@ test.describe("membership page", () => {
    * The one moving thing on the page, for a visitor who asked for less of it: the words are
    * simply there, at rest, rather than arriving.
    *
-   * The preference is emulated here rather than left to the project: `use.reducedMotion` does
-   * not reach the page on Playwright 1.60 (#852), so a spec that assumes it is asserting the
-   * unreduced path under a reduced name.
+   * The preference comes from the project, which every project but the motion one sets.
    */
   test("does not animate the pitch in for a visitor who asked for less motion", async ({page}) => {
-    await page.emulateMedia({reducedMotion: "reduce"})
     await installApiMocks(page)
     await page.goto("/membership")
 
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/sliceBand.ts b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/sliceBand.ts
index 81037916d..c3f6e04d8 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/e2e/sliceBand.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/e2e/sliceBand.ts
@@ -103,25 +103,39 @@ export function arrivedOpen(seen: {open: boolean, height: number}[]): void {
 }
 
 /**
- * How the band at [swipe] is drawn in the frame [testid] is first on the page: whether that
- * slice is open, and how many panels the band holds, two of them saying the pass is still on.
+ * Watches the band at [swipe] from now on, answering with a read of the frame [gate] is first
+ * drawn in: whether [testid] is open in it, and how many panels the band holds, two of them
+ * saying the pass is still on.
  *
- * Read at a frame boundary rather than polled, since the claim is about the first frame. [gate]
- * is what says the arriving stop is the one being read, where the slice is not itself that proof;
- * the band leaving answers to no name, its testids taken off it at the swap.
+ * Begun before the change is asked for, and counted on the page. A pass is over in the time a
+ * visitor who asked for less motion allows it — a tenth of a second — so a watch installed
+ * after the click is a race against the runner's own round trips, and a loaded one loses it:
+ * the band then answers with one panel for a pass that did happen. [gate] is what says the
+ * arriving stop is the one being read, where the slice is not itself that proof; the band
+ * leaving answers to no name, its testids taken off it at the swap.
  */
-export async function landing(
+export async function landingFrom(
   page: Page, swipe: string, testid: string, gate = testid,
-): Promise<{open: boolean, panels: number}> {
-  const handle = await page.waitForFunction(([sel, id, key]) => {
-    if (!document.querySelector(`[data-testid="${key}"]`)) return null
-    const slice = document.querySelector(`[data-testid="${id}"]`)
-    return {
-      open: slice?.className.includes("slice--open") ?? false,
-      panels: document.querySelectorAll(`${sel} > *`).length,
+): Promise<() => Promise<{open: boolean, panels: number}>> {
+  await page.evaluate(([sel, id, key]) => {
+    const tick = () => {
+      if (!document.querySelector(`[data-testid="${key}"]`)) return requestAnimationFrame(tick)
+      const slice = document.querySelector(`[data-testid="${id}"]`)
+      ;(window as unknown as {__landing?: unknown}).__landing = {
+        open: slice?.className.includes("slice--open") ?? false,
+        panels: document.querySelectorAll(`${sel} > *`).length,
+      }
     }
+    delete (window as unknown as {__landing?: unknown}).__landing
+    requestAnimationFrame(tick)
   }, [swipe, testid, gate] as const)
-  return handle.jsonValue()
+
+  return async () => {
+    const handle = await page.waitForFunction(() => (window as unknown as {
+      __landing?: {open: boolean, panels: number}
+    }).__landing ?? null)
+    return handle.jsonValue()
+  }
 }
 
 /** The height the band at [swipe] is holding right now, or nothing where it holds none. */
diff --git a/services/frontend/yarn.lock b/services/frontend/yarn.lock
index a611aa654..197c3f4b2 100644
--- a/services/frontend/yarn.lock
+++ b/services/frontend/yarn.lock
@@ -1291,14 +1291,14 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"@playwright/test@npm:1.60.0":
-  version: 1.60.0
-  resolution: "@playwright/test@npm:1.60.0"
+"@playwright/test@npm:1.63.0":
+  version: 1.63.0
+  resolution: "@playwright/test@npm:1.63.0"
   dependencies:
-    playwright: "npm:1.60.0"
+    playwright: "npm:1.63.0"
   bin:
     playwright: cli.js
-  checksum: 10c0/86b06e6437933e741c7cd43f362024e857e7bc28a55fcbb0553ef55e01a2a403c64f4786868de8af86a6e303fe99e98a18a42ba19489f43ae122e457f9e2d189
+  checksum: 10c0/795cd06c2eb6cb6142e72792f4df8f97665aa8c551c16278a7f2b3f31664e0cff07ed3c066490da55daf2fe51bc18e9c1ec6cba05b2c37387a0c49ad63017db8
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
@@ -2920,7 +2920,7 @@ __metadata:
     "@hey-api/openapi-ts": "npm:0.99.0"
     "@mdi/font": "npm:^7.4.47"
     "@originjs/vite-plugin-commonjs": "npm:^1.0.3"
-    "@playwright/test": "npm:1.60.0"
+    "@playwright/test": "npm:1.63.0"
     "@tailwindcss/vite": "npm:^4.3.3"
     "@types/luxon": "npm:^3.7.5"
     "@types/node": "npm:^26.2.0"
@@ -4280,16 +4280,6 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"fsevents@npm:2.3.2":
-  version: 2.3.2
-  resolution: "fsevents@npm:2.3.2"
-  dependencies:
-    node-gyp: "npm:latest"
-  checksum: 10c0/be78a3efa3e181cda3cf7a4637cb527bcebb0bd0ea0440105a3bb45b86f9245b307dc10a2507e8f4498a7d4ec349d1910f4d73e4d4495b16103106e07eee735b
-  conditions: os=darwin
-  languageName: node
-  linkType: hard
-
 "fsevents@npm:~2.3.3":
   version: 2.3.3
   resolution: "fsevents@npm:2.3.3"
@@ -4300,15 +4290,6 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"fsevents@patch:fsevents@npm%3A2.3.2#optional!builtin<compat/fsevents>":
-  version: 2.3.2
-  resolution: "fsevents@patch:fsevents@npm%3A2.3.2#optional!builtin<compat/fsevents>::version=2.3.2&hash=df0bf1"
-  dependencies:
-    node-gyp: "npm:latest"
-  conditions: os=darwin
-  languageName: node
-  linkType: hard
-
 "fsevents@patch:fsevents@npm%3A~2.3.3#optional!builtin<compat/fsevents>":
   version: 2.3.3
   resolution: "fsevents@patch:fsevents@npm%3A2.3.3#optional!builtin<compat/fsevents>::version=2.3.3&hash=df0bf1"
@@ -5946,27 +5927,23 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"playwright-core@npm:1.60.0":
-  version: 1.60.0
-  resolution: "playwright-core@npm:1.60.0"
+"playwright-core@npm:1.63.0":
+  version: 1.63.0
+  resolution: "playwright-core@npm:1.63.0"
   bin:
     playwright-core: cli.js
-  checksum: 10c0/99ccd43923b6e9355e0723b7fe221e6326efd4687f8dafff951313662aea11db51f542a9c2122c704c445fb9baae1c9ec9fa6f895126bbddd9fe92313f6942c9
+  checksum: 10c0/39c1ebae4029ca2e9371e00a5588d962038e24b6e0bdb7d0d27374dde04838f349b83ae0c8b3b648653d0935cba7fb9011f1201adaab9dd0db7801ad6c75e9aa
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"playwright@npm:1.60.0":
-  version: 1.60.0
-  resolution: "playwright@npm:1.60.0"
+"playwright@npm:1.63.0":
+  version: 1.63.0
+  resolution: "playwright@npm:1.63.0"
   dependencies:
-    fsevents: "npm:2.3.2"
-    playwright-core: "npm:1.60.0"
-  dependenciesMeta:
-    fsevents:
-      optional: true
+    playwright-core: "npm:1.63.0"
   bin:
     playwright: cli.js
-  checksum: 10c0/714ad76d85b4865d7e43c0012f9039800c1485373388973ed39d79339cee5ad467052d1e2f1eaeca107a1cb6e65342186a8578a4c3504853d84c3a691250d5db
+  checksum: 10c0/d1fd048a89be27c9aba6757dc4f70eff4a5163b49f439ad691767be8b2a482327d0dd1928b4f73c8fe0d8b33aab2c9dc2670424ab60f112d9e98e91b94e3b090
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard