A working demonstration — names and standings are illustrative
Everything here was built from three sentences. The family wrote them: the Christmas photograph, the old house on Holly Street, a slice at Tripoli. Those three are real and they are marked below. The rest is our best guess at a family we have never met, and every line of it is meant to be corrected by them. That is the point — three sentences got the family this far, and forty-four answers would get them a finished hundred.
Every Smith carries a printed Passbook with the same hundred inside it. You do them one at a time, in any order, and whoever was there signs the page. Seven categories, each with its own stamp. Every adventure is graded easy, moderate or difficult, so an eleven-year-old and a grandmother can both finish something on the same afternoon.
Tiffany is the Queen of this Century. She appointed its Keepers, one in California and one in Boston, and the stamps and the seal are theirs to press. Clear all seven categories and a Keeper presses the seal. You are entered in the Smith Book of the Centurion by number, for life, and you get the coin.
Nobody finishes in a week. The book stays open for years, and it comes back out every Christmas.
A sample of thirty. Three of them are yours already. The whole hundred is further down, and it is on the Wheel.
The last two are the same in every Century. No. 99 is set by Tiffany on the day. No. 100 is the Centurion’s Choice: do the one that meant the most all over again, say so out loud, and close the book.
Hung wherever the family gathers. When nobody at the table can decide, somebody spins it and the day is settled.
The wooden wheel carries a working selection of them, split between day and evening. The Companion carries all ninety-eight, and you narrow it — day or evening, easy or difficult, near where you are standing.
It opens on the Smith hundred. Demonstration access: the key for this book is SMI-1027, printed here so you can try the Wheel. In a working Century every key is issued once, to one Passbook, and printed inside its back cover.
Ten books come with the Century. A number is issued once and never reassigned, so book No. 3 is Cheryl’s for as long as there is a Smith Century.
| No. | Issued to | Standing | Adv. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Tiffany | Queen · keeps the Book | 41 |
| 002 | Jamie | Keeper | 33 |
| 003 | Cheryl | Keeper · the Boston household | 28 |
| 004 | Niccie | In play | 24 |
| 005 | Lauren | In play | 22 |
| 006 | Rosemarie | In play | 17 |
| 007 | Walter | In play | 31 |
| 008 | Dominic | In play | 12 |
| 009 | Gina | In play | 9 |
| 010 | Anthony | Started this year | 6 |
Tiffany presses the stamps and seals a finished book. Jamie and Cheryl are Keepers and can do the same, which is what makes a family in three cities workable — nobody waits until Christmas to have a category closed.
The proof is in the Passbook. The bragging is in the app. Two boards, because a Century runs on two clocks — the scoreboard is this year, the leaderboard never resets, and the register is Tiffany’s alone.
The hundred printed inside, ruled for the date and the signature, the rules on the inside back cover and a pocket beside them.
Handmade, hung wherever the family gathers. It decides when nobody can.
One per category, in the seven colors, pressed by Tiffany or a Keeper.
The permanent roll. Numbered for life, signed by hand, never reassigned.
One for every hundred completed. A star in the Book for every rank.
A private link for every player, and the register for Tiffany.
Everything above came from three sentences. The questions are the rest of it — the occasion, who holds the Book, the places, the table, the people, the papers, the name. Fill in what you can and leave the rest; a question nobody can answer often makes the best adventure in the book.
The questions come as a form you can type into and save. Open it, fill in what you know, pass it around the family, and send it back when it is as far as it goes.
44 questions · 12 pages · a fillable PDF · return it to licensing@thecenturysystem.com
