# Lab Report — §PLAY-01-A *The Courier's Map*: goal legibility **Parent:** `docs/lab-reports/lab-report-play-review.md` §PLAY-01-A · **Track:** BACKLOG.md §PLAY-01 (archived → `plan-archive.md`) **Authored:** 2026-07-12 · **Class:** honesty fix (UI-only; no design call, no balance risk) · **Status:** ✅ SHIPPED **Ship commit:** `b46d3f0` (2026-07-12 11:49:34) — the report and the code are the *same* commit **Reference build for every line citation:** `b46d3f0^` = `ec3fd36` (36,933 lines) · **Ship build:** 37,047 lines (+114) **HEAD at re-verification:** 38,712 lines **Re-verified:** 2026-08-18 (§DOC-02ce) — verdict **SHIPPED WHOLE; ONE THIRD OF IT WAS SUPERSEDED TWO HOURS LATER AND ONLY HALF THE SUPERSESSION LANDED** --- ## Abstract The game had a win condition and no way to say it. Seven Codex Shards, Level 20, Commander Auros at the Codex, before Day 49 — four clauses the engine enforces on every tick and stated to the player exactly nowhere. §PLAY-01-A closes that gap without touching a single mechanic: a **persistent objective chip** in the always-shown Location card, and a **one-time opening frame** in the voice of the dying courier who hands you the map in the first place. Display-only. No balance surface. No design call. Re-measured 37 days after the ship: **every component is live and painted**, the acceptance suite is **1/1** and the declared regression set **navigation 35/35** (36/36, one run, no retries), the inline `