diff --git a/frontend/src/index.css b/frontend/src/index.css
index 1324cc5..b606071 100644
--- a/frontend/src/index.css
+++ b/frontend/src/index.css
@@ -1163,13 +1163,19 @@ button:disabled { opacity: 0.45; cursor: default; transform: none; box-shadow: n
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
   /* A chip must never be wider than the column it sits in: an NPC stat like
      "bandit leader aggression +10" overruns a phone, and the chip row is
-     inside the story text, which has nothing to scroll. The label may break
-     mid-word as a last resort; the value is glued to it by its own nowrap so
-     the sign and number never end up on separate lines. */
+     inside the story text, which has nothing to scroll. Text may break
+     mid-word as a last resort, which is what keeps a chip's minimum width
+     small enough for the flex row to shrink it. */
   max-width: 100%;
   overflow-wrap: anywhere;
 }
-.chg-val { white-space: nowrap; }
+.chg-val { overflow-wrap: anywhere; }
+/* Only a signed number is held on one line, so the sign never ends up on a
+   line of its own. The other values a chip can carry are phrases — a refusal
+   reason, "no change — at its limit", or the whole new value of a free-text
+   stat — and holding those together set the chip's minimum width to the width
+   of the phrase, which is what pushed a chip out of the message on a phone. */
+.chg-num { white-space: nowrap; }
 .chg-up { color: var(--player, #4caf82); border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--player, #4caf82) 40%, var(--border)); }
 .chg-down { color: var(--danger, #e5484d); border-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--danger, #e5484d) 40%, var(--border)); }
 .chg-flag { color: var(--accent-bright); }
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/Play.jsx b/frontend/src/pages/Play.jsx
index 1854b40..93bd2f9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/Play.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/Play.jsx
@@ -1252,9 +1252,10 @@ function StateChangeChips({ changes }) {
         // neither an update nor a refusal, and "+0" read as the former.
         const blocked = c.clamped && d === 0
         const dir = blocked ? 'refused' : typeof d === 'number' ? (d > 0 ? 'up' : d < 0 ? 'down' : 'flat') : 'flat'
+        const signed = !blocked && typeof d === 'number'
         const txt = blocked
           ? 'no change — at its limit'
-          : typeof d === 'number' ? (d > 0 ? `+${d}` : `${d}`) : `→ ${c.value}`
+          : signed ? (d > 0 ? `+${d}` : `${d}`) : `→ ${c.value}`
         const title = blocked
           ? c.fix || 'The story asked to change this and it is already at the limit the scenario allows.'
           : c.clamped
@@ -1262,7 +1263,7 @@ function StateChangeChips({ changes }) {
             : undefined
         return (
           <span key={i} className={`chg chg-stat chg-${dir}`} title={title}>
-            {nice(c.label)} <span className="chg-val">{txt}</span>
+            {nice(c.label)} <span className={signed ? 'chg-val chg-num' : 'chg-val'}>{txt}</span>
             {c.clamped && !blocked ? <span className="chg-limited"> (limited)</span> : null}
           </span>
         )