Both versions were published by Michael Reichmann's Batteries Included of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and by Ariolasoft in the United Kingdom.
On July 12, 2005, Kyle MacDonald began a blog called One red paperclip in which he offered to trade a red paperclip and eventually traded up for a new place to live.
One red paperclip, a project in which a paperclip was traded up to a house, was inspired by this story.