AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

NewsFlash: Arcade Claw Games are Rigged

We've always known that claw games were rigged, but we couldn't prove it. Asylum.com that explains just how the games are rigged. They came up with a pdf of a manual for the ACC-1 Arcade Crane Controller. According to the manual, you can set the machine to a winning/losing percentage. In a "winner" round, the pinchers of the crane grasp with maximum force locking in anything it grabs, and the machine can be set so that in a "winner" round, if no prize is dropped in the slot, the player can keep playing until the prize drops. In a predestined "loser" round, the pinchers are set to grab but bleed off pressure until there is just enough pressure to close the jaws without a load. In other words, there's no skill involved. Winning is either a matter of luck or a pure impossibility depending upon how the game is set.

Here's a youtube.com video of a claw game that picks up live lobsters - maybe, sometimes.