Ahh, claw machines. One of the oldest and most popular attractions at any arcade, claw machines taunt you not with hopes of a high score, but a real prize. If you’re skillful enough, you’ll be able to orient the claw perfectly, reach down and snatch that cool toy. But, is that all that’s involved? Or is a little bit of luck required as well?

According to a certain arcade owner who revealed details on social site Reddit, these claw machines have odds, much like slot machines. These odds have a minimum defined by the local government, and is usually between 1/12 and 1/15. When the machine is due to work in someone’s favor, the claw’s PSI level increases, thus increasing the ease of grasping a toy and lifting it up.
Attractive as they may be, you might want to use this useful information to avoid these machines in the future, or at least to be better-equipped mentally, since it’s hardly obvious that they’re rigged. Counter-arguing this though, many claim that they have success rates far greater than those mentioned above, so it could very well be that some cities or locations don’t adhere to these minimum laws, or some manufacturers of these machines are a little more lenient.
In this story posted at Kotaku, the author links to another story where a man made a living playing arcade machines similar to this, where skill was the defining factor. Imagine waking up in the morning, ready to go to work at Dave & Buster’s, arrive, and sit camped in front of an arcade machine!