diff --git a/make-pdf/src/print-css.ts b/make-pdf/src/print-css.ts
index 14d78bd5a..2366f42b9 100644
--- a/make-pdf/src/print-css.ts
+++ b/make-pdf/src/print-css.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,26 @@
  *   - No <link>, no external CSS/fonts — everything inlined.
  *   - CJK fallback: Helvetica, Liberation Sans, Arial, Hiragino Kaku Gothic
  *     ProN, Noto Sans CJK JP, Microsoft YaHei, sans-serif.
+ *   - Emoji fallback: the body and @top-center running-header stacks end in an
+ *     emoji family group ("Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Noto Color
+ *     Emoji"), placed BEFORE the generic `sans-serif` so Chromium has a glyph
+ *     source for emoji code points instead of emitting .notdef tofu (▯). The
+ *     @bottom-* margin boxes hold only counters / a fixed "CONFIDENTIAL"
+ *     string, so they get no emoji families. On Linux this requires an
+ *     installed color-emoji font — `setup` installs fonts-noto-color-emoji.
+ *
+ * Font stacks are composed from the constants below so each family list has a
+ * single source of truth (DRY) and every stack stays in sync.
  */
 
+// Metric-compatible sans stack: Helvetica (macOS), Liberation Sans (Linux,
+// ships via fonts-liberation), Arial (Windows). Shared by every text surface.
+const SANS_STACK = `Helvetica, "Liberation Sans", Arial`;
+// CJK fallback families, appended to the body stack only.
+const CJK_STACK = `"Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN", "Noto Sans CJK JP", "Microsoft YaHei"`;
+// Color-emoji families: Apple (macOS), Segoe (Windows), Noto (Linux).
+const EMOJI_FAMILIES = `"Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Noto Color Emoji"`;
+
 export interface PrintCssOptions {
   // Document structure
   cover?: boolean;
@@ -84,13 +102,13 @@ function pageRules(size: string, margin: string, opts: PrintCssOptions): string
     `  size: ${size};`,
     `  margin: ${margin};`,
     runningHeader
-      ? `  @top-center { content: "${runningHeader}"; font-family: Helvetica, "Liberation Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: #666; }`
+      ? `  @top-center { content: "${runningHeader}"; font-family: ${SANS_STACK}, ${EMOJI_FAMILIES}, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: #666; }`
       : ``,
     showPageNumbers
-      ? `  @bottom-center { content: counter(page) " of " counter(pages); font-family: Helvetica, "Liberation Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: #666; }`
+      ? `  @bottom-center { content: counter(page) " of " counter(pages); font-family: ${SANS_STACK}, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: #666; }`
       : ``,
     showConfidential
-      ? `  @bottom-right { content: "CONFIDENTIAL"; font-family: Helvetica, "Liberation Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; color: #aaa; letter-spacing: 0.05em; }`
+      ? `  @bottom-right { content: "CONFIDENTIAL"; font-family: ${SANS_STACK}, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; color: #aaa; letter-spacing: 0.05em; }`
       : ``,
     `}`,
     ``,
@@ -107,7 +125,7 @@ function rootTypography(): string {
   return [
     `html { lang: en; }`,
     `body {`,
-    `  font-family: Helvetica, "Liberation Sans", Arial, "Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN", "Noto Sans CJK JP", "Microsoft YaHei", sans-serif;`,
+    `  font-family: ${SANS_STACK}, ${CJK_STACK}, ${EMOJI_FAMILIES}, sans-serif;`,
     `  font-size: 11pt;`,
     `  line-height: 1.5;`,
     `  color: #111;`,
diff --git a/make-pdf/test/render.test.ts b/make-pdf/test/render.test.ts
index a61dea504..413de1f98 100644
--- a/make-pdf/test/render.test.ts
+++ b/make-pdf/test/render.test.ts
@@ -343,6 +343,46 @@ describe("printCss", () => {
     const occurrences = (css.match(/"Liberation Sans"/g) ?? []).length;
     expect(occurrences).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(4);
   });
+
+  // ─── emoji fallback (fix/make-pdf-emoji-tofu) ────────────────
+  // Body + @top-center running header get the color-emoji families so
+  // Chromium has a glyph source for emoji code points instead of tofu (▯).
+  // The @bottom-* boxes hold counters / "CONFIDENTIAL" only — no emoji.
+
+  test("body stack includes all three emoji families before sans-serif", () => {
+    const css = printCss();
+    expect(css).toContain(`"Apple Color Emoji"`);
+    expect(css).toContain(`"Segoe UI Emoji"`);
+    expect(css).toContain(`"Noto Color Emoji"`);
+    // Emoji families must precede the generic family so per-character fallback
+    // reaches them before terminating at sans-serif.
+    expect(css).toMatch(/"Noto Color Emoji",\s*sans-serif/);
+  });
+
+  test("@top-center running header includes emoji families", () => {
+    const css = printCss({ runningHeader: "Q3 Report 🚀" });
+    const topCenter = css.match(/@top-center\s*\{[^}]*\}/)?.[0] ?? "";
+    expect(topCenter).toContain(`"Apple Color Emoji"`);
+    expect(topCenter).toContain(`"Noto Color Emoji"`);
+  });
+
+  test("@bottom-center and @bottom-right do NOT include emoji families", () => {
+    const css = printCss({ confidential: true });
+    const bottomCenter = css.match(/@bottom-center\s*\{[^}]*\}/)?.[0] ?? "";
+    const bottomRight = css.match(/@bottom-right\s*\{[^}]*\}/)?.[0] ?? "";
+    expect(bottomCenter).not.toContain("Emoji");
+    expect(bottomRight).not.toContain("Emoji");
+    // ...but they still share the sans stack via the SANS_STACK constant.
+    expect(bottomCenter).toContain(`"Liberation Sans"`);
+    expect(bottomRight).toContain(`"Liberation Sans"`);
+  });
+
+  test("emoji families appear in exactly the two emoji-bearing stacks", () => {
+    const css = printCss({ runningHeader: "Title", confidential: true });
+    // body (1) + @top-center (1) = 2 occurrences of the emoji group.
+    const occurrences = (css.match(/"Apple Color Emoji"/g) ?? []).length;
+    expect(occurrences).toBe(2);
+  });
 });
 
 // ─── render() — pageNumbers / footerTemplate data flow ───────────────