I spent 25 years behind a pawn counter, where every wild story is true and every one sounds fake. So instead of taking them to a therapist, I turned them into 35 puzzle books — one deadpan saga about building a company out of a literal landfill, starring a busted umbrella I promoted to Chief Financial Officer. (He steals. It's a whole thing.)

But the puzzles are just the front door. I'm using all of it to build a pawn company the people who work there actually own — the fair shot nobody ever handed the folks behind the counter. Grab a book, play along, and watch a real thing get built out in the open, one puzzle at a time.

If you ain't laughing, you ain't living. Follow the build. — Sal / Pawnmansal