How would you hide a paperclip in your home/apartment to win a contest against an investigator?

This time, with rules.

The other post got me thinking, here’s my version.

For 5 million dollars, the task is the hide a paperclip in your home from a professional investigator. You have 15 minutes to hide it, they have 12 hours and subcontractors to find it. You cannot leave your house or have anything shipped in during your 15 minutes. You have to leave immediately after the 15 minutes is up, and you cannot have the paperclip on your person. Any family members, friends, and all pets will also be removed from the premises, and they aren’t allowed to have the paperclip.

You must be able to produce the original paperclip at the end in order to win the challenge. It is marked in some way that you don’t know but the investigator can verify. Absolutely no substitutions. You can bend the paperclip, but not cut it.

The paperclip must be inside the building. Not in a shared entryway, not outside the walls in any way. Between the studs of the outside walls of whatever you own or rent as living space are as far as you can go.

Any damage done by the investigator or subcontractors will be repaired back the way it was at no charge, win or lose. They are not allowed to harm the structural integrity of your home/apartment.

savvywolf,
@savvywolf@pawb.social avatar

Firstly, if you can, get a bunch of boxes of paperclips and put them in plausible hiding places. Depending on how they are marked, it might buy you some time.

Some ideas:

  • Lock it in a safe or strongbox only you know the code for.
  • Unscrew a plug socket or light switch from the wall, put it in the cavity, and then reattach it.
  • Get a photograph with a metal frame and slip the paperclip behind the picture itself.
  • Find some other metalic easy to dismantle thing and hide the clip inside.
  • Throw it down a drain or other hole, you can use a magnet on a string to retrieve it.

I assume the investigator will systematically remove everything and sweep it with a metal detector. Hopefully these hiding places won’t be as obvious.

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

I figured the investigator would start non-destructively, just moving things around, pickup up loose objects, etc.

But who knows, maybe they go full destruction mode immediately.

They do have a way of verifying, and it would buy some time as they pick up every single paperclip they find and verify it somehow.

southsamurai,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

Jokes on them, I keep a bunch of old screws, nails, etc. They come in handy. I’d disturb those containers and mix in part the box of paperclips I already have. Then dump the others around the house randomly.

Then, tilt my fridge and hide the correct one under it, in the little lip formed by where the metal is rolled.

Unless they actually lift the fridge and turn it almost upside down, that damn thing isn’t coming out of that lip.

By the time they’ve gone through all of the fake hiding spots and determined that all of the other clips are the wrong ones, a big portion of the time is gone (and I’m assuming the clip somehow identifiable and that they have a way of doing so, otherwise they’re screwed from the beginning)

Nobody with sense is going to turn the fridge over to check under it unless they’ve exhausted other places.

It’s all about wasting their time and making use of human habits, not necessarily a super secret spot.

But, that spot rules out metal detectors, and won’t have visible signs of recent movement (because I keep the kitchen absurdly clean, there’s no built up dust or grime under it to show the movement). If I hadn’t had to turn the fridge on its side to get under they’re for some repairs, I wouldn’t know the lip existed in the first place. So the chances of any of the investigators and/or subcontractors also knowing that a decades old model of refrigerator happens to have a rolled metal lip is pretty damn low.

They’d do the human thing of looking under it, or even lifting it off the feet and checking under those, but not look further because any of the other places under there would allow a little piece of metal to fall out freely when their first search happened.

But, there’s a similar spot on the interior of our washing machine that I found when replacing a switch. Same kind of deal, but the area where the washer is isn’t as clean, so it would be obvious enough.

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

Nice!

And yes, I did say that they have a way of identifying which clip is the one you are supposed to hide.

MedicPigBabySaver,

Straighten it and use a needle to push it into a tube of toothpaste.

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

That’s a good one. Can’t metal detect inside a metal tube, not an obvious hiding spot at all

MedicPigBabySaver,

And it’s usable. Might need to brush up before my 15 minutes is over. Even less suspicious. (I think).

Nindelofocho,

What about a CT/xray though? Id imagine investigator would be motivated enough to use one

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

What sort of x ray machine could be transported to the site? What size things would fit in a portable x ray machine? How long would each exposure take?

Nindelofocho,

Xrays can be pretty immediately viewable they are used by airport security all the time there are smaller portable imaging machines that are more portable but really if i was investigator id start by having my team removing everything from the place and transporting it to the machine. The one half does the imaging and the other half starts tearing into the residence. Whoever finishes first gets to look through every xray image so that every person has inspected every image at least once

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

Oh right. It would take some time, but not 12 hours to run everything in the house through the X-ray. Including breaking down larger items for scanning.

Nindelofocho,

Yea and some items could be grouped together like toothbrushes and pens/pencils. It would definitely at least take half the day but if assuming unlimited funds/manpower you could have multiple machines manned by teams

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

Oh man. Seems there would have to be a limit on manpower and machinery available to the subcontractors

NeptuneOrbit,

I put the paperclip in with other paperclips at my office supply warehouse. Do I live in an office supply warehouse? Yes. The investigators will have to rifle though millions of loose paperclips and thousands of boxed paperclips. They have to search my shipping and my receiving areas. As I’m leaving, a woman sees me. She says “can you sell me some office supplies?” . She’s the lead investigators. I say no. We make love all night. In the morning the cops come and I escape in one of their uniforms. I tell her to meet me in Mexico but I go to Canada. I don’t trust her. Besides, I love the cold. Thirty years later I get a postcard. I have a son. And he’s the Chief of Police. This is where the story gets interesting: I tell her to meet me in Paris by the Trocadero. She’s been waiting for me all these years. She’s never taken another lover. I don’t care. I don’t show up. I go to Berlin. That’s where I shipped the paperclip.

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

What even is this? What did I just read?

owenfromcanada,
@owenfromcanada@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a paraphrased quote from the office.

Usernameblankface,
@Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

Ohhhh

Empricorn,

Poetry.

Vanth, (edited )
@Vanth@reddthat.com avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Usernameblankface, (edited )
    @Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

    Hmm

    I didn’t factor in interrogation. The competitor would leave the premises without contacting the investigator.

    No interrogation, no spying on you as you leave. Checking for the paperclip on your person is done by a separate person/machine, away from the investigator or any of their crew.

    I think 12 hours of interrogation is long enough to break anyone.

    AcesFullOfKings,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Usernameblankface,
    @Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

    Aw man, I forgot to add a stipulation that you can’t bribe the investigator.

    Nindelofocho,

    Just tell them you want your lawyer present ez

    Postmortal_Pop,

    I put it through a laminator and cut it into a business card size. I then go up into the attic and press it down into the uninsulated interior wall between my office and son’s room. The size of the laminate should allow me to flex it slightly and pin it between the walls with tension. If they try to remove the wall it will fall into the crawlspace below the house and be caught by a pad of insulation.

    Alternatively, tuck it into the barrel of the washing machine in said laminate. It won’t rattle and without fully disassembling it you won’t be able to retrieve it.

    MedicPigBabySaver,

    Rules here say “can’t cut it”.

    EdanGrey,

    I presume they mean cut the laminate, that would make sense then as to business card size. Still not cutting the paperclip

    Usernameblankface,
    @Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

    Cutting the clip wouldn’t work, but cutting the laminate is within the rules

    naonintendois,

    Straighten it out, then twist it into a spring around a screwdriver. Remove a spring from some component and put the original in my spare parts box.

    Empricorn,

    I like your confidence, but I don’t believe that you could do that in 15 minutes.

    Usernameblankface,
    @Usernameblankface@lemmy.world avatar

    Idk how to do any better than this. Genius!

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