Scope-object is logically prior: invitation contributes no semantics that the scope does not already own. But invitation deserves a named layer because the product failure mode is not ontological incoherence; it is presenting a coherent scope in a form that still asks the human to invent the game.

Verdict-staircase is the first concrete composition rule over invitations: narrow invitation, narrow invitation, canonical invitation. The staircase therefore sits above invitation as behavior over one or more rendered scopes, while invitation remains the atomic playable unit.