WARMAN -- A Saskatchewan man is wheeling and dealing online, trying to turn a deck of cards into a Tesla Cybertruck.
“I did this as kind of a joke because I’ve seen people do it, and I realized I’m progressing rapidly so I’m blown away by this,” said Tyler Golding, a high school teacher and magician.
Eleven weeks ago, Golding started the paperclip challenge, where a person starts with a paperclip and through a series of trades, they eventually trade up to a goal of their choosing.
The paperclip challenge was made famous when a Montreal man Kyle MacDonald traded a red paper clip, up to a two-story house in Kipling, Sask.
Drawing inspiration from MacDonald, Golding, with his eye on a Tesla Cybertruck, said his wife wouldn’t let him spend between $50,000 and $100,000 for the electric vehicle, so he decided to trade his way to his dream.
As a magician, Golding said it seemed fitting to start with a deck of cards and he started trading small items with people he knew. It wasn’t until he bartered for more expensive electronics he realized this idea has legs.
“As soon as I got a MacBook Pro I realized this is a lot of money and it only took me four weeks to get a MacBook Pro and I cleaned it all up and was able to trade it for an Xbox One. And that was huge,” Golding said.
Trades escalated from there, to an Xbox One, a fat bike, another MacBook, and an iMac until Golding collected around $1,300, allowing him to purchase two PlayStation 5s, arguably the most sought-after item over the holiday season.
“I’m incredibly surprised that I was able to get two of them, they are the hardest item you can possibly get but I grinded and I lucked out,” he said.
While Golding resisted keeping one for himself, he traded one PS5 for a mobility scooter, and the other PS5 for two rare Pokemon cards, each valued at $2,000 Golding said.
Golding’s meteoric rise in his trading game inspired a 10-year-old boy in Saskatoon to embark on his own trading journey, hoping to eventually trade for a set of Apple Airpods or a PS5.
Thomas Ballantyne began with a paperclip and over a few days traded up to a bar of soap, and then to an Apple charging cord and block, plus an Airpods silicone case. Altogether he estimates they’re worth about $30.
“If I trade every day it could be next week probably (for the Airpods), but the PS5 might take a few months,” Ballantyne said.
Golding said he’s looking for his next big trade. Since acquiring the Pokemon cards he said he’s been getting hundreds of messages about them.
With the Tesla Cybertruck one to two years away from being available to the public, Golding said he’s “reverse-engineering” the trading game, reaching out to people who have orders in for a Cybertruck, and gauging what it would take to trade for one.
