Claw Crane - Tivoli

In Japan, modern trolley-style claw machines began being manufactured by Sega and Taito in the 1960s. Sega released its first modern electro-mechanical (EM) arcade crane game, Skill Diga, in 1965, and followed it with Super Skill Diga (1968), which included dolls as prizes. By the 1970s, Sega and Taito machines had drawn the attention of plush toy vendors, with the machines used to display and deploy stuffed animals, evolving into modern claw machines.
They gained popularity in Japan during the late 1970s, with crane games among Japan's top ten highest-grossing EM arcade games of 1977,and then Sega's magnetic crane machine the sixth highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1978.
By the 1980s, crane machines had become much larger, with plush dolls the major prizes, and cranes common at carnivals and arcades. A boom in crane games occurred with the release of Sega's UFO Catcher in 1985, and since then the term "UFO catcher" has become synonymous with crane games in Japan. It stood out for its eagle claw shape, hence the name "UFO" catcher,[clarification needed] along with its kawaii (cute) family-friendly design, helping to make them more marketable to casual audiences. Two players could also operate cranes simultaneously, intended to encourage more social interaction, such as between couples. Sega's UFO Catcher series led to claw cranes becoming increasingly popular in Japan during the 1980s to 1990s. By 1994, Sega had sold over 40,000 UFO Catcher cabinets, with the term UFO Catcher itself becoming synonymous with crane games in Japan.
Claw cranes gradually became popular across other parts of Europe as well, such as Denmark and France, during the 1990s to 2000s.