The climb: the arcade runs the whole earned ladder, the tempo follows the territory, the court is yours

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

PROJECT.md

@@ -491,6 +491,33 @@ 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 CLIMB — the arcade gets its identity back (2026-08-29, same day, STAGING ONLY)
+
+Oliver: "arcade verhält sich genau so [wie der cup].. die grenzen werden unscharf." Right — the
+phase-2 band clamp had reduced the arcade to the cup's own 3-4 bodies, loose. The two modes have
+sharp identities again:
+
+- **THE ARCADE IS THE CLIMB**: it opens at the very BOTTOM of the ladder (opp 1) and runs the
+  whole EARNED club, clamping at your league's top (the clamp, its felled counter and its
+  "NOBODY STRONGER / THE CUP IS THE WAY UP" walk-on lesson all stay). The marathon's length
+  grows with every promotion — league 2 climbs 8 bodies, league 5 all 18 — and the FELLED board
+  means something again. Poster sub: "THE WHOLE CLUB, BOTTOM UP · BLOOD ONLY".
+- **The tempo hangs on the OPPONENT'S territory now** (`config.leagueOfRung`, read by
+  leaguePace): the low ladder plays its own shipped tempo and the world pulls away at each band
+  border — the climb makes the five leagues legible as five territories. Cup unchanged in effect
+  (its pool IS your band); the training court now practises a body at the tempo you would really
+  meet it at (a deliberate revision of phase 2's flat league-1 training world). Netplay exempt.
+- **The climb picks its court freely** (among the unlocked): the CUP is the league fixture with
+  the fixed home venue, the climb is the exhibition. start()'s forcing, the setup's single-row
+  venue face and the summary's LEAGUE suffix are all cup-only again.
+- **The climb's setup face** (replaces the league panel there): THE CLIMB writ large, "THE CLUB
+  FROM THE BOTTOM — N STAND · BEST RUN: M FELLED" (stats' own longest), no roster wall — the
+  training picker already shows the club face-up.
+- **"RUNG" is gone from the game's copy** (Oliver: too exotic) — the training tiles say "No. 7",
+  the club roster number. It only ever appeared there; everywhere else the word lives in comments.
+- Tests reworked: the climb walkthrough (opens at 1, clamps at 8 for league 2, felled honest) and
+  the pace test (flat inside a band, steps at each border, netplay/gore exempt). Suite 124.
+
 ## Session log: THE LEAGUES — the setup grows a league face (2026-08-29, same day, STAGING ONLY)
 
 Two more from Oliver's screenshots: