September 6, 2012 8:30 am
Yes, Arcade Crane Games Are Rigged
She probably lost. Image: Shinichi Higashi
You’ve probably always suspected that those crane games at arcades were rigged. Of course, that hasn’t stopped you from pumping quarters in and being disappointed when a plush My Little Pony fails to come out. But, sadly, your suspicions are correct. Crane games are designed not to reward skill, but luck.
Zack Baker, a video game programmer, answered the question on Quora:
Basically, most crane games are designed so the claw is randomly (and only once in many games) strong enough to let players win. Some even weaken in strength after a short time so players get close to victory only to see it slip from their grasp! Since the manuals for many skill games are available online, this is not hard to verify.
He points to the owner’s manual for the Captain Claw crane game. In the manual, it explains that the default setting is to randomly assign a strong enough claw to one in every 18 people who play. Another manual, for Panda Vending’s Treasure Centers, explains that there are multiple settings that can control the strength of the claw and the length of time it holds that strength.
Another video game expert answered a similar question on a Reddit IAmA thread. Redditors asked: Are the claws rigged? An arcade owner answered:
Yes
Indeed they are!
Most machines have a CMS (Command Module Settings) which allow the owner to change a couple factors:
* Chance of winning. Win/Loose, typically 1/12 In Cali or 1/15 In Nevada!
* PSI of claw. Most claws are 5-8 PSI requiring 10-13 to grab an item. Note, the setting module for the PSI is usually manual, there are springs on the claw that have little red marks. The module will tell you which mark to tighten the spring for the desired effect
* Cost/Accepted Money. Either DBA(Dollar Bill Acceptor) or CoinUnder California law my claws are set to 1/12 which means 1/12 players will have a chance to win. The example I used before is a ‘toy’ requires 10 PSI to lift. My claw during 11/12 tries will apply 4-6 PSI, or just enough to shuffle it or barely pick it up. During the 1/12 tries the claw will apply 9-11 PSI, sometimes picking it up and dropping, some successful
So, try as you might, you’re probably not going to win that stuffed toy. Unless you’re willing to play about 18 times.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Old School Games Make a Comeback – How Arcades and Rubik’s Cubes Are Becoming Cool Again
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9 Comments »
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Interesting read and its obvious they’re rigged, but I’ve never left a claw machine without winning a stuffed animal/toy. I’ve never played more than 6 or 7 times on one either. Guess that means I’m super lucky then.
Comment by morgan — September 9, 2012 @ 8:57 am
This revelation should not surprise anyone these days. The entire stock market is rigged using an endless variety of financial tactics far too numerous to even begin mentioning them here or anywhere else. Millions of lawsuits are being launched but only the legal profession will gain; those getting ripped off have not a chance to retrieve their loses. Even main stream media completely fails whether intentionally or out of naivete hardly mentions the mechanism that leaves outsiders in the lurch. Only the real insiders manage to keep their “stolen” goodies!
So, try suing the owners of the vending machines here! A know a good lawyer or two who’d love to take up your claims!
Comment by Peter M. Lutterbeck, M.D. — September 9, 2012 @ 10:38 am
I was once more or less addicted to crane machines, both at carnivals and in arcades. Often wondered why the claw was “not quite strong enough” much of the time. I once spent $5 and won 10 stuffed animals. But another time spent $20 and got nothing.
No different than playing a slot machine I guess. Though I’ve long since realized that I don’t need any more stuffed animals and no longer knew enough people with small children to give them to. Come to think of it, slot machines lost their appeal a long time ago. The image of feeding money into a machine and getting nothing in return just doesn’t do it for me.
Comment by Dave — September 9, 2012 @ 2:04 pm
Frustrating that it’s random since it gives you the impression of being based on how well you control the arm. It’s been known for quite a while that the machine operators stuff the toys in there as tight as possible. I guess the best we can do is just keep spreading this knowledge until these types of machines go extinct.
Comment by Chris — September 9, 2012 @ 4:15 pm
When I played these machines, I would look over all the animals and see if there was one laying on top, loose and it had a shape the claws would grasp all the way around easily. I could often quickly retrieve these. If that wasn’t the case, I moved on with depositing a single coin.
Comment by sparcboy — September 10, 2012 @ 4:36 pm
Don’t know if the law in Ontario requires it, or it’s just a business model, but the last time I saw a claw machine in an arena, it was “play until you win”. I think it cost $2 CDN and the prizes were small stuffed toys which probably retail for about $2, so the owner was still making money on the machine.
I guess the idea is to get people to spend money on the machine with the lure of a “guaranteed win” that they would not necessarily spend in a dollar store to buy the same value toy.
Comment by Wayne — September 10, 2012 @ 4:53 pm
The items are also packed tightly together to keep in longer.
Comment by John — September 10, 2012 @ 7:28 pm
I agree with Chris. Even with a good claw, if everything is stuffed tight, you can’t get anything. The key is to either figure out which toy is loose (not stuffed tight), there may only be one or no toys in this state. You can either waste quarters trying to loosen one, or go for the one that is loose. If you then see that the machine doesn’t have enough strength to lift the loose one, walk away. If it does, you should be able to get it out within a few quarters.
Once a friend and I extracted about 20 or so toys in a bar in Ft. Lauderdale. We met a lot of girls. A few years later on a first date with my future wife, at a bowling alley, I told my wife I could get her a toy with a quarter or two. I got her a plush rainbow with a heart sticker saying ‘I Love You’. We had a good laugh. She still puts it on our bed every morning.
Comment by sysmg — September 11, 2012 @ 10:59 am
So you play 15 times & end up paying $3.75 for a stuffed animal, which go for more than $20 in stores. It doesn’t sound bad when you think of it that way.
Comment by Lai-Lai — September 26, 2012 @ 4:43 am