Almost everyone who visited a mall and tried to play in a game station must have seen one of these claw machines. It is not to far-fetched to assume that many have tried their luck with it, hoping to score the plush toy of their dreams. But despite their skill at perfectly positioning the claw over the prize and activating it, most of the time the pincers just don't grab tightly enough to pick up a stuffed animal.
It's not an imagination. Those claw machines are rigged. But they're rigged in a surprisingly clever way — and not the way most people suspect.
Some people think the claw machine is so hard to win because the stuffed animals are packed so tightly together. But the bigger reason is more insidious than that: the claw machine is programmed to have a strong grip only part of the time.
This isn't a closely kept secret. It's publicly available information, pulled straight from the instruction guides for the biggest claw games out there. Open the manual for Black Tie Toys' Advanced Crane Machine. Look at page eight, section subheading "Claw Strength":
The machine's owner can fine-tune the strength of the claw beforehand so that it only has a strong grip a fraction of the time that people play.
The owner can manually adjust the "dropping skill," as well. That means that on a given number of tries, the claw will drop a prize that it's grabbed before it delivers it.
The machines also allow the owner to select a desired level of profit and then automatically adjust the claw strength to make sure that players are only winning a limited number of times.
This isn't isolated to one claw machine or one company — this is standard practice industry-wide.
It's not an imagination. Those claw machines are rigged. But they're rigged in a surprisingly clever way — and not the way most people suspect.
Some people think the claw machine is so hard to win because the stuffed animals are packed so tightly together. But the bigger reason is more insidious than that: the claw machine is programmed to have a strong grip only part of the time.
This isn't a closely kept secret. It's publicly available information, pulled straight from the instruction guides for the biggest claw games out there. Open the manual for Black Tie Toys' Advanced Crane Machine. Look at page eight, section subheading "Claw Strength":
The machine's owner can fine-tune the strength of the claw beforehand so that it only has a strong grip a fraction of the time that people play.
The owner can manually adjust the "dropping skill," as well. That means that on a given number of tries, the claw will drop a prize that it's grabbed before it delivers it.
The machines also allow the owner to select a desired level of profit and then automatically adjust the claw strength to make sure that players are only winning a limited number of times.
This isn't isolated to one claw machine or one company — this is standard practice industry-wide.
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