By Rufus Herbert

What Are Clock Coins?

Clock Coins are just like normal coins, except they’re worth more, and they expire.

Expiring

Clock Coins will expire after a certain amount of time. The time is chosen by the Unseen Administration. All Clock Coins have a small blinking timer on them. This shows how long there is until the Clock Coin expires and becomes worthless. 

Once the timer runs out, a notice pops up, and the coins change from their shiny gold colour to a dull grey. Shops will always check whether or not they’re expired when you buy something. An underground market exists for resetting Clock Coins, with a few disgraced watchmakers able to wind back the gears and add a short amount of time to your expired Clock Coins. This, however, is highly illegal, and comes with harsh punishments when caught. 

If you own an expired Clock Coin you can put it in a giant tub. There is a tub in every neighbourhood. Once a fortnight the administration comes by to collect the expired Clock Coins and take them to the Clocktower to reset them so they don’t go to waste. 

Getting Clock Coins

Clock Coins can be earned as prizes, in gambling, and can be handed out at shops during special events, although that is rare. If you get them at a special event, then they’ll always last until the end of the event. When won through gambling, they’ll usually last for one to two months. In prizes, they’ll last for either until the event you won them in is over (if you won them in an event, that is), or one, two or even three weeks.

Example of Using Clock Coins

Gerald was at the Night Bazaar and he won a prize at the Black Inn: the prize was fifty-five Clock Coins. Since it was near the end of the Night Bazaar, the coins were nearly expired, and Gerald didn’t know what to buy, so he started to panic. He rushed around trying to find something good to buy. 

After quite a bit of rushing around, he found the potions store, and he went in and bought a luck potion with twenty-five of his Clock Coins. But he still had twenty-five left, so he went to buy an alchemy potion. But just as he was about to pay, his twenty-five Clock Coins expired, so they were worthless. He was so disappointed that he started to do a crazy dance, which involved a cartwheel, a backflip and a quadruple frontflip. The dance ended with him on his knees, crying into his lap.