Inside a crane claw, and how the crane plays YOU

It's not an accident that the claw has such poor grip. The claw was designed not to grip the load. Claw machines are designed to manipulate gullible people into putting money in the machine.

I had a friend who was spookily good at these things.

Funny thing is I once Googled some random crane company manual , it was easily available and explained how to set up the 'profit' system. It was very interesting

Isn’t it illegal to be a con artist?
“Three card monte” is the game that always comes to mind. But it should be illegal to intentionally con the public.

Many games are like this. You walk around and see a game a dollar to play but has some expensive prizes inside like headphones, bluetooth speaker, I even saw a Playstation 4. You will win it for a dollar and cause a massive loss for the operator, right? Wrong! These games are programmed to prevent you from winning, if you would it cheats so you'll lose. For example if you're just on the right spot it will move a little further you usually won't notice, only if you record it in slow motion. The operator can enter how many credits it must eat before you have the chance to win it, but you still have to win. I'm sure that PS4 was won once at least double of its price was inserted into the machine.

Changing the current to the solenoid
Not cool

the first time i played this claw game was the last time i played it.

This adds an entirely new layer of depth to the Toy Story claw scene.

I use to park my car at a buddy's bar across the street from work. After work I would stop in and have a beer before heading home. Use to sit at the barstool next to the claw machine. Each day I would peer into the machine and look for that one prize that had been dropped by itself on top of all the others. Only then would I put in a quarter and have a go at it and 9 out of 10 times I was successful in grabbing it. Always, no more than two attempts. The cute barmaid could never figure out why when I did play I always successful when she had seen patrons that dropped quarters for hours on end and never won. I never told her the secret, but because she was such a good bartender, and was oh so cute, I would always leave her the prize when I left after my beer. Eventually I ended up dating and then living with her . . .

I worked at a carnival and at one time knew a lot of the tricks, I could beat most of these games that was several years ago now.

Just one more coin and you'll get it.

gambling should be illegal, at least until idiots stop being stupid and pikeys stop stealing

Love your channel Clive. Say hi to Ralfy for me.

Actually theres no volts its about the screws they losen the screws on the claw to make it rigged

I win on those things all the time. There are several ways to do it. First avoid any where the prizes are sparse or in one layer. Go for ones that are somewhat freshly packed but have been loosened a bit. Look for “vulnerable” prizes that are loose, sitting on top of others, close to the bin, away from walls. That’s most of it for the cheaper prizes. If you really want to win a higher prizes you have to watch other people play the machine and count the turns between real grabs. Then jump on it right before a real grab is due. My kids are only surprised when I don’t win.

The claw machine is an IQ test. Putting money in means you fail.

The only way to win, is to spot an exploit. You look for mistakes in the set up of the prizes (for example).
Things like; look for places (on the prizes) where you can 'hook' the claw onto a prize (without needing to really close the claw).
Or swinging the claw, to knock prizes (or props around the prizes) to get a win.
The Japanese, appear to be the grand masters of these hidden techniques :)

Mr Craw from "Get Smart".. not mention is it a form of gambling anything you put down a wager to win something is gambling .. ?

They're in the business of making money, not giving you a gift. Like all gambling, only a fool wastes money on it.

When you say “one moment please” and then edit out the moment that we’d have to wait what becomes the purpose of saying it?

Get DOGE to look into this ASAP

My best friend is freakishly good at these claw games. I don't know how or if it's just years of practice or really weird luck.

these are mostly for fun and luck

I found a vending macine at work with a similar "lottery" mode. If enabled, it would give every Nth (programmable) drink for free - by returning your money with your drink. The manual suggested using it as a way to improve sales, and it did seem to work when word of mouth spread.

Crane grab. More like money grab

I came to understand the scam, I left the video feeling scammed

And how much is it to you making repairs to those machines if it can't take money you are getting paid back by playing a bad cheating game

To not get played play one that has less zebras and other sheep in it ones with the most toys been rigged to scam i noticed i can fix those scammy machines so you guys quit scamming folks i can play dirty games outside your machine anyday or any night but i have more important shit to do rather than worry about a dollar your brothers stole.

In the late '80s a woman would come in the park where I work and when several watches from a claw machine. Ask her how she did it and she said you had to get there first thing in the morning before anyone else. They would set the watches down inside the machine with the face up the claw would grab it and lift it up. If the watch was not face up the weight of the case and all would swing it loose from the claw. I tried it the next time I was not working and easily won a watch it cost me a couple of dollars.

Capitalists ruining everything fun

The claw thought it was going to play me and win. Intell I hot spliced a 20v power tool battery in to the electric coil power leads of the claw forcing a grab💪💯🫡👌🤭

I’ve seen people who knew how to “play” these machines. It seemed to involve some scraping technique. How much money got wasted developing said technique I have no idea.

I pulled the villian penguin from Wallace and grommet from a claw machine, I immediately had the feeling I should of left it be as it stared evilly at me.

I am reminded of the SpongeBob episode "Skill Crane" where he wins every time but Squidward loses every time!

When i was a kid i wasted 10 dollars before i gave up just to watch my little brother get 2 in one grab on his first dollar now this makes sense

If it would be engineered by germans every claw would grab and win.

An old buddy and I used to play a ton back in the day, mid to late 90s, and won all the time. One time, a bunch of us were drunk and decided to go out to eat at a restaurant. They had a claw machine so my old buddy and I decided to play. We damn near cleaned out that machine even winning two at time sometimes. We walked out of there with at least 15 stuffed animals a piece that night. Lol.

So the claw bring ultra weak is just conserving energy completely in Line with EU energy consumption laws! They are doing their part!

About twenty years ago I went to lunch with some coworkers to a Pizza Hut, and they had one those claw games in the entrance lobby. One of the coworkers saw it and said "Oh I need to get some gifts for my nephews" and he went up the machine. We told him they are just rip offs, but he said he does them all the time, you just have to know how. We sat back, assuming that we would watch him sink endless money into it, and thus it was no surprise when his first attempt failed. But then on his second attempt to our surprise he grabbed a toy. He then got a second toy in just one try. That was all he needed so we continued into the restaurant. I have no idea what he did, he made it look so easy.

These arcade machines are only there to make money , Just think about it , if its man made , your not going to win ,garenteed, its the same as the penny arcade machines, they are man made to scam the public, just the same as this carupt government,

Dude I have got 4 Mario’s character with $20. On the claw machine! Got to use strategy

how is this legal?

If you want a REAL chance to win a toy out of the crane game, do this: every time you walk by the machine, check to see if they’ve loaded in toys high enough that they sit at the claw’s resting level. If so, you may be able to use the crane to knock the toys into the payout box without actually depressing the button. The machine will usually give you around 15 seconds to knock the claw around as much as you want before finally auto-dropping and ending your turn.

My toddler has played these 4 times... He has won two times... He is insanely lucky.

I fought the long arm of the claw and the claw won

I remember in my hometown when these machines first came around, I would say it was the late 90s or early 2000s. Most machines had watches and money on them, some had teddy bears with money. I never saw anyone win.

My father said to never waste my money on the machines... he told me to save my money and buy a better toy for less money at the actual store.

Same idea applied to gambling vs living.

My aunt is so good at it she once won me a stuffed crash test dummy you could stick on the window great day.

How many times in my life have i been scammed?!?