Businesses exist to make money.
This seems like a simple enough concept, right? Never mind if it’s a nationwide department store chain, or a hometown, mom-and-pop restaurant, that place was created to make a profit.
Now keep in mind, making money isn’t necessarily a bad thing— people should get paid for their work! But if we take this logic one step further, we should be able to deduce that whenever an enterprise fails to make money, it simply won’t stay in business for very long.
Because capitalism, or something.
To my mind, anyway, these are not particularly complex thoughts— definitely not advanced economic principles. Yet sometimes, it’s entirely possible for our brains to overlook the simplest of facts.
Like, say, when it comes to arcade claw machines.
Claw machines aren’t just there for our amusement— their sole purpose is to make money for the business owners. But for me personally, it took years of hanging around in video arcades before I finally caught on to these one-armed bandits. I swear, there must be something about all those flashing lights and blaring sirens that subtly switches off the logical sides of our brains.
On the surface, at least, these games seem simple enough. You pay your money and you take the controls, directing a mechanical claw into position above an open bucket of prizes. You press a button that drops the claw into the pit, and if all goes well, it snaps shut around one of the prizes. Stuffed animals, sports memorabilia, out of date electronics, or whatever. From there, an overhead winch pulls the claw back up, and then sideways to a drop chute where the jaws spring open again. In theory, at least, the captured prize should fall down this chute, drop out of the machine, and into the player’s hands.
Simple enough, right?
The whole appeal of these claw machines is that they’re supposed to be games of skill. You pay your money, and you take your best shot. Or at least, that’s the way it always appeared to me.
Thanks to the Internet, though, I’ve since learned how these claw machines can be rigged calibrated to control the frequency of a payout.
Yes, you read that right— no matter whether you think these arcade claw machines are games of skill, or games of chance— you’re 100% wrong.
Apparently, there are two different ways to rig these machines. The first method, and the most common, is by adjusting the claw strength. The mechanical claws can be set to varying degrees of tightness, which makes it possible for them to fall down into position, grab even the softest of stuffed animals, but then suddenly “slip” loose when the motor starts pulling it up. What’s more, these modern arcade machines can be programmed to discreetly tighten their claw strength at certain intervals— maybe every 5 or 10 plays— a feature that makes it possible for players to win once in a while, as long as they keep feeding money into the machine.
The second most common fix is known as “the jerk.” Most modern claw machines offer this feature, which allows arcade owners to adjust the sideways movement so that it begins with a sudden, sharp tug. Most of the time— depending on the pre-programmed claw strength— this extra “jerk” will be just enough force to shake a prize loose, causing it to fall back down into the pit. Like before, this setting is designed to trigger an emotional reaction— “Aw, so close!”— which encourages players to try their luck again.
Look, I’ve seen some things in my time on the carnival circuit, and over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody’s ever gotten rich by playing a claw machine. It’s the same concept as those credit card rewards points, or airline frequent flier miles— as much as these schemes might try to make you believe that you’re getting something for free, they’re nothing more than a mirage. Yes, you may be able to win something eventually, but if you’re playing for any other reason besides just having fun, you’re doing it wrong.
But just in case you stumbled across this article online and you’re set on learning the best way to bring home a stuffed animal, here you go:
Skip the claw machines, save your money, and go buy one yourself.
