I used to be involved with the entertainments team at Camelot theme park, one season they developed part of the site of themed fairground style sideshow games and a small arcade full of claw machines, setup by one of the team who came from a family of seaside arcade owners in Wales. He gleefully explained that they were all adjusted to full strength because the were a pound per play and the prizes were 50p each to buy.
This was my comment: *THERE IS A MACHINE NEAR ME* [Burgas Bulgaria] - it must have the least greedy owner ever - people win all the time Id say its on average 2 goes for 1 win, so there is a bit of chance but no one goes away feeling totally ripped off
@@piccalillipit9211 usually depends on the prize cost something worth 50 cents will always be 100% full strength @arcade_matt has videos on it besides claw strength (picks up) grip strength (when it carries the item) coins needed to win but like if a item cost $20.00 you might need to play 15.00 before the strength goes up
Honestly low stakes and full strength seems like an ideal way to set these things up. People get the joy of trying to win a prize, you get your money, and there's no real deception
When I was a kid I played one of these games while a tech was doing some work on it. After I lost the told me I could try again for free and pointed to a toy I should go for as if he possessed some arcane knowledge on the best toy to grab. I didnt get it. He told me to try again for free and I got it. I was always confused at how he was so knowledgeable about which toy would be the easiest grab ... now I realize he was rigging the game for me. TY old tech guy, Im sorry I dont know your name but you made a kids day.. I immediately gifted it to my babysitter so you probably made her day too 😆
Actually some items are easy to grab and some are impossible, even with a 'fair' game. I can usually just glance at the bin and the claw and tell which, if any, of the prizes are possible. Likely he was doing the same thing.
These arcade machines should be illegal because they purport to be a game of skill when in fact when most people play they are programmed to be unwinnable.
Here in Norway, if you want to avoid the strict rules for a pure lottery, the machine must have "an element of skill". The law does not specify this "element" in any detail. In other words, if the outcome of the game is 99% luck, you're good. You still need a permit to operate such a machine, though.
@@jamesjames5715 Some casino games don't represent themselves as involving any skill (e.g., slots). Others give negative expected value even with perfect play, so the only skill is in losing less quickly (e.g. roulette or craps). Some, like poker, genuinely involve skill in winning from other players, as long as other players' losses are enough to cover the house's rake from the pot. None of these cases really involve representing the game as winnable via skill when it really isn't.
One time I won a unicorn at Universal Studios for $1 (the price of a single play) by accidentally getting the unicorn's horn stuck in the part that goes up and down to open/close the claw. It was locked in tight! One of my proudest claw machine moments.
This should be the epithet on your gravestone: 'I won a Toy Unicorn in The Claw Game'. Millions would come, to pay homage at the grave. Many would disbelieve, it's surely a myth - an urban legend?..But, NO: IT HAPPENED!...
Top tip - if you ever have to play these machines, you can sometimes judge by the presence of dust on the win chut flap that it's not going to be easy.
@@RedTail1-1 There used to be a couple of those coin push machines where coins would sometimes get stuck on the flap above the outlet and by tapping it, you could knock them off. Not really worth it for 2p but when you're a kid and you've already spent all your coins... There was also another machine in Southsea with a fatal infinite money flaw.
@@smittzero846320 quid for the ugliest, most cheaply made toy from a forgotten palette three layers deep in the back of a rusting warehouse. "Daddy, help me get the yellow one!"
I'll never forget the claw machine in Pizza Hut that was calibrated wrong and was super easy to win instead of just stealing money. I was working EMS as a medic around 2006... We emptied that machine and went around the restaurant giving out stuffed toys to all the kids.
The one at our local Shoney's was kind of like that, it didn't pay off on the first grab but after 3 or 4 you had a decent chance. My son's room was decorated with toys when he was a toddler.
I was a coin-op tech in the U.S. for 30+ years. I can tell you that originally the claws were settable (single fixed voltage) and the government got wind of this and banned them as gambling machines. Then the industry changed to a single fixed voltage (that was determined by a panel of 'experts'). After that any machines that had adjustable voltages where seized and crushed. I was even brought in by our local undercover police to examine some seized machines to see if they were the correct voltage and show to undercover cops how to spot the difference. Finally they set up a few machines side by side and had a few common people play for awhile to see the 'win' ratio then a few people that were known to be good at them and this was proof to the government that they were a game of skill after the fixed voltage. So here the voltage is to the be same on very claw drop or the machine is not legal (and subject to inspection and test at any time). Unscrupulous operators have always tried different ways to limit wins like using velcro to stick plush together (making it almost impossible to win the larger animals) to pressing them in tightly together and even glueing more expensive ones down to the bottom of the machine.
@@jannikheidemann3805 it was punishment to the operator, but fixing the machine and selling it would been more painful to most con men knowing some on got a machine cheaper then them and them not getting a cent from it
Anyone who owns a crane game needs to be heavily scrutinized themselves. I see owning a crane game as a red flag. And this just cemented my belief. Velcro? GLUE?!! Crane game owners are a bunch, they are.
@@Sphendrana Not all operators but yes plenty were bad players. And there is no need for it, there is a profit to be had operating them legitimately, the company I worked for did this and we had some jumbo cranes that pulled in more than $1k a week with no hanky panky and used up about $250 in prizes. So then $750 was split between the operator (company I worked for) and the location (bar, restaurant, bowling alley...).
One day many years ago my friends and I were at the arcade and there was a problem with the claw machine eating coins and not working. We called the teenage wage slave over and they opened it up, flipped a switch inside, cleared the coin mechanism, closed it up and walked away. We quickly realised that the machine had been left in "maintenance mode" and you could use the buttons to move the claw as many times as you liked instead of one shot for each direction. A friend of mine spent several hours curled over that machine and even with the ability to place the claw *exactly* where she wanted, she won maybe five or six prizes. It just cemented my belief that all such devices are designed to separate a fool from their money.
When I worked in arcades 20+ years ago, the biggest pains on the cranes were the string breaking at the claw and the cable becoming fatigued at the point it entered the head. The coils all had solder tabs on the top so you could cut the wire and resolder it. Our machines were set to pay out at a better percentage than most. The idea is that if you see someone winning then you will be more likely to play. The two rings where the arms join the body can be adjusted, using allen keys, to suit the size and shape of the prize.
When I was a kid we went to a laundromat and they had a few claw games. One of them has malfunctioned and you'd win every single time. The person working there gave me a garbage bag and I filled it with stuffed animals. They didn't get paid enough to bother with it.
They still made a profit. You can buy a pack of 100 of these toys online for 29 USD. If you "won" a hundred of these at a pound each they've made a good 100 USD from you.
"ClawControl.exe has performed an illegal operation, and feels guilty for screwing you. Take it all!" Now there would be a fun bluescreen on a touchscreen version of one!
The cheapest non-software method I've seen in those machines to implement the time-based strength was a ratcheting selector switch and a chain of 1 ohm resistors in series with the claw.. for every game played, it would jump forward one step and take one of the resistors out of the circuit. This also made the game rather reproducible and thus easy to fulfill legal payout requirements.
The more likely-simple ‘analog’ way of doing it, when I was a child with my parents at the seaside/funfair and seeing many an unfortunate child and parents trying to vend a stuffed toy from one of these ‘crane’ machines
Yes, my machines are set to grip on a selected number of plays. They will grip full strength on selected number then return to weak mode after that. Around my area, machines are set to win at 12 or 25 plays. That is on 1 dollar per play machines. The number will be higher on lower price per play machines.
@@Miner-49 since the toys cost like 29 cents, why wouldn't you set the payout to be nearly every time to encourage people to use them? There's one of them near where I shop daily and I hardly ever (maybe once a year) see someone play it because it hardly ever pays out.
I did maintenance in an arcade up until a year ago and seeing the nice simple control interface inside a modern claw machine, including the ramp speed of power and the DEFAULT setting for amount of plays before a win was a massive eye opener to me. Don't forget, there was still an element of skill involved so if you were unlucky enough (as a player) to hit the 1 in 75 chance of the claw being at full power, you still had to have grabbed something in the first place.
...i know poker/slot machines are setup like that too.. the highest win rate i seen on a list of games was 13%.. most were in the 5-8% range..and some as low as 1.5%
@@WacKEDmaN not sure of machine you talk of but when I was an engineer the % of a gaming machine was minimum 72%, usually Motorways, no regular customer, in pubs/clubs 78-82%, regular customers and arcades 90+ very regular customers, Gaming Board would have access to figures as I remember. The figures you give appear to be the return to the operator.
I remember hearing that approximately 15% of the money you put into a slot machine is returned in payouts. And that doesn't mean that you will be the one to get that 15%. It's designed to keep you engaged with small wins, believing that a bigger win is coming. I choose to set a spending limit and not exceed that amount. I started with $20 dollars, and after 2 hours of playing slots, I left with $20. And I got to drink as much soda as I wanted for free! I stayed at one casino that gave me a dirty room. I posted my complaint online and they called me in under an hour with an upgrade to a suite. You can't rent the suites. They are only upgrades given by the house. The suite was huge, with a two person shower, private toilet, 2 TV's, remote operated drapes, couch, table and chairs, and a king sized bed, and no cleaner than the first room. I had heard complaints that they had double charged people credit cards, so I used a prepaid card with the exact amount, and they did try to double charge me. They slipped a note under my door at 3am, telling me my card was declined and I had to evacuate at 7am. I called down and explained that I prepaid and that there was no reason to run my card a second time. They apologized and tried to blame their computer system. I suggested they read their reviews to see that it was a long standing complaint, and they should fix the problem. I believe the new owners likely addressed this problem son after my stay, as they own other casinos and would not want to associate their company with improper business practices. I've never been back to that casino to see if they ever got the rooms clean.
I once watched my son waste a handful of coins on one of those machines before telling him he was playing it wrong, he asked why?, so I told him if he looked properly he would be able to see the door was`nt actually locked, and suggested he grab a few good toys and disappear sharpish, which he did. I stayed put to enjoy all the other kids emptying the machine whilst drawing much attention to themselves, whilst my son had quietly sneaked away. Best laugh I had in ages.
I remember a line of these at a fun fair in Paris back in the 80s. I picked a machine at random and started wining at every play. My success drew a small crowd, which made me smile. Soon I saw the employees headed my direction with worried expressions, so I picked up my loot and went on my merry way. The winnings I gave away to friends, which again was worth a smile. That day, I played the claw.
I managed to win two ipod shuffles out of a Sega UFO catcher 'pure skill game' machine. I had to spend a couple of quid to set each one up so the claw would tilt the prize and scoop under it. As I was going for more change to 'win' more, the operator had come and put a 'out of order' sign on the machine.
@@Dwigt_Rortugal Online cassino's can and will change even the outcome of roulette. Did profit doubling on black and red but after while the outcome where beyond statistics. Like only black was falling and never red when i stayed on red. Than i addapt to change collors till the screen freezes and got kicked out..
Many modern machines actually use PWM style controls (if that's the right term?) in order to achieve smooth 'rigging'. (Dropping of the prize) Rather than the less sophisticated voltage reduction type controllers which tend to result in the claw opening very obviously when poorly set. In a quiet environment you can easily hear the pulsing of the solenoid of many types of machines. Primarily ones made by Elaut and Instance Automatics / Azko. Great to see you doing a video on a piece of arcade equipment. Would love to see more! 👍
In my childhood, I once went to a funfair and saw one of those claw machines. There was still a coin left in the machine, and on my very first try, I managed to grab a stuffed animal. I felt as if luck had personally chosen me. Since then, I’ve never played again because I’ve seen how people become frustrated with those machines and realized it was sheer, outrageous luck and not skill at all.
Years ago I happened across a report by the State of Michigan (USA) about these various fairground "games of skill". Very interesting, it included the economics (relative cost of the prizes vs. odds of winning) and mechanics. Fascinating reading, and a quickie search just now unfortunately did not turn it up.
Taiwan seems to LOVE claw machines, to the point where entire shop fronts will be dedicated to them. I don't know if by custom or by law, but once you've put a certain amount of money into them they will grab at full power until a prize is won. The machine will also display how many more losses are needed until the claw goes to full power. Seems to be done to enable the shopfront to be classed as a "gift shop" rather than any sort of gambling.
I've seen some kits where the claw strength is directly proportional to the amount of money put in per game. Horrible stuff, just turn them all into prize every time machines and everyone's happy.
I've owned a few older versions of the claw machine. They're completely mechanical and there's a screw/spring you adjust to increase/decrease clamping tension.
Indeed. The exceptions are Poker and Blackjack, where the hired muscle will usually throw you out of The House if you play too well (e.g. by counting cards).
In any competition for the most interesting employment history, Big Clive wins every time! It is almost as if Clive has lived such an interesting life so that he has precisely the kind of broad experience and mementoes necessary to entertain and educate us! Thanks!
There is an arcade in my city that had a number of these machines when I was young. One particular machine had a claw that one could lower part way, then adjust its position, then lower it further, etc. It was the only one I would play. My strategy was to wait until the employees refilled it with prizes. They always overfilled it. I would partially lower the claw on the far side of the heap, then drag it across the mountain of prizes, usually knocking something down the chute. Prizes varied over the years, but were similar in size to those shown in this video.
My job is actually working on claw machines. The machines I work on have 4 different claw strength settings: when the claw closes around the prize, when the claw is going back up, when the claw reaches the top, and when the claw is moving back to the prize chute. The company I work for has me set the strength to pick up the prizes and drop them as soon as they reach the top. Its definitely possible to win while the machines not in payout mode thougg, I actually see it happen a lot.
I’ve observed the phenomenon of the claw repeatedly exerting zero holding force (and showing no ability to pick up anything) when I’ve played them but somehow been enticed to try again on my next visit because of seeing others occasionally win. Thank you for this excellent explanation of what the hell has been going on!
When I was a kid I wanted to grow my hair long and be a hippy. My dad told the barber to give me a buzz cut. I was mad. We went to the fair. I threw a dart. I popped a balloon. I won a prize. The guy gave me a comb...
It shouldn't be. Certainly not disguised as a game of skill. There should be a big notice on the machine saying that it is not a game of skill, the claw grabbing strength is determined by the machine.
Its pretending to be a game of 'Skill', having said that have you looked at computer 'add on's to buy? like cash to buy "virtual objects" or "loot boxes" or other 'in game purchases' many counties banned the loot boxes because it was more like gambling as you didn't 'know' what you might get
I remember when they installed a new one of these machines at the local shops. I think they forgot to rigg it because nearly every grab it gave away a toy. None of the toys slipped out/dropped from the claw. Once you grabbed one, it was yours. We ended up leaving with a bulging shopping bag full (more than 2 dozen from memory). My kids were happy. The next week, pretty much every toy was slipping out of the claw. It was very obvious things had been adjusted. 👍
I used to work for a supplier of machines, we had one of these come through the workshops. Unlike this one, the claws on the one we had in pivoted outwards at the point where yours are riveted to the small arms coming out from the centre bit. Resulted in the grab strength being perpetually weak.
The scam of the claw machine is one of the first I figured out as a kid. It only took a little bit of observation to see that the claw was either not strong enough for the job or was intentionally too limp. The one time I saw someone "win" something was when part of the tag got caught in the pivot point of one of the claw arms.
In a few months 'Big Clive builds his own claw machine game' I can't wait to see what he stocks in it! Random small bottles of carbonated mystery alcohols? Satchels of electronic components? Soldering kits for making simple practice circuits? Any assortment of the above?
Thanks for explaining the convolutions of the cheat! I always thought that the solenoid was permanently underpowered and didn't know there was a strategy in it.
Back in highschool I was a closet "Brony" which meant I really liked the show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, but I never spoke of it. We went to our "senior lock in" at an arcade. In the machine at the arcade place there was a very adorable fluttershy plushie. Snagged it after three tries. One was a miss, the other was a grab but it dropped it, but I hooked the tag somehow and when the claw opened it got stuck. Was already about two in the morning and the technicians had gone home, and one weird thing was this machine was open on top and I was tall enough to touch the gantry crane inside. So I wiggled the gantry crane enough to knock it loose into the prize chute. I still have it, and almost lost it when I had to pretend not to care about it. Threw it in the bin only to retrieve it two minutes later. Fun times.
I was hooked on these awful things as a kid (though I did famously win one particular machine on a consistent basis) and always assumed that they were just programmed with no strength at all; I didn't realize they were programmed and calibrated precisely by the owners! This was a neat watch. Cute plushies, btw. I love the sleepy-looking orange one.
I would never forget my first encounter with these claw machines. I used all the money I had thinking it was a game of skill and then I had the realisation that I’ve been had.
Props for assembling a large selection of toys to pad out the demonstration and make it realistic. Reminds me of Doc Browns "Forgive the crudity of this model" : )
Very realistic indeed. The prizes have to be cheap, ugly, and not particularly soft. The kind that gets lost under the bed and sleeps with the dust bunnies.
Or, you wait until someone walks away from the machine, frustrated after not getting a toy despite dumping a bunch of cash in, then swoop-in to reap their "bad luck."
Not really as the machines setting can switched manually by an operator . So it can win for a night or a few hours then switch it down for a week or two.
Our local machine lets you pay by ATM card. Presumably the machine could recognise a new -mark- customer having a go and 'forget' that the previous person had just lost a load of money, and just reset its loss-per-customer counter.
I remember a couple of these machines here in Australia someone had set up in the 1990s or early 2000s, where the claw would always do a full grab initially, but then completely cut power to it after a random interval as it moved towards the return chute. So it wasn't a case of 'grab' or 'fail to grab', it would _always_ grab the thing if you lined it up properly - but it was pot luck whether the claw would stay engaged for long enough to move the thing to the chute and dispense it. This meant that, psychologically, people registered it as _getting_ and then _losing_ a prize, which made them _very_ angry. People used to legitimately scream at the things; I don't know whether that was just the machines' designers being stupid, or if it was intentionally set up that way for some warped reason. But they definitely had machines that used to do that at a couple of movie cinemas I used to go to; possibly other places as well.
It depends. Most are lookalike knockoffs but sometimes you get branded, authorised merchandise. I bought a Casdon Huggable Hetty to go with the Henry I got from a claw game on Weston pier, and Hetty was at least a tenner.
I would love to see you pull apart more arcade games. It’s almost like watching childhood vengeance unfold in front of us. joking aside, I think this was a fun breakdown and would enjoy more arcade stuff.
I remember one years ago that would almost always pay out. It was obviously programmed wrong and usually almost empty. The person that put it in probably did not know what they were doing and now I know. 😂😂😂
I had a similar thing happen, it was our end of school (final year) trip to Alton towers, one of the grabbers started paying out on every play, I ended up with a queue of about 10-15 girls from the school year all basking in my “skill” of winning them all a prize 😂😂
Or the toys were cheap and they just didn't mind paying out all the time. We have a couple set to "play until you win" - the machines are cheaper than a vending machine, offer some amusement value, and prevent kids from burning through all their parents money in seconds.
I have literally never touched a claw machine. My dad calls them "piss your paycheck away on a $2 watch machines" And he's right. Glad some people at least game the system and beat the scam. It's fun to see someone clean out a claw machine and watch the owner go crazy! I saw it happen once at a Party Hub.
This is only tangentially related... I was with my kids at an arcade that was definitely raking it in. They had this elaborate, fully automated shooting gallery setup that was decorated like an old wild west scene. Targets would light up, and you were supposed to hit them when lit. The arcade was full and very busy, but one was ever playing it. We gave it a try, and no matter which gun we used, the odds of winning were so bad that it was frustrating almost immediately. You were lucky if the shot counter incremented once for an entire round. The arcade had obviously sunk some decent money into this thing, but they got greedy and made it impossible to the point that no one played it anymore.
I've had excellent success with these machines, especially after having observed others playing one for a bit to get an idea of which toys are loose and which are wedged together. Once I've chosen a few toys to target, my typical tactic is to get the claw swinging before/as it drops so it grabs toys from the side. Not only does the claw tend to close better, but the toy often gets wedged towards the top of the claw, greatly reducing the chance it falls out, regardless of the claw's gripping power. Not that I ever had much use for the toys, for years I found it a cheap challenge to pass some time while waiting for my laundry. This video makes me want to go see if I can apply this newfound knowledge.
Like a poker machine, they don't pay out until they take so much cash in. Funnily enough, all of it is a part of the "amusements racket," which includes gambling, etc..
It's been going on since people started setting up tin cans in pyramids, spaced juuuust too far apart for them all to be knocked down with one ball -- unless the barker wants to show you how easy it is.
I remember spotting a claw grabber in a holiday park in South Wales where one axis of the grabber had "unplugged itself", you could see the plug disconnected up top. This left an obvious groove of grabbed teddies and everything else untouched. A Trading Standards visit soon followed.
It seems like, in many cases, the Scandinavian countries think about things more sensibly, but with their own unique perspective and spin on it. That's really interesting.
I was trying to teach my nephew that they were a scam this summer. He still put his $2 that he was given into the machine and it limp twisted the stuffed animal... I said see, it's not going to let anyone win until it feels like it.
I'd love to see you do a series about fair games and such! When I was younger I once won a claw game on the first play. I now realize just how lucky I was. 🤣
I had seen things where people try and count the plays between wins but you could be there for days doing it that way, I've also seen people able to move in more than two directions at once, swinging the claw, except I have never seen those in real life, you move one direction and then another and that's all the move you get, I suppose the buttons are differently connected and cannot affect the power to the claw, so there is no way to cheat the game, honestly, it's cheaper to go and buy one of the desired sun bleached toys from amazon
I remember machines like this as a kid, where they were set up to give a price pretty much 100% of the time. You even got retries if you missed. Of course the prizes were such that they would still make a profit, but I definitely liked those as a kid.
Spent many years working on these and the solenoid was the usual culprit causing around 90% of service calls. Most of them also have 'overpayment' protection if the machine paid out too many toys if they bounce out or get stick on a claw arm outside of the pay cycle, this causes the machine to lock up and await a nice gentleman to turn up to clear the errors and diagnostics before it would continue on its happy way again.
I believe I experienced that payout protection once, or something like it. Years ago I tried to grab a Me to You bear, which was wearing a scarf with a £5 note tucked in it. On the 3rd go, one of the pincers slipped right through the scarf and bear's neck and became snagged, therefore lifting the bear up unexpectedly. When the claw was back up to full height, it paused, then starting rocking back and forth while extending and retracting the pincers, as if trying to drop the bear as much as possible. After a few seconds of that, the machine just stopped functioning all together. Still got someone to open it up and get the bear out for me though.
I work at an arcade and setting the payout on the claw is one of the more interesting parts. Some claws we have are just 3 POTs that allow you to adjust the grab, retention, and the bonus voltage. You set how many games it will take for the claw to be ready to pay out and then it will only grab using the bonus voltage (typically set as the highest voltage the claw allows) when that number of games is reached. It’s a bummer if you happen to play the 1 out of whatever game and drop the claw poorly, as the number of games to win starts over. Newer claws have a setting that holds the claw in its bonus mode until there is a win, which I much prefer. These claws also can automatically set their grab and retention voltages by measuring the weight of the prize. I think the whole process is interesting and honestly fun to mess with. Luckily, I get to explain how it all works to those who play at my arcade. You’d think it would make people not want to play, but I have found them to strategize a bit better with this knowledge. Plus we set our claws to a higher payout percentage because we like to see winners. I’ve got a handy spreadsheet with a calculator of how I get how many games it takes to win based on what payout percentage you want, how much a play costs, and how much a prize costs. I can send you a copy if you are interested.
Yep, these are a scam like any other gambling machine. You can set the payout percentage on the control board depending on how much money you want to make off the suckers, I mean customers. Usually the ones in places like Chuck-E Cheese and other children's amusement arcades are fairer, and I'm sure some jurisdictions have laws to ensure fairness is guaranteed, assuming the operator follows them.
My machines are labeled “a game of chance”. There is not much skill needed. Other than getting the claw lined up close to the prize on the selected “win” cycle. People here know it’s low odds but play a couple of times for fun. People are taking things way too serious.
IDK if it is still the same, but UK machines used to be classed as AWP or SWP games. That was Amusement With Prizes and Skill With Prizes. They were allowed different odds of winning and different jackpot amounts. That was when the fruit machine/bandit jackpots were maybe around £5 or £10 maximum jackpot, by law.
There was a crain game in a bowling alley once and you could control everything about the crain, its position, height and when the claw closed. I was able to win almost every single time I played. Usually a loss was due to me not positioning it correctly. The whole thing was reliable and worked as expected. Claw force never changed.
I always figured they were a scam/rigged but not to the extent of voltage programming control on the grabber , Most people just send their tiny kid up the prize flap now and have them grab what they want but then the fire department has to take it apart to get them out.
I found the manual for one of these machines about two decades ago. It was interesting to see the variables, including one that would pick up the prize, but then reduce the claw power so it would fall again. It was all about making you think you nearly had it.
My parents used to own a house in Melton Mowbray, which was the only property close to where a fairground set up. The owners of dozens of sideshows used to run masses of cables along our fence to a sea of splitters plugged into some yellowing sockets. It wasn't ideal (and it was hot enough to smell!) but what they paid for not using diesel generators for days on end used to cover the annual electricity bill. I'm sure my father over-charged and now I'm happy that he did!
I remember saying to a Friend in my Teenage days "I bet that thing doesn't pick up the toys until a certain amount of Money has been put in" as he shovelled his $1 and $2 coins into one at a Shopping Centre thanks for this very informative Vid Big Clive!
My brother was freakishly good on those machines. I don't know how, but almost every time or second time he would get the prize, regardless how it was played.
So if it's just a solenoid, I wonder if you could hack these with a strong enough magnet. Might be difficult to smuggle Brainiac75's "monster magnet" into the arcade though.
There is a claw machine place in houston that seems to put the settings at either 1 of 2 or 1 of 3 wins. It was an awesome evening. Never won so much stuff. The trick was that even if you win 100 percent it was profitable. I’m happy with that arrangement.
Surely a *granny knot,* like a reef knot, connects TWO ENDS of a piece of string? What you have there is an ordinary, common-or-garden, single-end knot.
It's a really interesting read of the programming manual for claw machines, they have auto learn based on item weight when it grabs, and all sorts of ways to increase the payout/dropped toys and appearance you might be about to win.
@25566 Seriously. That's just robbery, considering that these machines seem to always have the absolute cheapest, most garbage prizes. The amusement is all the owner's. 😊
Now I know, why I never won anything despite sinking tons of my precious quarters into these. Closest thing to it: A slot machine in Las Vegas. Nothing ever comes out. 😢 Thanks for providing this valuable insight. 👍
The old guy that taught me the arcade industry taught me when you refill the cranes, you pack the top layer as much as possible. These machines were all electromechanical; no "earnings based" stuff. Sega tried something like this with Keymaster. It did not go well for them in court.
There are a few different ways the cranes work. One of the more common methods is that the machine is set to an average win rate. It will typically not grab tightly until it reaches a set number of plays with no wins. This method is not allowed in some states in the US because it is more like gambling with less skill involved. Other machines will have potentiometers that you set at different strengths for the claw. Typically it will grab at one strength. Then it will lift at a different strengths. Once it reaches the top, it will go to another strength for the travel back to the hole to drop. This way you will grab at a higher strength giving you the impression that you got it. It will weaken while lifting possibly dropping it which urges you to try again. If it makes it to the top, it will weaken again and possibly drop it on the travel back to start. Each time it weakens is to make you think that you can win with just one more go.
A friend of mine is really good at claw games. Years ago he explained how much they manipulate the strength of the claw. Often it’d barely be enough to pick up something, but sometimes it’d actually grab it really well. Generally the trick was to just always get it in a good position so when it went to higher power mode it would for sure pickup whatever.
I win at these quite often. I never expect the claw to keep holding the stuff and slowly carry it over to the chute and I rarely win that way either. The claw will always move the stuff a bit, if you grab it well enough. And that is more then enough to maneuver, roll, flip, push, the prizes around and get it into the chute that way. That of course only applies if you play at a machine that is filled properly, and has prizes you can actually grab and reach. So the most important part is, checking out the machines for a suitable one. That might not be the prize you want though.
Crane machines in my neck of the woods (UK, South East) declare that machines are a "game of percentage, luck & skill" which is a fancy way of saying "we don't pay out until we want to". What I do is hover until someone walks away, then do a £1-£2 punt to see if it is pay out time.
I had a CompSci professor who helped design and program casino games before teaching. He was basically their random number generator guru for their first microprocessor-based machines LOL. Still he told a couple cool stories though. And yes, they're rigged (to an extent, a "define 'rigged'" kinda thing)
The only 'prize' I ever got from claw machines was the knowledge that fairgrounds aren't fair.
Should be called unfair grounds. 😁
omg, the lowkey pun.
That prize is worth more money than any I've ever seen.
You got a life lesson and that's priceless =D
@@Novous Or an addiction... also priceless...
The claw is our master. The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
Well done. Not everyone will get that reference!
THE CLAAAAAAAAW!!!
I have been chosen! Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place.
"Why won't it go?"
"Use the wand of power!"
Magic Claw has no children. His days are free and easy.
I used to be involved with the entertainments team at Camelot theme park, one season they developed part of the site of themed fairground style sideshow games and a small arcade full of claw machines, setup by one of the team who came from a family of seaside arcade owners in Wales. He gleefully explained that they were all adjusted to full strength because the were a pound per play and the prizes were 50p each to buy.
Honest hustle, everybody wins 🤣
This was my comment: *THERE IS A MACHINE NEAR ME* [Burgas Bulgaria] - it must have the least greedy owner ever - people win all the time
Id say its on average 2 goes for 1 win, so there is a bit of chance but no one goes away feeling totally ripped off
@@piccalillipit9211 usually depends on the prize cost
something worth 50 cents will always be 100% full strength
@arcade_matt has videos on it
besides claw strength (picks up)
grip strength (when it carries the item)
coins needed to win
but like if a item cost $20.00 you might need to play 15.00 before the strength goes up
Used to love Camelot as a kid (in the 90s).
Was very disappointed to hear about it closing down.
Honestly low stakes and full strength seems like an ideal way to set these things up. People get the joy of trying to win a prize, you get your money, and there's no real deception
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
How about a nice game of chess.😗
Ferris Buellers Day Off , great film
War games great film
@Jim-MNK huh?
Every gambler knows but rarely follows the advice
"You're not playing the crane; the crane is playing you." Truly words of wisdom.
Except in soviet Russia, probably.
No, the PLC is playing you technically.
When I was a kid I played one of these games while a tech was doing some work on it. After I lost the told me I could try again for free and pointed to a toy I should go for as if he possessed some arcane knowledge on the best toy to grab. I didnt get it. He told me to try again for free and I got it.
I was always confused at how he was so knowledgeable about which toy would be the easiest grab ... now I realize he was rigging the game for me.
TY old tech guy, Im sorry I dont know your name but you made a kids day.. I immediately gifted it to my babysitter so you probably made her day too 😆
Actually some items are easy to grab and some are impossible, even with a 'fair' game. I can usually just glance at the bin and the claw and tell which, if any, of the prizes are possible. Likely he was doing the same thing.
Awesome! love to read nice stories. Rare nowadays, sadly...
These arcade machines should be illegal because they purport to be a game of skill when in fact when most people play they are programmed to be unwinnable.
casino is the same
Welcome to LIFE
Here in Norway, if you want to avoid the strict rules for a pure lottery, the machine must have "an element of skill". The law does not specify this "element" in any detail. In other words, if the outcome of the game is 99% luck, you're good. You still need a permit to operate such a machine, though.
@@jamesjames5715 Some casino games don't represent themselves as involving any skill (e.g., slots). Others give negative expected value even with perfect play, so the only skill is in losing less quickly (e.g. roulette or craps). Some, like poker, genuinely involve skill in winning from other players, as long as other players' losses are enough to cover the house's rake from the pot.
None of these cases really involve representing the game as winnable via skill when it really isn't.
You can't be serious.
One time I won a unicorn at Universal Studios for $1 (the price of a single play) by accidentally getting the unicorn's horn stuck in the part that goes up and down to open/close the claw. It was locked in tight! One of my proudest claw machine moments.
This should be the epithet on your gravestone: 'I won a Toy Unicorn in The Claw Game'. Millions would come, to pay homage at the grave. Many would disbelieve, it's surely a myth - an urban legend?..But, NO: IT HAPPENED!...
Kinda surprised it even dropped into the chute when it returned.
I won things, you gotta pick your battles. Big soft toys that can get stuck is the target if not move along😂
I still have the unicorn I won at Universal Studies... 40 years ago... Phew I'm old
Top tip - if you ever have to play these machines, you can sometimes judge by the presence of dust on the win chut flap that it's not going to be easy.
But maybe the machine will finally be ready to pay out! You'll never know unless you sink 20 quid into it!
Had to include that sometimes because there are always people who go around fiddling in the reward bins looking for left behind prizes/coins
@@RedTail1-1 There used to be a couple of those coin push machines where coins would sometimes get stuck on the flap above the outlet and by tapping it, you could knock them off. Not really worth it for 2p but when you're a kid and you've already spent all your coins... There was also another machine in Southsea with a fatal infinite money flaw.
It's due!
@@smittzero846320 quid for the ugliest, most cheaply made toy from a forgotten palette three layers deep in the back of a rusting warehouse. "Daddy, help me get the yellow one!"
I'll never forget the claw machine in Pizza Hut that was calibrated wrong and was super easy to win instead of just stealing money. I was working EMS as a medic around 2006... We emptied that machine and went around the restaurant giving out stuffed toys to all the kids.
The one at our local Shoney's was kind of like that, it didn't pay off on the first grab but after 3 or 4 you had a decent chance. My son's room was decorated with toys when he was a toddler.
Awww, that was very kind of you!
And no manager dares speak to you about it because you're in a paramedic uniform. 😂 Genius.
I was a coin-op tech in the U.S. for 30+ years. I can tell you that originally the claws were settable (single fixed voltage) and the government got wind of this and banned them as gambling machines. Then the industry changed to a single fixed voltage (that was determined by a panel of 'experts'). After that any machines that had adjustable voltages where seized and crushed. I was even brought in by our local undercover police to examine some seized machines to see if they were the correct voltage and show to undercover cops how to spot the difference. Finally they set up a few machines side by side and had a few common people play for awhile to see the 'win' ratio then a few people that were known to be good at them and this was proof to the government that they were a game of skill after the fixed voltage. So here the voltage is to the be same on very claw drop or the machine is not legal (and subject to inspection and test at any time). Unscrupulous operators have always tried different ways to limit wins like using velcro to stick plush together (making it almost impossible to win the larger animals) to pressing them in tightly together and even glueing more expensive ones down to the bottom of the machine.
Crushing up an entire machine instead of setting a fixed voltage is very wasteful.
@@jannikheidemann3805 it was punishment to the operator, but fixing the machine and selling it would been more painful to most con men knowing some on got a machine cheaper then them and them not getting a cent from it
Anyone who owns a crane game needs to be heavily scrutinized themselves.
I see owning a crane game as a red flag.
And this just cemented my belief. Velcro? GLUE?!! Crane game owners are a bunch, they are.
Very interesting, thanks for posting this.
@@Sphendrana Not all operators but yes plenty were bad players. And there is no need for it, there is a profit to be had operating them legitimately, the company I worked for did this and we had some jumbo cranes that pulled in more than $1k a week with no hanky panky and used up about $250 in prizes. So then $750 was split between the operator (company I worked for) and the location (bar, restaurant, bowling alley...).
You can win every time. All you need is a brick in your pocket and an ability to run fast.
@@cliveadams7629 Does that work with coin pushers too?
You won't get away with it next time, plush philanderer! Claw Man will get you one of these days!
That's a clawman argument
One day many years ago my friends and I were at the arcade and there was a problem with the claw machine eating coins and not working. We called the teenage wage slave over and they opened it up, flipped a switch inside, cleared the coin mechanism, closed it up and walked away.
We quickly realised that the machine had been left in "maintenance mode" and you could use the buttons to move the claw as many times as you liked instead of one shot for each direction.
A friend of mine spent several hours curled over that machine and even with the ability to place the claw *exactly* where she wanted, she won maybe five or six prizes. It just cemented my belief that all such devices are designed to separate a fool from their money.
When I worked in arcades 20+ years ago, the biggest pains on the cranes were the string breaking at the claw and the cable becoming fatigued at the point it entered the head. The coils all had solder tabs on the top so you could cut the wire and resolder it. Our machines were set to pay out at a better percentage than most. The idea is that if you see someone winning then you will be more likely to play. The two rings where the arms join the body can be adjusted, using allen keys, to suit the size and shape of the prize.
Alien keys? So these use extraterrestrial technology?
@@shawbros😂
👽🔑
@@shawbros The claw is our master. The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
@@shawbrosthe claaaaaw
When I was a kid we went to a laundromat and they had a few claw games. One of them has malfunctioned and you'd win every single time. The person working there gave me a garbage bag and I filled it with stuffed animals. They didn't get paid enough to bother with it.
I have a mental image of a claw machine loaded with odd lost socks and Tide pods.
What did you do with all the stuffed animals?
They still made a profit. You can buy a pack of 100 of these toys online for 29 USD. If you "won" a hundred of these at a pound each they've made a good 100 USD from you.
"ClawControl.exe has performed an illegal operation, and feels guilty for screwing you. Take it all!" Now there would be a fun bluescreen on a touchscreen version of one!
The cheapest non-software method I've seen in those machines to implement the time-based strength was a ratcheting selector switch and a chain of 1 ohm resistors in series with the claw.. for every game played, it would jump forward one step and take one of the resistors out of the circuit. This also made the game rather reproducible and thus easy to fulfill legal payout requirements.
Interesting. I've never seen one like that.
Using a Uniselector is actually a good idea, BTW. Modern PLC'S have Uniselectors and Drum Controller function blocks built in.
The more likely-simple ‘analog’ way of doing it, when I was a child with my parents at the seaside/funfair and seeing many an unfortunate child and parents trying to vend a stuffed toy from one of these ‘crane’ machines
Yes, my machines are set to grip on a selected number of plays. They will grip full strength on selected number then return to weak mode after that. Around my area, machines are set to win at 12 or 25 plays.
That is on 1 dollar per play machines. The number will be higher on lower price per play machines.
@@Miner-49 since the toys cost like 29 cents, why wouldn't you set the payout to be nearly every time to encourage people to use them? There's one of them near where I shop daily and I hardly ever (maybe once a year) see someone play it because it hardly ever pays out.
I did maintenance in an arcade up until a year ago and seeing the nice simple control interface inside a modern claw machine, including the ramp speed of power and the DEFAULT setting for amount of plays before a win was a massive eye opener to me. Don't forget, there was still an element of skill involved so if you were unlucky enough (as a player) to hit the 1 in 75 chance of the claw being at full power, you still had to have grabbed something in the first place.
...i know poker/slot machines are setup like that too.. the highest win rate i seen on a list of games was 13%.. most were in the 5-8% range..and some as low as 1.5%
@@WacKEDmaN not sure of machine you talk of but when I was an engineer the % of a gaming machine was minimum 72%, usually Motorways, no regular customer, in pubs/clubs 78-82%, regular customers and arcades 90+ very regular customers, Gaming Board would have access to figures as I remember.
The figures you give appear to be the return to the operator.
I remember hearing that approximately 15% of the money you put into a slot machine is returned in payouts. And that doesn't mean that you will be the one to get that 15%. It's designed to keep you engaged with small wins, believing that a bigger win is coming. I choose to set a spending limit and not exceed that amount. I started with $20 dollars, and after 2 hours of playing slots, I left with $20. And I got to drink as much soda as I wanted for free! I stayed at one casino that gave me a dirty room. I posted my complaint online and they called me in under an hour with an upgrade to a suite. You can't rent the suites. They are only upgrades given by the house. The suite was huge, with a two person shower, private toilet, 2 TV's, remote operated drapes, couch, table and chairs, and a king sized bed, and no cleaner than the first room. I had heard complaints that they had double charged people credit cards, so I used a prepaid card with the exact amount, and they did try to double charge me. They slipped a note under my door at 3am, telling me my card was declined and I had to evacuate at 7am. I called down and explained that I prepaid and that there was no reason to run my card a second time. They apologized and tried to blame their computer system. I suggested they read their reviews to see that it was a long standing complaint, and they should fix the problem. I believe the new owners likely addressed this problem son after my stay, as they own other casinos and would not want to associate their company with improper business practices. I've never been back to that casino to see if they ever got the rooms clean.
@@WacKEDmaN *saw
I thought if it was advertised as a "game of skill," this kind of 'cheating' was illegal?
"I didn't actually intend to do this, but that's okay. It's what we're doing now." Literally sums up my entire philosophy about living life.
I once watched my son waste a handful of coins on one of those machines before telling him he was playing it wrong, he asked why?, so I told him if he looked properly he would be able to see the door was`nt actually locked, and suggested he grab a few good toys and disappear sharpish, which he did. I stayed put to enjoy all the other kids emptying the machine whilst drawing much attention to themselves, whilst my son had quietly sneaked away. Best laugh I had in ages.
I remember a line of these at a fun fair in Paris back in the 80s. I picked a machine at random and started wining at every play. My success drew a small crowd, which made me smile. Soon I saw the employees headed my direction with worried expressions, so I picked up my loot and went on my merry way. The winnings I gave away to friends, which again was worth a smile. That day, I played the claw.
I managed to win two ipod shuffles out of a Sega UFO catcher 'pure skill game' machine. I had to spend a couple of quid to set each one up so the claw would tilt the prize and scoop under it. As I was going for more change to 'win' more, the operator had come and put a 'out of order' sign on the machine.
You were winning, and we certainly can't have that. It's like getting kicked out of the casino. 😂
@@Dwigt_Rortugal Online cassino's can and will change even the outcome of roulette.
Did profit doubling on black and red but after while the outcome where beyond statistics.
Like only black was falling and never red when i stayed on red.
Than i addapt to change collors till the screen freezes and got kicked out..
Many modern machines actually use PWM style controls (if that's the right term?) in order to achieve smooth 'rigging'. (Dropping of the prize) Rather than the less sophisticated voltage reduction type controllers which tend to result in the claw opening very obviously when poorly set. In a quiet environment you can easily hear the pulsing of the solenoid of many types of machines. Primarily ones made by Elaut and Instance Automatics / Azko. Great to see you doing a video on a piece of arcade equipment. Would love to see more! 👍
PWM IS the right term. Good job. 😂
"You're not playing the crane the crane is playing you" well said well said Clive well said. Job well done great video as always.
In my childhood, I once went to a funfair and saw one of those claw machines. There was still a coin left in the machine, and on my very first try, I managed to grab a stuffed animal. I felt as if luck had personally chosen me. Since then, I’ve never played again because I’ve seen how people become frustrated with those machines and realized it was sheer, outrageous luck and not skill at all.
Years ago I happened across a report by the State of Michigan (USA) about these various fairground "games of skill". Very interesting, it included the economics (relative cost of the prizes vs. odds of winning) and mechanics. Fascinating reading, and a quickie search just now unfortunately did not turn it up.
Taiwan seems to LOVE claw machines, to the point where entire shop fronts will be dedicated to them.
I don't know if by custom or by law, but once you've put a certain amount of money into them they will grab at full power until a prize is won. The machine will also display how many more losses are needed until the claw goes to full power. Seems to be done to enable the shopfront to be classed as a "gift shop" rather than any sort of gambling.
Why would anyone play a machine with a high loss count? Basically the machine is telling you how much you have to spend to "win" something!
I've seen some kits where the claw strength is directly proportional to the amount of money put in per game. Horrible stuff, just turn them all into prize every time machines and everyone's happy.
I've owned a few older versions of the claw machine. They're completely mechanical and there's a screw/spring you adjust to increase/decrease clamping tension.
A simple Rule for the Claw Game, or any Game of Chance.
The House Always Wins
Indeed.
The exceptions are Poker and Blackjack, where the hired muscle will usually throw you out of The House if you play too well (e.g. by counting cards).
In any competition for the most interesting employment history, Big Clive wins every time! It is almost as if Clive has lived such an interesting life so that he has precisely the kind of broad experience and mementoes necessary to entertain and educate us! Thanks!
In hindsight, I've had a ridiculous life. Very bizarre.
Would be intrigued to hear about it one day Clive.
It’s called experience! 😜
There is an arcade in my city that had a number of these machines when I was young. One particular machine had a claw that one could lower part way, then adjust its position, then lower it further, etc. It was the only one I would play.
My strategy was to wait until the employees refilled it with prizes. They always overfilled it. I would partially lower the claw on the far side of the heap, then drag it across the mountain of prizes, usually knocking something down the chute. Prizes varied over the years, but were similar in size to those shown in this video.
That's so good
My job is actually working on claw machines. The machines I work on have 4 different claw strength settings: when the claw closes around the prize, when the claw is going back up, when the claw reaches the top, and when the claw is moving back to the prize chute.
The company I work for has me set the strength to pick up the prizes and drop them as soon as they reach the top.
Its definitely possible to win while the machines not in payout mode thougg, I actually see it happen a lot.
I’ve observed the phenomenon of the claw repeatedly exerting zero holding force (and showing no ability to pick up anything) when I’ve played them but somehow been enticed to try again on my next visit because of seeing others occasionally win. Thank you for this excellent explanation of what the hell has been going on!
When I was a kid I wanted to grow my hair long and be a hippy. My dad told the barber to give me a buzz cut. I was mad. We went to the fair. I threw a dart. I popped a balloon. I won a prize. The guy gave me a comb...
Emotional Damage!
And this is why when the father gets old he won't even get the low tier old folks home, just a cardboard box.
I do find it interesting how this kind of gambling is okay for children.
It teaches them that gambling is a mugs game,
It shouldn't be. Certainly not disguised as a game of skill. There should be a big notice on the machine saying that it is not a game of skill, the claw grabbing strength is determined by the machine.
@@martineylesthere is still an “element of skill” which is what makes it “ok”
Its pretending to be a game of 'Skill', having said that have you looked at computer 'add on's to buy? like cash to buy "virtual objects" or "loot boxes" or other 'in game purchases' many counties banned the loot boxes because it was more like gambling as you didn't 'know' what you might get
"If those kids could read, they'd be very upset"
lol all those bears have an expression on their face like they're drunk.
So a claw machine is basically just fancy "disguised gambling" with cheap, mass manufactured prizes instead of real money.
Not the craw,, the craw.
A good start to this New Year with the Big C himself, his collection of fluffies and obligatory "plunger...just flapping loose inside there". 😁
I remember when they installed a new one of these machines at the local shops. I think they forgot to rigg it because nearly every grab it gave away a toy. None of the toys slipped out/dropped from the claw. Once you grabbed one, it was yours. We ended up leaving with a bulging shopping bag full (more than 2 dozen from memory). My kids were happy.
The next week, pretty much every toy was slipping out of the claw. It was very obvious things had been adjusted. 👍
I used to work for a supplier of machines, we had one of these come through the workshops. Unlike this one, the claws on the one we had in pivoted outwards at the point where yours are riveted to the small arms coming out from the centre bit.
Resulted in the grab strength being perpetually weak.
The scam of the claw machine is one of the first I figured out as a kid. It only took a little bit of observation to see that the claw was either not strong enough for the job or was intentionally too limp. The one time I saw someone "win" something was when part of the tag got caught in the pivot point of one of the claw arms.
Aiming for the tag on purpose is a strategy I've seen used in claw machine videos.
In a few months 'Big Clive builds his own claw machine game' I can't wait to see what he stocks in it! Random small bottles of carbonated mystery alcohols? Satchels of electronic components? Soldering kits for making simple practice circuits? Any assortment of the above?
Various scented oils for your favorite air "freshener" please!
Fireworks.
Spent fuel-rod flameless ration heaters
poppers, lots and lots of poppers
I feel like this blows my childhood and my daughter’s childhood wide apart. 😂 This is the vid I didn’t know I needed.
@0:37 Very clear explanation.... This is what in the industry is called a "payout game" or a "payout system"
The brand e-claw is notorious for doing this
Thanks for explaining the convolutions of the cheat! I always thought that the solenoid was permanently underpowered and didn't know there was a strategy in it.
The CLAAAAAWWWWW!
The Baron approves this message
Ze Craw?
No one can save them from the claw!
The Jew Claw.
You have been chosen!
Back in highschool I was a closet "Brony" which meant I really liked the show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, but I never spoke of it. We went to our "senior lock in" at an arcade. In the machine at the arcade place there was a very adorable fluttershy plushie. Snagged it after three tries. One was a miss, the other was a grab but it dropped it, but I hooked the tag somehow and when the claw opened it got stuck. Was already about two in the morning and the technicians had gone home, and one weird thing was this machine was open on top and I was tall enough to touch the gantry crane inside. So I wiggled the gantry crane enough to knock it loose into the prize chute. I still have it, and almost lost it when I had to pretend not to care about it. Threw it in the bin only to retrieve it two minutes later. Fun times.
I was hooked on these awful things as a kid (though I did famously win one particular machine on a consistent basis) and always assumed that they were just programmed with no strength at all; I didn't realize they were programmed and calibrated precisely by the owners! This was a neat watch.
Cute plushies, btw. I love the sleepy-looking orange one.
I would never forget my first encounter with these claw machines. I used all the money I had thinking it was a game of skill and then I had the realisation that I’ve been had.
If Clive goes missing we will know which video was the reason ;)
Big Clive last seen being thrown off a pier lol
@@SiAnon Swung off the pier and dropped by a giant claw....
@@6yjjk 🤣🤣🤣
By a bunch of carnies!
Props for assembling a large selection of toys to pad out the demonstration and make it realistic. Reminds me of Doc Browns "Forgive the crudity of this model" : )
Very realistic indeed. The prizes have to be cheap, ugly, and not particularly soft. The kind that gets lost under the bed and sleeps with the dust bunnies.
Or, you wait until someone walks away from the machine, frustrated after not getting a toy despite dumping a bunch of cash in, then swoop-in to reap their "bad luck."
Exactly: this is one of those times the superstition "it's due for a win" actually has some reality.
Not really as the machines setting can switched manually by an operator . So it can win for a night or a few hours then switch it down for a week or two.
Our local machine lets you pay by ATM card.
Presumably the machine could recognise a new -mark- customer having a go and 'forget' that the previous person had just lost a load of money, and just reset its loss-per-customer counter.
@@massimookissed1023 Probably the machine I knew was old . They would target new holiday makers on their first visit. That was years ago now.
I see you (OP) have fallen for the Gambler's Fallacy.
I remember a couple of these machines here in Australia someone had set up in the 1990s or early 2000s, where the claw would always do a full grab initially, but then completely cut power to it after a random interval as it moved towards the return chute. So it wasn't a case of 'grab' or 'fail to grab', it would _always_ grab the thing if you lined it up properly - but it was pot luck whether the claw would stay engaged for long enough to move the thing to the chute and dispense it. This meant that, psychologically, people registered it as _getting_ and then _losing_ a prize, which made them _very_ angry. People used to legitimately scream at the things; I don't know whether that was just the machines' designers being stupid, or if it was intentionally set up that way for some warped reason. But they definitely had machines that used to do that at a couple of movie cinemas I used to go to; possibly other places as well.
Those plushies, bought in bulk, cost certainly not more than £1,00 think more like £0,30.
I vaguely remember that they came in big bags very cheaply.
It depends. Most are lookalike knockoffs but sometimes you get branded, authorised merchandise. I bought a Casdon Huggable Hetty to go with the Henry I got from a claw game on Weston pier, and Hetty was at least a tenner.
@@rogercantwell3622 Pretty sure they'll be whatever's cheap! All the Weston arcades were stocked with plush "prime" drink bottles for a while!
In the states, I buy them in bulk for about 2 to 5 dollars each. The price depends on size or branding.
@ I work fun fair, there bulk is per 500 or more.
I would love to see you pull apart more arcade games. It’s almost like watching childhood vengeance unfold in front of us. joking aside, I think this was a fun breakdown and would enjoy more arcade stuff.
I remember one years ago that would almost always pay out. It was obviously programmed wrong and usually almost empty. The person that put it in probably did not know what they were doing and now I know. 😂😂😂
I had a similar thing happen, it was our end of school (final year) trip to Alton towers, one of the grabbers started paying out on every play, I ended up with a queue of about 10-15 girls from the school year all basking in my “skill” of winning them all a prize 😂😂
If a game costs a pound and the prize costs 30p, he's still making a decent profit, considering the machine would be very popular.
Or the toys were cheap and they just didn't mind paying out all the time. We have a couple set to "play until you win" - the machines are cheaper than a vending machine, offer some amusement value, and prevent kids from burning through all their parents money in seconds.
I have literally never touched a claw machine. My dad calls them "piss your paycheck away on a $2 watch machines" And he's right. Glad some people at least game the system and beat the scam. It's fun to see someone clean out a claw machine and watch the owner go crazy! I saw it happen once at a Party Hub.
I remember these were all over the place but nobody touched them. Evyerybody knew it's a scam.
This is only tangentially related... I was with my kids at an arcade that was definitely raking it in. They had this elaborate, fully automated shooting gallery setup that was decorated like an old wild west scene. Targets would light up, and you were supposed to hit them when lit. The arcade was full and very busy, but one was ever playing it. We gave it a try, and no matter which gun we used, the odds of winning were so bad that it was frustrating almost immediately. You were lucky if the shot counter incremented once for an entire round. The arcade had obviously sunk some decent money into this thing, but they got greedy and made it impossible to the point that no one played it anymore.
I've had excellent success with these machines, especially after having observed others playing one for a bit to get an idea of which toys are loose and which are wedged together. Once I've chosen a few toys to target, my typical tactic is to get the claw swinging before/as it drops so it grabs toys from the side. Not only does the claw tend to close better, but the toy often gets wedged towards the top of the claw, greatly reducing the chance it falls out, regardless of the claw's gripping power. Not that I ever had much use for the toys, for years I found it a cheap challenge to pass some time while waiting for my laundry.
This video makes me want to go see if I can apply this newfound knowledge.
Like a poker machine, they don't pay out until they take so much cash in. Funnily enough, all of it is a part of the "amusements racket," which includes gambling, etc..
It's been going on since people started setting up tin cans in pyramids, spaced juuuust too far apart for them all to be knocked down with one ball -- unless the barker wants to show you how easy it is.
The little black and green cat you were holding is the silliest plush I've ever seen, I love it. Great video as always 👍
"i didn't actually really intend to do this, but that's okay..." 🤣🥰
I remember spotting a claw grabber in a holiday park in South Wales where one axis of the grabber had "unplugged itself", you could see the plug disconnected up top. This left an obvious groove of grabbed teddies and everything else untouched. A Trading Standards visit soon followed.
here in norway, most clawmachines give you the money you spent back if you do not get any prize
It seems like, in many cases, the Scandinavian countries think about things more sensibly, but with their own unique perspective and spin on it. That's really interesting.
Huh... So I guess one of those needs a good hacking so it automatically empties out the whole machine as fast as possible; then sets itself on fire.
Those games are just evil, I rarely ever got anything out of them but they certainly got a lot out of me, or at least my pocket... :\
I was trying to teach my nephew that they were a scam this summer.
He still put his $2 that he was given into the machine and it limp twisted the stuffed animal... I said see, it's not going to let anyone win until it feels like it.
I'd love to see you do a series about fair games and such! When I was younger I once won a claw game on the first play. I now realize just how lucky I was. 🤣
I had seen things where people try and count the plays between wins but you could be there for days doing it that way, I've also seen people able to move in more than two directions at once, swinging the claw, except I have never seen those in real life, you move one direction and then another and that's all the move you get, I suppose the buttons are differently connected and cannot affect the power to the claw, so there is no way to cheat the game, honestly, it's cheaper to go and buy one of the desired sun bleached toys from amazon
I remember machines like this as a kid, where they were set up to give a price pretty much 100% of the time. You even got retries if you missed. Of course the prizes were such that they would still make a profit, but I definitely liked those as a kid.
Spent many years working on these and the solenoid was the usual culprit causing around 90% of service calls. Most of them also have 'overpayment' protection if the machine paid out too many toys if they bounce out or get stick on a claw arm outside of the pay cycle, this causes the machine to lock up and await a nice gentleman to turn up to clear the errors and diagnostics before it would continue on its happy way again.
I believe I experienced that payout protection once, or something like it. Years ago I tried to grab a Me to You bear, which was wearing a scarf with a £5 note tucked in it.
On the 3rd go, one of the pincers slipped right through the scarf and bear's neck and became snagged, therefore lifting the bear up unexpectedly.
When the claw was back up to full height, it paused, then starting rocking back and forth while extending and retracting the pincers, as if trying to drop the bear as much as possible.
After a few seconds of that, the machine just stopped functioning all together. Still got someone to open it up and get the bear out for me though.
I work at an arcade and setting the payout on the claw is one of the more interesting parts.
Some claws we have are just 3 POTs that allow you to adjust the grab, retention, and the bonus voltage. You set how many games it will take for the claw to be ready to pay out and then it will only grab using the bonus voltage (typically set as the highest voltage the claw allows) when that number of games is reached. It’s a bummer if you happen to play the 1 out of whatever game and drop the claw poorly, as the number of games to win starts over.
Newer claws have a setting that holds the claw in its bonus mode until there is a win, which I much prefer. These claws also can automatically set their grab and retention voltages by measuring the weight of the prize.
I think the whole process is interesting and honestly fun to mess with. Luckily, I get to explain how it all works to those who play at my arcade. You’d think it would make people not want to play, but I have found them to strategize a bit better with this knowledge. Plus we set our claws to a higher payout percentage because we like to see winners.
I’ve got a handy spreadsheet with a calculator of how I get how many games it takes to win based on what payout percentage you want, how much a play costs, and how much a prize costs. I can send you a copy if you are interested.
Yep, these are a scam like any other gambling machine. You can set the payout percentage on the control board depending on how much money you want to make off the suckers, I mean customers. Usually the ones in places like Chuck-E Cheese and other children's amusement arcades are fairer, and I'm sure some jurisdictions have laws to ensure fairness is guaranteed, assuming the operator follows them.
My machines are labeled “a game of chance”. There is not much skill needed. Other than getting the claw lined up close to the prize on the selected “win” cycle. People here know it’s low odds but play a couple of times for fun. People are taking things way too serious.
It's all in the dip switch settings I once worked for a video game company
IDK if it is still the same, but UK machines used to be classed as AWP or SWP games. That was Amusement With Prizes and Skill With Prizes. They were allowed different odds of winning and different jackpot amounts. That was when the fruit machine/bandit jackpots were maybe around £5 or £10 maximum jackpot, by law.
Cranes are still classed as SWP machines.
There was a crain game in a bowling alley once and you could control everything about the crain, its position, height and when the claw closed. I was able to win almost every single time I played. Usually a loss was due to me not positioning it correctly. The whole thing was reliable and worked as expected. Claw force never changed.
I always figured they were a scam/rigged but not to the extent of voltage programming control on the grabber , Most people just send their tiny kid up the prize flap now and have them grab what they want but then the fire department has to take it apart to get them out.
I found the manual for one of these machines about two decades ago. It was interesting to see the variables, including one that would pick up the prize, but then reduce the claw power so it would fall again. It was all about making you think you nearly had it.
Very simple device...works pretty much how I thought it would :)
My parents used to own a house in Melton Mowbray, which was the only property close to where a fairground set up. The owners of dozens of sideshows used to run masses of cables along our fence to a sea of splitters plugged into some yellowing sockets. It wasn't ideal (and it was hot enough to smell!) but what they paid for not using diesel generators for days on end used to cover the annual electricity bill. I'm sure my father over-charged and now I'm happy that he did!
I remember saying to a Friend in my Teenage days "I bet that thing doesn't pick up the toys until a certain amount of Money has been put in" as he shovelled his $1 and $2 coins into one at a Shopping Centre
thanks for this very informative Vid Big Clive!
THANK YOU!!! - This very thing has tormented me all my life! - I knew they were "fixed", just not how 😊❤
This explains a lot but isn't really shocking for me. Gambling 'devices' always are riggged against the player.
My brother was freakishly good on those machines. I don't know how, but almost every time or second time he would get the prize, regardless how it was played.
So if it's just a solenoid, I wonder if you could hack these with a strong enough magnet. Might be difficult to smuggle Brainiac75's "monster magnet" into the arcade though.
There is a claw machine place in houston that seems to put the settings at either 1 of 2 or 1 of 3 wins. It was an awesome evening. Never won so much stuff. The trick was that even if you win 100 percent it was profitable. I’m happy with that arrangement.
Surely a *granny knot,* like a reef knot, connects TWO ENDS of a piece of string? What you have there is an ordinary, common-or-garden, single-end knot.
Overhand knot.
Yes that's a simple thumb knot, the granny is an incorrectly tied reef knot.
It's a really interesting read of the programming manual for claw machines, they have auto learn based on item weight when it grabs, and all sorts of ways to increase the payout/dropped toys and appearance you might be about to win.
As someone who owned an amusement business, and knows from the inside the average payout is once every fourty-forty five pounds
That is ridiculously low, should be considered a scam. The prizes are usually worth 1 pound..
@25566 Seriously. That's just robbery, considering that these machines seem to always have the absolute cheapest, most garbage prizes. The amusement is all the owner's. 😊
I didn't know just how rigged these were.
Bonus points for the pile of cuteness. 🙂
Gripping commentary as usual!
@PghFlip Your comment has to merit an "ho-ho" or a "tee-hee"!
Now I know, why I never won anything despite sinking tons of my precious quarters into these.
Closest thing to it: A slot machine in Las Vegas. Nothing ever comes out. 😢
Thanks for providing this valuable insight. 👍
This video will go viral
That would be nice, but it needs the loud individual showing a coin before winning a prize every single time.
The old guy that taught me the arcade industry taught me when you refill the cranes, you pack the top layer as much as possible. These machines were all electromechanical; no "earnings based" stuff.
Sega tried something like this with Keymaster. It did not go well for them in court.
The packed games are such a mean thing to do.
There are a few different ways the cranes work.
One of the more common methods is that the machine is set to an average win rate. It will typically not grab tightly until it reaches a set number of plays with no wins. This method is not allowed in some states in the US because it is more like gambling with less skill involved.
Other machines will have potentiometers that you set at different strengths for the claw. Typically it will grab at one strength. Then it will lift at a different strengths. Once it reaches the top, it will go to another strength for the travel back to the hole to drop.
This way you will grab at a higher strength giving you the impression that you got it. It will weaken while lifting possibly dropping it which urges you to try again. If it makes it to the top, it will weaken again and possibly drop it on the travel back to start.
Each time it weakens is to make you think that you can win with just one more go.
Thank you sir Clive you are indeed a youtube institution a national treasure even?
A friend of mine is really good at claw games. Years ago he explained how much they manipulate the strength of the claw. Often it’d barely be enough to pick up something, but sometimes it’d actually grab it really well. Generally the trick was to just always get it in a good position so when it went to higher power mode it would for sure pickup whatever.
Great channel Clive. I can’t always understand the electronics but I like the narration.
I win at these quite often. I never expect the claw to keep holding the stuff and slowly carry it over to the chute and I rarely win that way either.
The claw will always move the stuff a bit, if you grab it well enough. And that is more then enough to maneuver, roll, flip, push, the prizes around and get it into the chute that way.
That of course only applies if you play at a machine that is filled properly, and has prizes you can actually grab and reach. So the most important part is, checking out the machines for a suitable one. That might not be the prize you want though.
Crane machines in my neck of the woods (UK, South East) declare that machines are a "game of percentage, luck & skill" which is a fancy way of saying "we don't pay out until we want to". What I do is hover until someone walks away, then do a £1-£2 punt to see if it is pay out time.
There seems to be a revival in these machines, where I am currently (Asia) these machines are everywhere, there are whole shops dedicated to them.
You designed carnival games? I'd love to see videos on that!
I had a CompSci professor who helped design and program casino games before teaching. He was basically their random number generator guru for their first microprocessor-based machines LOL. Still he told a couple cool stories though. And yes, they're rigged (to an extent, a "define 'rigged'" kinda thing)
The lighting controllers and one of the games has been featured.