Hilton Netherland Plaza safe continues to outsmart humans

Update Wednesday, July 18: The contents of the safe at the Netherland Hilton are still a mystery as the autodialer working on the combination was paused to try a combination supplied by Peter Paul Office Supply.

The hotel's Facebook page said someone at the supply store saw the safe story and a longtime member of the staff recalled using a safe at the hotel in the 1970's to store rental typewriters for name badges at registration desks for convention-goers at the hotel.

They found a combination on an index card labeled "Netherland Plaza Storage Safe." The locksmith came out, paused the autodialer, and tried the combination a dozen or so times, and it didn't work.

So the machine continues its quest to figure out the combination.

Original reporting: It's a waiting game to figure out what is inside the safe at the Hilton Netherland Plaza that has not been opened for more than 30 years.

Until the safe is open, the hotel is letting people guess the combination. The person who comes closest to guessing the combination will receive Chef Max's Grand Tasting with Wine Pairing for two at Orchids at Palm Court.

To enter, send the hotel a Facebook message with three numbers, each between 0 and 99. The person with the least total variance wins.

"This safe has been around our hotel and Carew Tower likely since the 1940s or '50s," hotel representatives said. "Mosler was one of the most reputable and popular safe companies of the 19th and 20th centuries and based in Hamilton, Ohio."

According to Wikipedia, Mosler Safe Company notably made safes and bank vaults, beginning in 1874 and until the company's bankruptcy in 2001.

"We are unsure the last time it was opened though we know it’s been at least 30 years," hotel representatives said.

Hotel representatives will reveal what's inside once the safe is open, but that might take a while.

"A special hi-tech device has been attached to the dial that will read and determine the combination. The process takes 18 hours on average and prevents having to drill and potentially damage the safe," a post said on Facebook.

On Tuesday morning, the hotel posted an update that said the safe was "winning" the battle to open it.

"Last night a component of the device reading the combination dial picked up a wifi signal which prompted a software update, which suspended the dial reading process," a post said.

The hotel said the device had cycled through 5,000 numbers before the software update, which means there are still 695,000 to go.

The Enquirer will update this story.