A standard piece of office stationery is barely 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) long and costs a fraction of a cent. Nobody looks at such a tiny wire and sees a piece of real estate. Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald looked at a single red paperclip and decided to trade it for a house. Over the course of exactly one year, he completed fourteen online transactions, upgrading his item step by step until he held the keys to a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.
From Stationery to a Snowmobile
MacDonald was inspired by a children’s game called Bigger, Better. On July 14, 2005, he traveled to Vancouver and traded his red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen. That same day, he swapped the pen for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington. By late July, he took the doorknob to Massachusetts and exchanged it for a Coleman camp stove equipped with fuel.
Months later, he brought the stove to California for a Honda generator. In November, he went to New York and traded the generator for an instant party consisting of an empty keg, an IOU to fill it with beer, and a neon Budweiser sign. By December, Quebec radio personality Michel Barrette gave MacDonald a Ski-Doo snowmobile in exchange for the party items.
Trading Up to the Entertainment Industry
The snowmobile was traded for a two-person vacation to Yahk, British Columbia. MacDonald then swapped one spot on that trip for a box truck. In February 2006, he handed over the truck for a recording contract with Metalworks in Ontario. Jody Gnant acquired the contract in April, giving MacDonald a full year of free rent in Phoenix, Arizona. He then traded the year of rent for an afternoon hanging out with rock musician Alice Cooper.
The Final Hollywood Exchange
Instead of keeping the experience with Alice Cooper, MacDonald traded the afternoon for a motorized Kiss snow globe. This specific item caught the attention of actor Corbin Bernsen. On June 2, 2006, Bernsen traded a paid, credited speaking role in his upcoming film, Donna on Demand, for the rare snow globe. MacDonald now held a Hollywood movie role and needed one final transaction to reach his ultimate goal.
A Two-Story Farmhouse in Saskatchewan
The town of Kipling, Saskatchewan, wanted the movie role for a local resident. On July 5, 2006, town officials offered MacDonald a two-story farmhouse in exchange for the film part. MacDonald accepted the offer, completing his quest just under a year after his first trade. The town later constructed a giant red paperclip monument in a local park to mark the exact location where the fourteen trades culminated in a real estate exchange.