NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #2
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF LOCKS, LOCK PICKING AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE ENTRY
AUTHOR: PAT WATSON
INTRODUCTION
The journey towards the mastery of operational non-destructive entry (NDE) stretches well beyond the mechanics of a single technique utilized against a single type of locking mechanism. The wide field of NDE includes key systems, tool design, security history, electronic access control, and a surprisingly extensive presence in books, film, and popular culture. For this installment of the UTAC NDE Series, the usual technical-paper format gives way to a friendly knowledge challenge.
On October 16, 2026, invite-only participants took part in NDE Trivia #2, a live event combining general lock knowledge, audio identification, history, and a final book-themed question. This article preserves the challenge for readers who would like to try it themselves. The answers appear after the questions, so keep a note of your responses before scrolling ahead.
NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #2 - TAKE THE CHALLENGE
Work through each round in order. The original live competition used different answering and scoring rules, but readers can simply count correct answers. Some questions call for a precise term; others accept several legitimate answers.
ROUND 1 — GENERAL NDE TRIVIA
Q1. The Abloy Protec2 high-security door lock uses what mechanism rather than pin tumblers?
Q2. Which make and model of padlock is known for multiple potential attack vectors, including a “break and replace” attack, where a retention faceplate may be destructively removed, lock accessed, then a new faceplate added,” as well as SPP, advanced raking, a Lishi attack, and occasionally a bypass driver attack?
Q3. Which two Master Lock padlocks (model numbers) are openable by any of the four-pin combs from Southern Specialties?
Q4. Which specific model number of Lishi tool is designed for the six-pin Schlage lock? This is also the three-character keyway name and key blank name.
Q5. Although there may be exceptions from manufacturer to manufacturer, what is the proper technical name (a single compound word) for the small spring loaded security button that runs along the back side of a common residential door latch? Not the deadbolt, but the additional security button that prevents a latch from being slipped.
Q6. How many different programmable combinations are possible for the five-button Kaba Simplex-style push-button locks? Not including the zero, or “null.” (For this trivia question on the live event, we accepted answers within 100 of the correct guess)
Q7. What is one of the most common “Manufacture Default Pins” encountered as a default on many low-security electronic safes? Specifically looking for three numbers, and/or three numbers and a character.
Q8. Which five-character key code is widely associated with many RV compartments, cabinets, and similar low-security locks?
Q9. What is the name for the category of non-destructive entry methods that include gaining entry via communicating to the locking system that you are attempting to leave through the locked obstacle rather than entering through the locked obstacle?
Q10. If a master pin is added to three of the pin stacks within a 5-pin lock, how many different key bitting profiles could be cut in order to open that lock utilizing every combination of different bittings?
Q11. In the world of Key Generation, or locksmithing, where would you find a regular “bristled” paintbrush, and what would it be used for?
Q12. When decoding multi-wheeled combination locks with an EZ Decoder (or similar thin gauge tool), you are feeling for a cutout on each of the wheels. When all of the cutouts are lined up, another mechanism will fall into the space created by those newly aligned cutouts. What are the names for the cutouts in the wheels, and what is the name for the device that falls into the cutouts to allow entry? These two terms are also utilized on dial safe locks.
ROUND 2 — SWEET SOUNDS OF THE LOCK
Listen to each recording and identify the tool, mechanism, or entry method.
Note: During the live recording, contestants and host all recognized that the microphone was not studio-quality, and it was right next to the locks being accessed, making this particular event especially difficult, even for the host, who originally recorded the audio.
Don’t get discouraged if you struggle to answer, and thank you for your patience.
Q13.
Q14.
Q15.
Q16.
Q17.
Q18.
Q19.
Q20.
ROUND 3 — LOCK CULTURE & HISTORY
Q21. Which ancient civilization is widely associated with the earliest version of wooden pin-locks?
Q22. What is the name of the man who, in the 1860’s, patented an early version of modern pin tumbler locks? (For the live trivia event, we state that we would accept the full name, or just the last name, or even the name associated with the man’s company)
Q23. Which company, as a part of Assa Abloy, holding a significant share of the American commercial and government RFID access-control market, prominently displays its three-letter brand name on its wall-mounted badge readers, in three large capital letters?
Q24. The king of this country, in the 1700’s, was betrayed by his personal locksmith and friend of 20 years, by the locksmith revealing information about the king’s safe? This incident is also featured in a fictionalized book titled The Countess de Charny.
Q25. In this 1982 TV series, one character is sitting in their private office when an unauthorized person walks in. The first character says “Who are you? And how did you get in here?” and the second character replies “I’m a locksmith, and, I’m a locksmith.” Name the actor that states the locksmith reply, or the TV show.
Q26. This latch bypass tool, made of a thin and pointy rod with a 90-degree bend at the tip, goes by many names. There are three major names for that tool that we are looking for. You can guess more than three names, as long as you say the three that we are looking for.
ROUND 4 — FINAL QUESTION
For the live trivia event, we first told the contestants what the topic was: Modern lock picking-related books, published after the year 2000. Then we had the contestants privately write down how many points they wanted to wager. After they wrote their wager, we asked them the question, to which they would silently write down.
Q27: Name at least one of the two book titles for the following two descriptions.
This book, published in 2016 by Geoff Manaugh, at its core, is a thrilling insight into how any building transforms when seen through the eyes of someone hoping to break into it. Encompassing many different case studies of crimes throughout history.
This book, published around 2003, is a biography that reveals one man’s account of his own criminal actions, including break-ins and the stealing of people’s high-dollar personal items.
After all contestants supplied their answers and wagers, the points were totalled and the winner was declared.
NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #2 — ANSWER KEY
ROUND 1 ANSWERS
Q1. Disc-detainer mechanism. Source: https://www.abloy.com/global/en/our-products/products/mechanical-door-cylinders/ansi-door-cylinders/abloy-protec/cylinder-cy405t.
Q2. American 1100. Source: https://www.redteamtools.com/fire-plug-repair-upgrade-kits-set-of-five-kits/?searchuuid=a70c6394-f7f4-4533-bfeb-46b6341064df&search_query=american.
Q3. Master Lock 140 and 141. Source: https://lockpicktools.com/shear-line-comb-picks/.
Q4. Lishi SC4.
Q5. Deadlatch is the term we were looking for.
Q6. 1,081, using the conventional combination-counting rules. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDJgsbOLDQ.
Q7. 159, or 159#, or 159*, etc. Homework: Go visit several online retailers that sell small inexpensive safes and click on their .pdf operations manuals for their safes, and see how many different makes and models it takes until you find a safe that utilizes that combination.
Q8. CH751. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA4-TgoIsNU.
Q9. Request to Exit.
Q10. Eight (2³), distinct key bittings.
Q11. Found near the key originating or key copying machines, used to brush away brass shavings and debris.
Q12. Gates and fence. Source: https://ftp.sargentandgreenleaf.com/pdf/book_mech_locks.pdf.
ROUND 2 AUDIO ANSWERS
Q13. EZ Decoder / four-wheel padlock.
Q14. Tubular lock picking tool.
Q15. Door-latch shimming.
Q16. Lishi picking/decoding.
Q17. EZ Decoder / Master Lock 175.
Q18. Adams Rite mortise latch attack.
Q19. Butterfly shim.
Q20. Finger decoding a four-wheel combination padlock.
ROUND 3 ANSWERS
Q21. Ancient Egypt; related early designs are also associated with Mesopotamia. In the live event, either response would have been accepted. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293173594_2016_Naif_A_Haddad_Critical_Review_Assessment_and_Investigation_of_Ancient_Technology_Evolution_of_Door_Locking_Mechanisms_in_SE_Mediterranean_MEDITERRANEAN_ARCHAEOLOGY_ARCHAEOMETRY_2016_Vol16_No1_pp_.
Q22. Linus Yale Jr. Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US31278A/en.
Q23. HID. Source: https://www.hidglobal.com/solutions/access-control-systems.
Q24. France. Source: https://www.mediterranee-antique.fr/Auteurs/Fichiers/TUV/Ternaux/Terreur/T5/Terreur_5_B02.htm.
Q25. TV show, Police Squad! Actor, Leslie Nielsen. (Frank Drebin, was the name of the character). Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0676271/quotes/.
Q26. Traveler’s Hook, Carolina Roller, Shrum tool. There are other names that are acceptable as well, but these three were the terms we were looking for during the live-event.
FINAL ANSWER
Q27. (1) A Burglar’s Guide to the City (2016); or (2) Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief, by Bill Mason with Lee Gruenfeld (2003).
LIVE EVENT RECAP AND WINNER
These NDE Trivia World Championship events always include a fair amount of good-natured arguing for points and position, and a fair amount of whiskey, but the purpose is to bring together participants with different NDE backgrounds and experience for a low-stress evening of lock-related comradery.
Some questions rewarded familiarity with NDE tools, techniques and locks; others called for historical knowledge, market knowledge, or even pop culture.
The result was a fun and informal but useful reminder that the world of NDE has much width and much depth to it, as well as endless nuance and related areas of reference.
The winner of NDE Trivia World Championship #2 was callsign “Blind Fury,” out of Maryland USA.
FROM THE ARCHIVES — NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #1
The first NDE Trivia World Championship event, hosted April 2nd, 2026, ranged from key blanks and rake profiles to cinema, popular television, and historical security content. The original event did not receive its own recap article within UTAC’s NDE White Paper online catalogue, so the challenge is reproduced here for readers to test themselves against the first event’s set of questions. As with the current challenge, the answer key follows the questions.
The winner for the previous NDE Trivia World Championship #1 was Aron S. out of West Virginia, USA.
ARCHIVE ROUND 1 — BASIC LOCK KNOWLEDGE
Q1. What year did Lishi introduce its first residential pin-tumbler 2-in-1 tool?
Q2. Name a six-position Kwikset-family key blank.
Q3. This 5-position residential key blank has standard cuts from 1-6, and this has cuts from 0-9...?
Q4. Who is widely credited with creating the Bogotá-style lock picks popularized in the early 2000s?
Q5. According to the Bogota creator’s account, what inspired the name “Bogotá picks”?
Q6. This style or type of lock is considered "upside down" by lock-people in the U.S.
Q7. Which company makes the Mace picks, the Magneto, and the Monstrum products?
Q8. Which lock-picking tool company, sometimes identified by a two-thumb hand logo, routinely offers training in Connecticut?
Q9. Fill in the blank. Southern Specialties calls their titanium line of bogota tools the "Bogota [blank]"
Q10. Who co-founded the Security Engineering Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh and wrote Locks, Safes, and Security, as well as Locks, Safes and Insecurity?
Q11. In the factory configuration used for this challenge, how many security pins were in the five-stack American 1100 cylinder, and what types are they? A partial answer was accepted.
Q12. What does MACS stand for in key-bitting specifications?
Q13. What are the two types of stops that set a key to the correct depth of insertion in a keyway.
Q14. Locksmith key cutting machines are organized into two main types based upon where the machine gets its information from and how it generates the key. What are the two types or categories of machines?
Q15. True or false: Every manufacturer records bitting from bow to tip, left to right.
Q16. What manufacturer name historically became a common name for tubular locks? The accepted answer could be one of two names.
Q17. In UTAC’s gear organization concept of “Lines of Gear,” what line of gear is a tool pouch that is mounted to your plate carrier/armor, i.e. it might be permanently connected to your body “on person” but might also be set nearby as an item to grab when you need it?
Q18. Name seven commercially recognized lock-pick rake profiles.
ARCHIVE ROUND 2 — LOCK PICKING IN MEDIA
Q19. How many credited authors are listed for the book Locksport? Bonus points for each one you can name.
Q20. What is the name of the tv show, where the family’s youngest daughter “Louise” is the family’s resident expert lock picker?
Q21. What is the name of the tv show character who is known throughout the world for being able to create anything with merely a paperclip and a stick of gum? Bonus: name the Saturday Night Live parody character.
Q22. First appearing in the 2nd Matrix film, what is the character name of the elderly asian character who helps the protagonists move through locked doors?
Q23. In the 1987 movie Space Balls, the antagonist “Lord Helmet” is attempting to acquire the code to the air shield for the planet Druidia. This code, Lord Helmet claims, is “The stupidest combination he has ever heard in his life - the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage..." which also happens to be the code to President Scrooge's luggage?
Q24. In the recent movie Dune 2, (to prevent spoilers) when the protagonist, Paul Atreides, is brought to a secret locked facility, he is told by his friend that the lock can only be opened with what mechanism/key?
Q25. In the book, and movie “The Davinci Code”, there is a cryptex device, a small cylinder which is basically a storage container locked by a combination lock but with letters instead of numbers. What word is the answer to the cryptex? Either the film or the book answer will be accepted.
Q26. In Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning, there is also a cypher cylinder. Benji must solve the puzzle to disarm a nuke. How many wheels does the cypher have, how many letters on each wheel, and how many total possible combos are there? A point for each item that you know.
Q27. In the 1992 film Sneakers, the protagonists acquire recordings of multiple words spoken by their target that they can then string into a sentence that can be played into an audio-access lock. What is this phrase?
Q28. In the first season of the recent spy thriller The Terminal List, starring Chris Pratt, Pratt’s character must covertly access an apartment owned by his assassination target. What does Reese do as part of his recon and preparation before the actual covert entry takes place?
ARCHIVE ROUND 3 — HISTORY & BONUS
Q29. For the roughly 60-year period called the “age of perfect security,” which years are generally meant? (Choose: 1660s–1720s; 1780s–1850s; 1880s–1940s.)
Q30. During a historic covert entry operation a source, code named "Deep Throat," (one of the weirdest code names in history) helped reporters reveal the conspiracy over what was first reported as a simple burglary. What is the name of the location/building in which this operation took place?
Q31. This scientist was not trained in locksmithing or safe cracking. While working at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, this person didn't rely on safe dial manipulation techniques but rather leveraged the "human factor" in order to crack open the safes of many other scientists on site by utilizing MDCs, common codes, brute force code attacks, etc.
Q32. Bonus: Name the steps in UTAC’s seven-step Target Assessment process.
NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #1 — ANSWER KEY
Archive Answers
Q1. March 2019 (KW1 introduction). Source: https://www.originallishi.com/the-kw1-2-in-1/.
Q2. KW10 or KW11, depending on application.
Q3. KW1; SC1.
Q4. Raimundo. Source: https://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8205&start=180.
Q5. The Bogotá mountain range. Source: https://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8205&start=180.
Q6. Euro-profile cylinders.
Q7. Sparrows Lock Picks. Source: https://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/.
Q8. SEREPick. Source: https://www.serepick.com/training.
Q9. Titan. Source: https://lockpicktools.com/bogota/.
Q10. Marc Weber Tobias. Source: https://engineering.pitt.edu/news/2018/pitt-unlocks-new-security-engineering-laboratory-at-benedum-hall/.
Q11. Five: two serrated and three spool. Would accept partial answer. Source: https://clksupplies.com/collections/all-items/products/american-1100-cutaway-training-padlock-cnc-milled.
Q12. Maximum Adjacent Cut Specification. Source: https://clksupplies.com/blogs/news/31675265-max-adjacent-cut-specification-macs.
Q13. Shoulder stop and tip stop.
Q14. Code/originating machines and duplicating machines.
Q15. False.
Q16. Ace / Chicago Lock.
Q17. 1.5-line gear (UTAC curriculum terminology). Source: Watson, Pat. 2024. Tactical Lock Picking Tools & Techniques Guide. UTAC Publishing.
Q18. Open-ended: any seven legitimate commercially recognized rake-profile names.
Q19. Five: Jos Weyers, Matt Burrough, Walter Belgers, Nigel Tolley, and BandEA. Source: https://nostarch.com/locksport.
Q20. Bob’s Burgers.
Q21. MacGyver; bonus: MacGruber.
Q22. The Keymaker.
Q23. 12345.
Q24. DNA of a duke.
Q25. Novel: APPLE; film: JESUS.
Q26. 8 wheels, 14 letters each, approximately 1.5 billion (14^8).
Q27. “My voice is my passport. Verify me.” (full spoken introduction may also be accepted).
Q28. He photographs the lock, obtains a comparable lock, and practices on a door stand.
Q29. 1780s–1850s. Source: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/perfect-security/.
Q30. Watergate Hotel. Source: https://www.fbi.gov/history/history-of-the-fbi/crime-and-corruption-across-america.
Q31. Richard Feynman. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waw11zhaKSk.
Q32. Moral right to entry, Speed, Attack Vector identification, Manual unlock check, Tool availability, Now or Later, Other/Reassess/Breathe. Source: Watson, Pat. 2024. Tactical Lock Picking Tools & Techniques Guide. UTAC Publishing.
Closing Remarks
Whether your specialty is mechanical lock work, field operations, security research, or simply a longstanding interest in locks, these challenges offer a chance to test familiar knowledge from an unfamiliar angle. Thanks to everyone who participated in the live events. Readers are welcome to compare answers, revisit the source material, and watch for future technical publications and special features in the UTAC NDE Series.
A.I. DISCLOSURE
Artificial intelligence (AI) was not used to create the questions for this event or to generate any original content. AI assistance was limited exclusively to the basic design and layout of the author’s existing, original material.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Watson is an author, instructor, and lifelong practitioner and student of the art and science of lock picking. As the owner of Uncensored Tactical (UTAC), he develops and teaches specialized non-destructive entry curricula to U.S. and allied special operations forces, law-enforcement tactical units, and other government operators. His professional background includes service with the U.S. Coast Guard, international counter-narcotics and counter-piracy operations, and civilian law enforcement.
A longtime supporter of the hobby lock-picking community, TOOOL.us, and fellow authors and creators of lock-picking literature and media, Watson remains committed to advancing the field through education, research, and the exchange of knowledge. In 2026, he was honored to speak at TOOOL’s Lockfest in Arlington, Virginia.
PUBLICATION METADATA
Author: Pat Watson
Affiliation: Uncensored Tactical LLC, Texas, USA
Article Type: Special Event White Paper - Not Peer Reviewed
UTAC NDE White Paper Number: UTAC2026-004
Download a pdf of this paper:
Publication Date: October 26th, 2026.
Version: V1
Last Edited On: N/A
Suggested Citation: Watson, Pat. 2026. “NDE TRIVIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP #2.” UTAC2026-004. Tactical Lock Picking. October 26, 2026. https://tacticallockpicking.io/nde-white-paper-UTAC2026-004.
Keywords: N/A. Special Trivia Event.
