![A Claw Crane game machine containing unicorn plushes in Trouville, France, Sept 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/A_Claw_Crane_game_machine_containing_unicorn_plushes_in_Trouville%2C_France%2C_Sept_2011.jpg)
A claw crane, claw machine, toy crane, or skill crane is a type of
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
known as a
merchandiser
A merchandiser is an arcade gaming device, which features a machine that contains a display of merchandise, which can be won by playing the game.
In the trade, such games are described as "skill with prize" (SWP) games, and are a hybrid of games ...
, commonly found in
video arcade
An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...
s,
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s,
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
s,
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s,
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
s, and
bowling alley
A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...
s.
Machine components
A claw crane consists of many parts, but the basic components are a
printed circuit board
A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in Electrical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a L ...
(PCB),
power supply
A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...
,
currency detector
A currency detector or currency validator is a device that determines whether notes or coins are genuine or counterfeit. These devices are used in a wide range of automated machines, such as retail kiosks, supermarket self checkout machines, ...
, credit/timer display,
joystick
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...
, wiring harness / loom, gantry assembly, coil, and claw assembly. The claw has three fingers if it is a traditional design or two fingers if it is the Asian-style "UFO" machines. Rarely, there are four.
Claw machine gantry assemblies typically consist of two main moving carriages. The first controls the movement along the forward and back axis. This is the long moving set of rails. On these rails sits the gantry carriage, or gantry box. This is the actual component the claw is suspended from, and it contains the motors for sideways movement, alongside the motor and pulleys for the movement of the claw on the Y-axis. These gantries also contain a series of small electronic switches, which are responsible for letting the main PCB know when the carriages have reached their limits of movement, as well as when the claw is at the top or bottom.
The main cabinets for claw machines are typically constructed of
medium-density fiberboard
Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming it into panels by applying high temp ...
, with wooden or metal inner support structures. Some more modern cabinets are made of
aluminum alloy
An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principal ...
, which makes it easier to relocate as well as cheaper to produce. A lot of very high-end claw machines have full LED lighting on the front, behind a partially-transparent plastic panel, first popularised by Elaut of Belgium on their IntraXion E-Claw cranes.
The top half of the machine normally consists of a metal frame, with tempered safety glass windows. The machine's marquee, typically located above or behind the top of the glass window, is typically an acrylic panel with a graphic depicting bold lettering, that reads the model of the machine.
The crane machine playing field is the platform on which the prizes sit, typically constructed of aluminum alloy or MDF. This is normally covered with
fish gravel or polystyrene
packing peanuts for decorative purposes or as a riser to lower or raise prizes. Fish gravel is normally used for machines where there are gaps between prizes, such as jewelry cranes or set payout machines, as it is more aesthetically appealing than packing peanuts. However, it is a more expensive option, while packing peanuts are more common in countries like the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. In some machines, such as UFO Catchers in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, plastic balls are used for decoration.
Gameplay and prize types
![Clacton Pier, claw crane](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Clacton_Pier%2C_claw_crane.jpg)
The goal of the game is to manipulate the claw inside of the cabinet in order to grab a desired prize inside, which is then dispensed and collected by the player if they are successful. The specific methods of controlling the claw differ between machines.
Typically in Asia and Europe, claw machines use the skill intensive "up and across" gameplay system. This is where the player is provided with two buttons, one for forward movement, and one for sideways movement. Each button can only be pressed once, and as soon as the final button is released, the claw is dropped. This was the original system for motion used on machines since the 1960s, and is most popular in countries like the United Kingdom and Japan.
Another method of movement for claw machines is the ever popular joystick control. This is when the player has full control of the claw in all directions, and a separate button is used to deploy the claw. This is becoming much more popular, as it makes claw machines much easier for the inexperienced.
Another method of claw movement is the very old electro-mechanical style of movement, in which the player moves the claw with a small wheel before inserting money. The claw drops immediately when money is inserted and is powered by a single motor. The claw mechanism closes when the drop string is pulled. This is a very rare type of machine to find, with a few UK examples being found in Brighton Penny Arcades. These machines typically were manufactured pre-1960s.
Claw machines were initially designed to take small prizes like sweets (candy) or jewelry or even cigarettes. However, they moved more towards the children's toy market as machines got larger and more capable.
Machine configuration and chances of winning
The majority of modern machines have an operator-adjustable payout rate. This is when the operator can set how much profit they want to make from each prize. Often, this is set up based on prize value. For example, if a prize is worth $5, and the operator chooses to make an extra $5 of profit on top of that, then the machine needs to pay out after $10 has been inserted.
Modern claw machines are fully computerized and are remotely programmable by the owner (via a hand-held device). Settings and features commonly available include:
* Claw strength and aperture
* Claw movement speed, either as a whole, or in individual axis.
* Pick-up strength (on skill-based machines)
* Primary and secondary strength settings
* Toy teasing on payout based machines—when toy teasing is enabled, the claw will pick up a prize for a set amount of time before dropping it, giving the player the impression that they nearly won
* Operator adjustable payout rate: The percentage of how often the machine will pay out a prize in relation to the value of the merchandise and the operators preferred profit.
* Overpay: If the machine pays out over a certain number of prizes in a set amount of time more than its set payout, it will throw up an error code, and prevent anyone from inserting money, and prompt them to get an attendant. This eliminates the possibility of people emptying a potentially faulty machine.
* Instant Free Play: When the machine will give the player a free play if enough money is inserted. This is popular on ICE, Cromptons and Brents X-Factor machines.
* Instant Replay: When the player can drop the claw in the exact same position before it has returned to the home position, at the cost of one credit. The feature is disabled if the user has less than two credits. This feature is popular on the Elaut Intelli or IntraXion machines.
Older machines are known to be retrofitted with devices called crane processors. This gives skill based machines the necessary technology in order to be rigged. The best and most common version of this in the UK is the Lottelle "The WON" processor. Processors are most popular in the UK, where small arcades choose them over replacing their machines.
Some cranes are also able to display the number and value of prizes won in a given time period,
enabling the owner to keep track of how profitable the machine is for them.
Claw machines holding expensive prizes, such as a
video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
or a
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
are typically programmed so that the grip strength of the claw is determined according to a payout percentage that is profitable to the operator. Experienced skill crane players also say that box shaped prizes are among the most difficult kinds of objects to pick up with any claw, regardless of its settings.
Legality
The ability of the crane machine owner to set features such as a payout percentage raises the question of whether these machines should be considered gambling devices in a legal sense, alongside
slot machine
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
s. In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, claw vending machines are typically specifically exempted from statutes which regulate gambling devices, contingent upon compliance with certain rules. In the state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, for example, this exemption applies only if the wholesale value of the prizes inside is below a certain threshold, and if these prizes are actually retrievable with the claw.
Other states regulate crane machines very little. In addition, some attorneys have advised claw machine owners to avoid using the word "skill" in the game description decal present on most machines.
In other jurisdictions, such as
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, skill cranes are illegal unless the player is allowed to make repeated attempts (on a single credit) until he or she wins a prize.
Skill cranes in single-play mode (where the player has only one chance per credit to try for a prize) were found by the
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
to be essentially games of chance, and therefore prohibited except at
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
s or
exhibitions
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery
An art gallery is a roo ...
, where they are covered by an exemption.
Global popularity
Asia
In Japan, modern trolley-style claw machines began being manufactured by
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
and
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...
in the 1960s.
Sega released its first modern
electro-mechanical
In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...
(EM) arcade crane game, ''Skill Diga'', in 1965, and followed it with ''Super Skill Diga'' (1968), which included dolls as prizes.
By the 1970s, Sega and Taito machines had drawn the attention of
plush toy
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...
vendors, with the machines used to display and deploy stuffed animals, evolving into modern claw machines.
They gained popularity in Japan during the late 1970s, with crane games among Japan's top ten highest-grossing EM
arcade games of 1977,
and then Sega's magnetic crane machine the sixth highest-grossing EM
arcade game of 1978.
By the 1980s, crane machines had become much larger, with plush dolls the major prizes, and cranes common at carnivals and arcades.
A boom in crane games occurred with the release of Sega's ''UFO Catcher'' in 1985, and since then the term "UFO catcher" has become synonymous with crane games in Japan. It stood out for its eagle claw shape, hence the name "UFO" catcher, along with its ''
kawaii
''Kawaii'' is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and non-humans that are charming, vulnerable, shy and childlike.Kerr, Hui-Ying (23 November 2016)"What is kawaii – and why did the world fall for the ‘cult of cu ...
'' (cute) family-friendly design, helping to make them more marketable to casual audiences. Two players could also operate cranes simultaneously, intended to encourage more social interaction, such as between couples. Sega's ''UFO Catcher'' series led to claw cranes becoming increasingly popular in Japan during the 1980s to 1990s.
By 1994, Sega had sold over 40,000 ''UFO Catcher'' cabinets, with the term ''UFO Catcher'' itself becoming synonymous with crane games in Japan.
Claw cranes gradually became popular across other parts of Asia as well, such as Korea and China, during the 1990s to 2000s.
United States
In the early 20th century, popular photographs of the excavation of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
made the
steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and e ...
into an object of popular fascination. This trend inspired novelty candy dispensers made to look like steam shovels. Players would put a nickel into the slot of a glass-fronted cabinet and crank a wheel to engage a series of internal gears. The tiny bucket-jaws swung down, closed over a piece of candy, rose, and dropped the sweet into a chute where it could be retrieved. Early versions of these games include the Panama Digger, Erie Digger, and Iron Claw. The most successful model was the Miami Digger patented by carnival operator William Bartlett in 1932. The prizes were silver dollars or rolls of coins, and Bartlett operated the machines himself rather than selling them.
Over the decades, the mechanics and aesthetics of these candy dispensers evolved into the modern claw games of today.
A claw machine labeled "Toy Steam Shovel" appears in a drugstore in the cartoon ''
Naughty but Mice
''Naughty but Mice'' is a 1939 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on May 20, 1939, and stars Sniffles in his cartoon debut.
It is the only Sniffles cartoon not to be reissued, and therefore su ...
'' (1939) featuring
Sniffles the Mouse.
In
Davis Grubb
Davis Alexander Grubb (July 23, 1919 – July 24, 1980) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his 1953 novel '' The Night of the Hunter'', which was
adapted as a film in 1955 by Charles Laughton.
Biography
Born in M ...
's 1971 novel, ''
The Barefoot Man
The Barefoot Man, born George Nowak, is an entertainer and songwriter who performs primarily in the Cayman Islands, specifically on the largest island of Grand Cayman. He has composed about 2,000 songs and has recorded nearly 500 of them. The Ba ...
'', set in 1930 in West Virginia, Jack Farjeon wants to get a gun in secret and is challenged to retrieve one from a crane game, at a price of $10 a play, with the first play free. He gets the gun after seven tries.
Following the arrival of Japanese and European claw machines in the late 1970s,
these machines became popular in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in the late 1980s, with a significant presence at
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
restaurants, although they were to be found much earlier. Later on, the machines spread to other venues, and by the early 1990s, the
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
began to advertise their teams with stuffed footballs of each team placed in some of the machines. Soon after, the
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
,
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
, and
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
also started doing this, although the NBA no longer uses these machines as a means of advertisement.
By the mid-1990s, the machines' popularity had made such establishments as
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
,
Fry's Supermarkets,
K-Mart
Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States.
The company was inco ...
, and
Wal-Mart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
a staple of their locations. Some hotels also acquired them to satisfy their younger guests, as did sports venues that would stuff them with collectibles related to their home teams.
In the 1995
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
/
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
computer-animated
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
film ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'',
Buzz Lightyear
Buzz Lightyear is the main character in the ''Toy Story'' franchise created by Disney and Pixar mainly voiced by Tim Allen. He is a Superhero toy action figure based on the in-universe media franchise consisting of a blockbuster feature fi ...
and
Sheriff Woody
Sheriff Woody Pride is a fictional, pull-string cowboy doll who appears in the Disney–Pixar ''Toy Story'' franchise. In the films, Woody is the main protagonist, alongside Buzz Lightyear. He is primarily voiced by Tom Hanks, who voices him ...
climb into a claw vending machine filled with
claw-worshipping aliens.
In the ''
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...
'' season 4 episode "Skill Crane",
Mr. Krabs
Eugene Harold Krabs, better known as simply Mr. Krabs, is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy tel ...
introduces the skill crane machine to
SpongeBob
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American Animated series, animated Television comedy, comedy Television show, television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It ...
and
Squidward in the
Krusty Krab
The Krusty Krab is a fictional fast food restaurant in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. It is famous for its signature burger, the Krabby Patty, the formula to which is a closely guarded trade secret.
The resta ...
.
References
External links
"Claw machines are rigged—here's why it's so hard to grab that stuffed animal"by Phil Edwards,
''Vox''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claw Vending Machine
Arcade games
Merchandisers