A teenager is on a mission to trade a single piece of gum for a whole house – so far, he’s up to an Xbox One.
Addison Bowley, 18, from Nashua, New Hampshire, USA, recently took on the challenge to ‘trade-up’ and swap items for other higher-value items.
His goal: get an entire house.
The social media creator, who goes by the nickname Addie, got the idea after watching a TedTalk given by Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, who spoke about his trading experience.
In the talk, Kyle shared his story of swapping items, starting with a red paperclip and eventually ending up with up to a house within a year.
Kyle traded up to 14 items until he finally got his house in 2006.
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‘I’ve always been someone who was interested in pushing myself to try new things and see what I am capable of,’ said Addie.
‘I was shown a TedTalk in school about a guy who traded a paperclip to a house and knew that I wanted to do it too, but with my own spin on it.
‘My expectations were for it to go really well in the beginning and then slow down eventually, and it did just that.’
In just four days, Addie has made over nine trades. His first trade took place at his local shopping centre, Pheasant Lane Mall, where he traded his gum for a ballpoint pen.
The rest of the trades went like this –
Pen > Vans pin > Basketball > Two animal pins > Lush body lotion sample > Funko Pop figurine > Stanley multi-tool > Napapijri jacket (and a hoodie he was given by a staff worker at the clothing store Zumiez) > Xbox One.
Addie’s latest trade was a momentous occasion. His first eight trades went largely ignored by his TikTok following, but his video showing the trade for his Xbox, worth £150, gained over 5.6million views on TikTok.
‘I never expected to get what I have now. Currently, I have a new Xbox One that I’m trying to trade!,’ Addie said. ‘The 3rd episode – where I receive the Xbox – has blown up massively.’
The teen was also inspired by the content creator, Ryan Trahan, who managed to trade $0.01 up to a house in just a week.
Addie decided to document his journey on TikTok, but he has faced skepticism and doubts from some viewers who don’t believe the trades are real.
‘It’s so unbelievable that people have claimed it to be fake!
‘I understand why they think that…I lived through it, and I’m still not convinced it actually happened!’
Addie has started to plan his future trades and is looking at the best ways for him to swap his new Xbox One.
‘At the end, I’m going to make a full-length documentary on the project.
‘The final version will show more of the ‘bad’ reactions and rejections that I get from people, as well as the raw human interactions I have along the way.
‘I definitely want to get a car – but I know that’ll take some time!
‘If I could eventually get to a house like Ryan’s, that would be insane.
‘Right now, I’m getting back out there, filming some content and trying to finally get rid of this Xbox.’
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