crime

Osaka arcade operator, 6 employees arrested over rigged claw machines

22 Comments

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Some people spent so much time playing that they had to withdraw money from their bank accounts or fund the habit with money obtained from short-term lenders.

Wow, just wow! Going to a sarakin to get money to play UFO Catcher. I've heard of dumb before but this has got to be, for me at least, close to the top of the list of WOW.

17 ( +20 / -3 )

Good they nabbed them. Addiction has many forms from, drugs, to gambling, etc.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

one person claiming to have been swindled of 1.65 million yen

you spent that much money on an arcade game? That is a "you" problem not the arcade's problem

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Four people spent nearly 5 grand on those stupid machines? Bwahahaha! "A fool and his money are easily parted!"

11 ( +13 / -2 )

If it's costing you more than ¥2000 trying to get a stuffed toy, you're better off just going to Donki and buying one outright.

Yes, what the arcade operator did was wrong, but c'mon people, don't be such a pushover

14 ( +16 / -2 )

The company president has denied the allegations, saying he has "never given such instructions."

Suuuuure he didn't

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The claw his our master. He decides who stays and who goes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Esh4W3dfI

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Anyone who have been hooked with UFO Catcher prize machine would know full well that it is rigged. It can be programmed to 1. grab. 2. release - both are adjustable to the number of tries or the expected profit. Arcades sometimes intentionally make it look like someone has already won or the prize is very close to falling. If you have skills: there are tricks to get them in a fewer tries- but know that the odds are always in the house. There are arcades that offer a fair number of tries before they let you win, say 1in every 10 tries - but this arcade in the news have set the dial to "greed" - the guarantee of a fair trade is zero. Since these crane machines are unregulated, I am very sure that this zero-win setup is rampant all over arcade shops in JP.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Never thought other than these machines were always rigged. Fairground machines, pinball, pachinko, etc., were all designed to favour the house.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

The arcade deserves a prize to teaching fools a lesson, anyone that spends over 500Y in an effort to win one of these dollar worth prizes fully deserves what is coming to them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What is a claw machine?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh come on. All these claw games are rigged. It's a lesson you learn at about the age of seven when you have spent most of your holiday money trying to pick up a container with a fiver in it at a seaside arcade.

No one wins on these things.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

We all know that they are rigged in favor of the house, but we should be able to win. Some people have the skill for these claw games, but not many. I have won stuffed animals and such for my kids at Round 1. But I also know when to stop. Some people can't and that is sad. I'm glad the police have caught these crooks. It will make others think before cheating their customers.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

In 2009, my wife and I went holidaying in Japan the first time and went to an arcade full of UFO catcher machines in the Kabukichō, Shinjuku. We tried our luck on a machine that costed 100 yens each time to pick up tiny cute plush toy. After a few failed attempt one of the staff came near us and to our surprise used a key to open the window of the machine. Then he placed the tiny toy that we were targetting near the edge of the drop zone. We put in another 100 yen and won. This happened to us a few times but only in some arcades.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Scandalous indeed.  Crooked operators plus stupid punters = bonanza.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I sometimes see these machines which have absurdly good prizes, like iPads, video game consoles, and even vacation packages. I've seen many people keep throwing money away at them when it's obvious that even if they get a perfect grip the claw just drops the ball right away. There are pictures of winners on the machine but just thinking logically, obviously the machine will be rigged so that at minimum they will not let you win until the value of the item has already been banked, or more likely at a rate of 3 or more times the value before the claw strength is strong enough to actually let you win. You'd probably have better odds playing the lottery.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Recently was watching some young folks at the game center attached to my local Donki Hote (what a brilliant business move that is - Games&Frivolity@Donki).

A number of times the dudes (never the dudettes) grasped the "thingy" with the claw ( I was impressed) only to see it drop halfway up.

Now with the the insight of this article, one can easily suspect a pre-set release program in place. I only watched about 5 mins, but I suppose those guys never won at all.

And what a classic line this is -

"...The company president has denied the allegations, saying he has "never given such instructions."..."

SONTAKU - buzzword of the year - written all over it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

If your on a date, you have to pay. I would never suggest useing magnets with superglue.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Crane and other arcade games are pretty hard, the grapping class have little strength so you just need to get it right.

Can be done on an unmodded machine but also depends on how the items are placed in the machine, etc.

Like with gachapon those Items are sold by case and can be found in stores that buy cases and sell items individually (price varies by rarity).

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Live by the claw, die by the claw......of justice.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I once saw a pro hook some brand goods 3-4 times in succession-it was amazing to watch.....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Okay, I've got an easy way to settle this. Give the suspects a get out of jail free card, but put them in the claw machines, and set them according to the manuals. Give them 1000 yen worth of coins to catch, without letting them touch the machinery aside from the claw controls. Hell, throw in an extra catch if they can't get it. If they fail to get it, jail. If they get it, then the people accusing them were wrong. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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