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 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.
If I were the investigator, I’d set the contractors loose on the house and then spend my time interrogating the competitor.
So as the competitor, I would hide it wherever. But then I would sit with noise cancelling headphones and eyes shut so as to not give the hiding place away. I would give it away with a glance or a face twitch much faster than they could search.
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.
Counterpoint: they don’t need to interrogate me. I tell them I’ll give them a mill out of my five if they give up and don’t try to find it.
Aw man, I forgot to add a stipulation that you can’t bribe the investigator.