This article is about the website. For the restaurant, see
Red Paper Clip.
One red paperclip is a website created by Canadian
blogger Kyle MacDonald, who traded his way from a single red
paperclip to a house in a series of fourteen online trades over the course of a year.[1] MacDonald was inspired by the childhood game Bigger, Better. His site received a considerable amount of notice for tracking the transactions. "A lot of people have been asking how I've stirred up so much publicity around the project, and my simple answer is: 'I have no idea'", he told the BBC.[2] The story has inspired countless copycats, who have attempted to trade their way up from a paperclip (or other small items) to something expensive, with varying degrees of success.[3]
Trading timeline
MacDonald made his first trade, a red paper clip for a fish-shaped pen, on July 14, 2005. He reached his goal of trading up to a house with the fourteenth transaction, trading a movie role for a house. This is the list of all transactions MacDonald made:[2]
On July 14, 2005, he went to
Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped
pen.
On November 16, 2005, he traveled to
Maspeth, Queens and traded the generator for an "instant party": an empty
keg, an
IOU for filling the keg with the
beer of the bearer's choice, and a neon
Budweisersign. This was his second attempt to make the trade; his first resulted in the generator being temporarily confiscated by the
New York City Fire Department.[citation needed]
Macdonald, Kyle (June 28, 2007). One Red Paperclip: How a Small Piece of Stationery Turned into a Great Big Adventure.
Ebury Press.
ISBN978-0-09-191452-3.