Comments on: Yes, Arcade Crane Games Are Rigged

By: Lai-Lai

Lai-Lai — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:43:14 +0000

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.

By: sysmg

sysmg — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:59:11 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:28:07 +0000

The items are also packed tightly together to keep in longer.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:53:37 +0000

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.

By: sparcboy

sparcboy — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:36:41 +0000

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.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:15:45 +0000

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.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:04:58 +0000

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.

By: Peter M. Lutterbeck, M.D.

Peter M. Lutterbeck, M.D. — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:38:36 +0000

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!

By: morgan

morgan — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:57:56 +0000

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.