diff --git a/test/test_display_controller.py b/test/test_display_controller.py
index 782ce69e..8f89c31f 100644
--- a/test/test_display_controller.py
+++ b/test/test_display_controller.py
@@ -15,13 +15,6 @@ class TestDisplayControllerInitialization:
         assert test_display_controller.plugin_manager is not None
         assert test_display_controller.available_modes == []
 
-    @pytest.mark.skip(reason="No assertions; init logic is covered by test_init_success and fixture setup")
-    def test_plugin_discovery_and_loading(self, test_display_controller):
-        """Test plugin discovery and loading during initialization."""
-        pm = test_display_controller.plugin_manager
-        pm.discover_plugins.return_value = ["plugin1", "plugin2"]
-        pm.get_plugin.return_value = MagicMock()
-
 
 class TestDisplayControllerModeRotation:
     """Test display mode rotation logic."""
diff --git a/test/test_display_manager.py b/test/test_display_manager.py
index 63c49114..9c8b1468 100644
--- a/test/test_display_manager.py
+++ b/test/test_display_manager.py
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
+import os
 import pytest
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 from PIL import ImageDraw
+
+# display_manager imports the hardware rgbmatrix module at import time unless
+# EMULATOR=true. Use the emulator (same convention as
+# test_display_dirty_tracking.py) so this file collects standalone instead of
+# relying on collection order — the tests below patch RGBMatrix/
+# RGBMatrixOptions explicitly, so the underlying binding doesn't matter here.
+os.environ.setdefault("EMULATOR", "true")
+
 from src.display_manager import DisplayManager
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -77,18 +86,26 @@ class TestDisplayManagerDrawing:
             assert dm.matrix.Clear.called
             
     def test_draw_text(self, test_config, mock_rgb_matrix):
-        """Test text drawing."""
+        """Text drawn through draw_text must actually light pixels."""
+        from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
+        import src.display_manager as dm_mod
         with patch.dict('os.environ', {'EMULATOR': 'false'}):
-            dm = DisplayManager(test_config)
-            
-            # Mock font
-            font = MagicMock()
-            
-            dm.draw_text("Test", 0, 0, font)
-            
-            # Verify draw_text was called (DisplayManager uses freetype/PIL)
-            # The actual implementation uses freetype or PIL, not graphics module
-            assert True  # draw_text should execute without error
+            DisplayManager._instance = None
+            dm = DisplayManager(test_config, suppress_test_pattern=True)
+            # The fixture replaces the module's freetype with a MagicMock,
+            # which breaks draw_text's isinstance(font, freetype.Face) check
+            # (and silently swallows the draw). Give the mock a real class so
+            # isinstance works and the PIL path is taken.
+            dm_mod.freetype.Face = type("_FakeFace", (), {})
+            # Start from a known-black canvas so the assertion below can only
+            # pass if draw_text itself lit something.
+            dm.image = Image.new('RGB', (dm.width, dm.height))
+            dm.draw = ImageDraw.Draw(dm.image)
+
+            dm.draw_text("Test", 0, 0, font=ImageFont.load_default())
+
+            assert dm.image.convert("L").getbbox() is not None, \
+                "draw_text lit no pixels"
             
     def test_draw_image(self, test_config, mock_rgb_matrix):
         """Test image drawing."""
diff --git a/test/test_font_manager.py b/test/test_font_manager.py
index 11240724..16b093a3 100644
--- a/test/test_font_manager.py
+++ b/test/test_font_manager.py
@@ -1,82 +1,126 @@
+"""
+Tests for src/font_manager.py — FontManager loading, caching, fallback,
+and BDF handling, exercised against the real bundled fonts in assets/fonts.
+
+This file replaces an earlier version whose tests were try/except blocks
+ending in `assert True` — they executed the code but could not fail. Every
+test here asserts observable behavior: returned font types, cache identity,
+fallback selection, and BDF native-size reading.
+"""
+
+import freetype
 import pytest
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from PIL import ImageFont
+
 from src.font_manager import FontManager
 
+
 @pytest.fixture
-def mock_freetype():
-    """Mock freetype module."""
-    with patch('src.font_manager.freetype') as mock_freetype:
-        yield mock_freetype
+def fm():
+    """A FontManager over the real assets/fonts catalog."""
+    return FontManager({})
 
-class TestFontManager:
-    """Test FontManager functionality."""
-    
-    def test_init(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test FontManager initialization."""
-        # Ensure BDF files exist check passes
-        with patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True):
-            fm = FontManager(test_config)
-            assert fm.config == test_config
-            assert hasattr(fm, 'font_cache')  # FontManager uses font_cache, not fonts
-            
-    def test_get_font_success(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test successful font loading."""
-        with patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True), \
-             patch('os.path.join', side_effect=lambda *args: "/".join(args)):
-            
-            fm = FontManager(test_config)
-            
-            # Request a font (get_font requires family and size_px)
-            # Font may be None if font file doesn't exist in test, that's ok
-            try:
-                font = fm.get_font("small", 12)  # family and size_px required
-                # Just verify the method can be called
-                assert True  # FontManager.get_font() executed
-            except (TypeError, AttributeError):
-                # If method signature doesn't match, that's ok for now
-                assert True
-            
-    def test_get_font_missing_file(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test handling of missing font file."""
-        with patch('os.path.exists', return_value=False):
-            fm = FontManager(test_config)
-            
-            # Request a font where file doesn't exist
-            # get_font requires family and size_px
-            try:
-                font = fm.get_font("small", 12)  # family and size_px required
-                # Font may be None if file doesn't exist, that's ok
-                assert True  # Method executed
-            except (TypeError, AttributeError):
-                assert True  # Method signature may differ
-            
-    def test_get_font_invalid_name(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test requesting invalid font name."""
-        with patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True):
-            fm = FontManager(test_config)
-            
-            # Request unknown font (get_font requires family and size_px)
-            try:
-                font = fm.get_font("nonexistent_font", 12)  # family and size_px required
-                # Font may be None for unknown font, that's ok
-                assert True  # Method executed
-            except (TypeError, AttributeError):
-                assert True  # Method signature may differ
 
-    def test_get_font_with_fallback(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test font loading with fallback."""
-        # FontManager.get_font() requires family and size_px
-        # This test verifies the method exists and can be called
-        fm = FontManager(test_config)
-        assert hasattr(fm, 'get_font')
-        assert True  # Method exists, implementation may vary
-        
-    def test_load_custom_font(self, test_config, mock_freetype):
-        """Test loading a custom font file directly."""
-        with patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True):
-            fm = FontManager(test_config)
-            
-            # FontManager uses add_font or get_font, not load_font
-            # Just verify the manager can handle font operations
-            # The actual method depends on implementation
-            assert hasattr(fm, 'get_font') or hasattr(fm, 'add_font')
+class TestCatalog:
+    def test_bundled_common_fonts_are_registered(self, fm):
+        # These aliases are hardcoded in FontManager.common_fonts and the
+        # files ship in assets/fonts — all three must resolve.
+        for family in ("press_start", "four_by_six", "five_by_seven"):
+            assert family in fm.font_catalog, f"{family} missing from catalog"
+
+    def test_catalog_families_are_lowercase_filenames(self, fm):
+        # _scan_fonts_directory lowercases the filename stem.
+        assert all(name == name.lower() for name in fm.font_catalog)
+
+
+class TestGetFont:
+    def test_ttf_family_returns_usable_pil_font(self, fm):
+        font = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        assert isinstance(font, ImageFont.FreeTypeFont)
+        # Usable: it can measure text.
+        bbox = font.getbbox("Hi")
+        assert bbox[2] > bbox[0]
+
+    def test_bdf_family_returns_freetype_face(self, fm):
+        font = fm.get_font("five_by_seven", 7)
+        assert isinstance(font, freetype.Face)
+
+    def test_repeat_call_returns_cached_identity(self, fm):
+        first = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        hits_before = fm.performance_stats["cache_hits"]
+        second = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        assert second is first
+        assert fm.performance_stats["cache_hits"] == hits_before + 1
+
+    def test_different_sizes_get_distinct_cache_entries(self, fm):
+        small = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        large = fm.get_font("press_start", 16)
+        assert small is not large
+        assert "press_start_8" in fm.font_cache
+        assert "press_start_16" in fm.font_cache
+
+    def test_unknown_family_falls_back_to_default_without_raising(self, fm):
+        failed_before = fm.performance_stats["failed_loads"]
+        font = fm.get_font("no-such-family", 10)
+        # The documented fallback is PIL's default font (whose concrete type
+        # varies across Pillow versions), recorded as a failed load. It must
+        # still be usable for measurement.
+        assert type(font) is type(ImageFont.load_default())
+        assert font.getbbox("Hi")[2] > 0
+        assert fm.performance_stats["failed_loads"] == failed_before + 1
+
+    def test_corrupt_font_file_falls_back_to_default(self, fm, tmp_path):
+        bad = tmp_path / "broken.ttf"
+        bad.write_text("this is not a font file")
+        fm.font_catalog["broken"] = str(bad)
+        failed_before = fm.performance_stats["failed_loads"]
+        font = fm.get_font("broken", 10)
+        assert type(font) is type(ImageFont.load_default())
+        assert font.getbbox("Hi")[2] > 0
+        assert fm.performance_stats["failed_loads"] == failed_before + 1
+
+
+class TestBdfNativeSize:
+    def test_five_by_seven_reports_native_height(self, fm):
+        # 5x7.bdf declares a 7px strike; requesting other sizes still renders
+        # the native size, so callers need this to know the truth.
+        assert fm.get_native_bdf_size("five_by_seven") == 7
+
+    def test_ttf_family_has_no_native_size(self, fm):
+        assert fm.get_native_bdf_size("press_start") is None
+
+    def test_unknown_family_has_no_native_size(self, fm):
+        assert fm.get_native_bdf_size("no-such-family") is None
+
+
+class TestMeasureText:
+    def test_ttf_measurement_is_positive_and_cached(self, fm):
+        font = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        width, height, baseline = fm.measure_text("SCORE", font)
+        assert width > 0 and height > 0
+        # Cached: same result object path on second call.
+        assert fm.measure_text("SCORE", font) == (width, height, baseline)
+        assert ("SCORE", id(font)) in fm.metrics_cache
+
+    def test_longer_text_measures_wider(self, fm):
+        font = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        short, _, _ = fm.measure_text("AB", font)
+        long, _, _ = fm.measure_text("ABCD", font)
+        assert long > short
+
+
+class TestCacheLifecycle:
+    def test_clear_cache_empties_both_caches(self, fm):
+        font = fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        fm.measure_text("X", font)
+        assert fm.font_cache and fm.metrics_cache
+        fm.clear_cache()
+        assert not fm.font_cache
+        assert not fm.metrics_cache
+
+    def test_reload_config_bumps_generation_and_clears(self, fm):
+        fm.get_font("press_start", 8)
+        gen_before = fm.cache_generation
+        fm.reload_config({})
+        assert fm.cache_generation == gen_before + 1
+        assert not fm.font_cache