The copy audit: the climb card stops calling itself a death match, the machine gets named, the drill decrypts, the duel names both stakes

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

PROJECT.md

@@ -491,6 +491,25 @@ zombie (now an occasional opponent, `TUNE.racketEvery`, not the every-game fixtu
   `RETURNED`, `DOUBLE KILL`) is a footnote to something you already watched happen. Sharing the loud
   FACE with the milestone cards is right; sharing their SIZE made every footnote read as a milestone.
 
+## Session log: the copy audit — every modal says what it means (2026-08-29, Oliver's ask)
+
+A sweep over every modal/card message for decoding-required copy, four finds fixed:
+
+- **The arcade's rules card said DEATH MATCH** — a leftover of the era when the solo mode WAS
+  one; the picker has said ARCADE/THE CLIMB for a day. It wears THE CLIMB now ("THE WHOLE CLUB,
+  BOTTOM UP / ONE GAME PER BODY — HOW FAR CAN YOU GET?"); netplay keeps DEATH MATCH (there it is
+  literally the mode) and says "WOUND YOUR FRIEND".
+- **The tournament card's "UP YOUR LEAGUE'S DEAD HIERARCHY"** (the trigger for this audit) became
+  "YOUR LEAGUE, ROUND BY ROUND / WIN IT ALL — MOVE UP A LEAGUE" — the payoff was never named.
+- **The ball-machine card never named the machine** ("SWING TO RETURN — OR SWISH IT AWAY", an
+  instruction without a subject) — "A BALL MACHINE / SWING ITS SHOTS BACK — OR SWISH THEM AWAY".
+- **The drill's "FAST BEATS CLOSE · STREAKS PAY"** decrypted on the zoned card ("THE FASTEST
+  BODY — NOT THE NEAREST" / "THE WRONG BODY BREAKS THE STREAK" — checked against drill.js's
+  actual rule); the body keeps the old words for the suite.
+- **SUDDEN DEATH only sold the win** — it names both stakes now ("LOSE: THE DEAD TAKE A GAME /
+  AND FIVE MORE CLIMB THE FENCE", the real resolveInterlude cost). Judged fine and left alone:
+  the boss walk-on, horde, barrel, trainer, training-court and bench copy.
+
 ## Session log: the rules cards get zones too (2026-08-29, Oliver: "wichtige Infos, schwer zu erfassen")
 
 Same disease as the walk-on, same medicine: the three mode modals (THE TOURNAMENT, DEATH MATCH,

index.html

@@ -871,6 +871,6 @@ if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one' && !window.Capacitor?.isNat
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=339"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=340"></script>
 </body>
 </html>

src/beats.js

@@ -83,7 +83,10 @@ export function startDuel() {
   if (!G.seen.duel) { // the rules change back — worth one real interruption, once per run
     G.seen.duel = true;
     showModal({ title: 'SUDDEN DEATH', color: UI.hot,
-      body: ["IT'S TENNIS AGAIN — ONE POINT", 'WIN IT AND THEY HAND YOU A WEAPON'] });
+      body: ["IT'S TENNIS AGAIN — ONE POINT", 'WIN IT AND THEY HAND YOU A WEAPON'],
+      // both stakes named (the old card only sold the win): a lost duel is a real cost
+      rules: [{ lead: "IT'S TENNIS AGAIN — ONE POINT", sub: 'WIN: THEY HAND YOU A WEAPON' },
+              { lead: 'LOSE: THE DEAD TAKE A GAME', sub: 'AND FIVE MORE CLIMB THE FENCE', hot: true }] });
   } else G.flash = { text: 'SUDDEN DEATH', t: 1.6 };
 }
 
@@ -405,13 +408,23 @@ export function startMatch(cup = false, draw = null, train = 0) {
   } else if (!cup && !train && !G.seen.match) {
     G.seen.match = true;
     // Oliver's copy direction: name the stake, count the blood. TUNE.matchPlayerHp is the real
-    // number, so the modal can never drift from the pool it describes.
-    showModal({ title: 'DEATH MATCH', color: UI.hot,
-      body: ['WIN THE POINT — WOUND THE ZOMBIE',
-             'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD — ' + TUNE.matchPlayerHp + ' AND YOU ARE EATEN'],
-      rules: [{ lead: 'WIN THE POINT', sub: 'WOUND THE ZOMBIE' },
-              { lead: 'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD', sub: 'AT ZERO YOU ARE EATEN', hot: true,
-                pips: TUNE.matchPlayerHp }] });
+    // number, so the modal can never drift from the pool it describes. The card wears the mode's
+    // OWN name: the solo arcade is THE CLIMB now — its card still saying DEATH MATCH was a
+    // leftover of the era when it was one (2026-08-29 copy audit). Netplay keeps the old title,
+    // because there it is literally the mode.
+    showModal(G.net
+      ? { title: 'DEATH MATCH', color: UI.hot,
+          body: ['WIN THE POINT — WOUND YOUR FRIEND',
+                 'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD — ' + TUNE.matchPlayerHp + ' AND YOU ARE EATEN'],
+          rules: [{ lead: 'WIN THE POINT', sub: 'WOUND YOUR FRIEND' },
+                  { lead: 'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD', sub: 'AT ZERO YOU ARE EATEN', hot: true,
+                    pips: TUNE.matchPlayerHp }] }
+      : { title: 'THE CLIMB', color: UI.hot,
+          body: ['THE WHOLE CLUB, BOTTOM UP — ONE GAME PER BODY',
+                 'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD — ' + TUNE.matchPlayerHp + ' AND YOU ARE EATEN'],
+          rules: [{ lead: 'THE WHOLE CLUB, BOTTOM UP', sub: 'ONE GAME PER BODY — HOW FAR CAN YOU GET?' },
+                  { lead: 'ITS POINTS DRAW BLOOD', sub: 'AT ZERO YOU ARE EATEN', hot: true,
+                    pips: TUNE.matchPlayerHp }] });
   }
   matchOpponent();
   matchReady();

src/drill.js

@@ -110,7 +110,11 @@ export function startDrillStream() {
   if (!G.seen.drillRule) {
     G.seen.drillRule = true;
     showModal({ title: 'CLEARANCE DRILL', color: UI.pick,
-      body: ['DROP WHOEVER WOULD REACH YOU FIRST', 'FAST BEATS CLOSE · STREAKS PAY'] });
+      body: ['DROP WHOEVER WOULD REACH YOU FIRST', 'FAST BEATS CLOSE · STREAKS PAY'],
+      // the body keeps the old words for the suite; the zoned card decrypts them ("FAST BEATS
+      // CLOSE" meant nothing until you had already failed it — 2026-08-29 copy audit)
+      rules: [{ lead: 'DROP WHOEVER WOULD REACH YOU FIRST', sub: 'THE FASTEST BODY — NOT THE NEAREST' },
+              { lead: 'KILL STREAKS SCORE EXTRA', sub: 'THE WRONG BODY BREAKS THE STREAK' }] });
   }
   d.t = 0; d.spawnT = 0; d.score = 0; d.streak = 0; d.kills = 0; d.faults = 0; d.lost = 0; d.msg = null;
   try { d.best = Number(localStorage.getItem('drillBest')) || 0; } catch { d.best = 0; }

src/zombies.js

@@ -121,7 +121,10 @@ export function spawnMachine() {
   aside('ump_machine', 0.4); // benched with the rest of Daniel's personality — see aside()
   if (!G.seen.mach) {
     G.seen.mach = true;
-    G.card = { title: 'SWING TO RETURN — OR SWISH IT AWAY', color: UI.warm, t: 2.6 };
+    // the card NAMES the thing it explains — an instruction without a subject read as noise
+    // (2026-08-29 copy audit)
+    G.card = { title: 'A BALL MACHINE', sub1: 'SWING ITS SHOTS BACK — OR SWISH THEM AWAY',
+               color: UI.warm, t: 2.8 };
   }
 }