Chinese Handcuffs are a gag toy used to play a practical joke on unsuspecting children and adults by getting their fingers stuck inside. Annabeth Chase invented a larger variation that she dubbed Chinese Spidercuffs.
Description[]
The trap gets the fingers more stuck when the unsuspecting victim tries to pull them free as it only tightens the trap more around the fingers. The way for the person to free their fingers is to push inward which loosens the trap instead.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Mark of Athena[]
At Phorcys' aquarium, Frank Zhang picks up a pair of Chinese handcuffs in the gift shop. Being Chinese Canadian, Frank is offended when Percy Jackson identifies them as such, wondering how they could be Chinese, but Percy doesn't know. Frank decides to take them with him along with several T-shirts that he grabs.
After returning to the Argo II, Frank gets his fingers stuck in the handcuffs to great amusement, particularly when he can't get out. Getting frustrated, Frank eventually shapeshifts into an iguana, leading to Leo making fun of him for his solution. Frank later approaches Annabeth Chase for help understanding and she scans the design into Daedalus' Laptop and demonstrates to him that you get free by pushing inwards instead of pulling outwards. Frank tries it and discovers that Annabeth is right and Annabeth explains that "most of the best traps are simple. You just have to think about it, and hope your victim doesn't." In the process, Annabeth learns that sometimes keeping it simple is better, having not needed to copy the design into the computer and show Frank calculations to explain it.
Later, while facing off against Arachne, Annabeth tricks the spider monster into weaving what Annabeth wants. Annabeth brings up the Chinese handcuffs on the laptop and modifies them before demonstrating what she wants the spider to do which will require Arachne to unwind the strands around the Athena Parthenos. By claiming that Athena claimed that the structure is too difficult for any weaver to create, even Athena herself, Annabeth is able to goad Arachne into weaving it. Once the trap is complete, Annabeth tricks Arachne into entering it by claiming that there's a small flaw in the center that Arachne needs to fix. Once Arachne is in, she is unable to escape and Annabeth reveals her trick, dubbing her larger variation Chinese Spidercuffs. When the Argo II blasts the roof of the cavern open, a Fiat 500 falls on the Chinese Spidercuffs and smashes it through the floor, sending it and Arachne falling into Tartarus.
The House of Hades[]
After arriving in Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth find the Fiat 500 nearby with the crushed and empty remains of the Chinese Spidercuffs beneath it. However, slash marks heading away reveals that Arachne had survived the fall and escaped.