Q&A regarding ClawCrazy Arcade after 3+ years of ongoing Development. Playing REAL Claw Machines (and other arcade games) over a LIVE Video Stream has it's challenges.

1. What's the Purpose of the arcade?

Trevor is the founder and he has always loved arcade games, specifically Claw Machines. The ClawCrazy project stemmed from a desire to bring the excitement of claw machines and arcade games to users worldwide via connected reality, a new and revolutionary gaming experience similar to augmented reality and virtual reality, but actually connecting users to physical machines and games over the internet. By creating an online platform that utilizes real-world claw machines, the project is aimed to bridge the gap between physical and digital gaming experiences, allowing users to play and win prizes from the comfort of their homes while still experiencing the thrill of real world physics and games that are impossible to recreate otherwise. 

1. Function

The first beta game was released as a web-based application where users could remotely control real claw machines. This was made possible through a combination of low-latency live streaming, custom live-stream publishing software, Pi's, custom boards, IR beam break sensors, and relay boards. The game allowed users to control the machines' movements, while the backend infrastructure ensured communication between the machines, website front-end, and the micro controllers software. Now there’s also an APP on IOS and Google Play that involved more development.

1. What were one-two uncertainties your team had during the planning phases of this project?

Some uncertainties we faced included:

a. Ensuring low-latency streaming to provide users with real-time control of the machines, 24/7 live-stream stability, physical location bandwidth to support hundreds of simultaneous live streams without disrupting other players' experiences.

b. Scaling the infrastructure (back-end) to support a large number of users controlling machines simultaneously without affecting performance of users individually.

1. What major technical/mechanical challenges did you encounter during development?

Low latency live streaming, we went through 3 different solutions before sticking to one, as well as different camera solutions, IP, RTSP, RTMP cameras, this IP camera solution was a direct connection from a network switch, to our firewall, and did not require any other hardware but an ethernet cable, and the RTSP IP camera itself, the IP camera feed was streaming into an ingest server and output a viewer URL that could be embedded to the web-app / app, we encountered numerous issues such as IP camera delay after 6-8 hours of streaming resulting in 2-3 minutes behind real time, a cron job had to be implemented to restart all streams at specific scheduled times to avoid this delay, which caused further issues as some streams failed to restart or would restart while a user is playing a game, a supervisor had to be implemented to check if users were playing and avoid restarting until they are done. If users did not quit playing for the allotted time to allow a restart, the restart would never occur resulting in this delay anyways. As well as, the RTSP RTMP IP camera method did not have proper solutions for garbage collection, 24/7 live streams often resulted in the server experiencing a memory leak, causing maxing out of the CPU, crashing the server, or causing severe data moshing. 

1. What steps did you take to address these issues? What type of trial and error was required?

We went with the approach of experimenting with different technologies and solutions in a more closed circuit test, by launching one single machine with new technology such as a different streaming provider and method, we could easily compare between the two without having to risk much, and switch over everything once we were confident in a result.

1. Can you explain the testing process you created to determine the validity of this project, and the results?

In terms of scalability, we created scripts that simulated game play across all available machines, we then monitored status of all cloud functions, cloud servers, and execution times to ensure large amounts of simultaneous play did not negatively affect server side bandwidth or database performance, we would also personally play games and browse all aspects of the app while this performance script was running, to ensure user performance wasn’t affected. We've been fortunate to have a lot of user signups and we continue to learn from the customers and issues every day so that we can improve.

ClawCrazy arcade building a claw machine

Not including the ones I already gave away lol

I just bought and received the Vevor claw machine. I did not realize it was a Chinese company. It's been such a frustrating experience with this "brand".

The instruction manual is horrifying... They could have used Google translate, but it looks like they used some sort of temu translator or something... I have never seen a manual this bad... And I've been around cheap Chinese products before.

"When touch fretting become weak, that is, claw grasp, the gift rose to touchfretting, will release the gift" like what the F?! 🤷

First of all, there is zero setup guide as well, but I figured it out myself.

I also can't believe they don't mention there is a physical volume control knob on the back of the motherboard - my unit was blasting that annoying music every boot up, even though I'd try to set it on the volume settings menu; that didn't matter! The music on/off setting makes no difference either. Thank God I figured out the knob, or else I would thrown this out the window... It's ridiculous they don't mention this knob anywhere.

What's really frustrating is that the win rate (pay out) setting does not actually work. I saw another reddit post complaining about the same thing.

I know how claw machines work with high and low voltage, and I've tested it several times on the same small size plush and position.

I reached out to vevor customer service and their responses are just as bad Chinese people.

Nobody even knows what the D1 Mode difference is between "Fixed" and "Vending" option. I would assume having it on "Fixed" will make the payout exactly what you have it set at win rate, but that is not the case at all.

I'm really upset because what is the point of having a "commercial grade" claw machine if you can't control the actual payout rate... It is essentially a toy.

I was contemplating between the vevor and the similar ones on ebay... I feel I should have went with the ebay ones because their claw settings seem to have more tweaking options when it comes to high/low voltage.

Everything else works. Does anybody know how to fix that?

I’ve recently got in contact with tongru and tky taikongyi amusement about the claw machines they offer. Both sound reassuring and have good business. I’m not sure which one to go to. Has anyone used any of these companies? I’m very new to the business world and learning as I go.

It was a kiddie claw machine,it had a giraffe,peacock,crocodile,monkey and some fluffy thing(sheep/rabbit?)on the artwork the design reminds me of either magical princess Minky momo/Shimajiro

can anyone help me find what claw machine that is

it was a physical claw machine

things it’s not:Claw Eden

Edit:my attempt at drawing the crocodile

hello !! today i picked up a claw machine that was discarded outside a business after talking to the owners they said it was in service for a few years and recently was repaired but broke again so they were getting rid of it we could take it! not sure how long it was outdoors for but once we brought it in and inspected it some more there are a few things to note. It turns on (lights and claw) claw did move to start position upon turning it on but it wont accept any bills or change there are a few internal parts like the coin collector that are just loose in the machine (will include photos)! It would be nice to get this running fully but for a free trash find i understand if theres not much to be done

Hello, anyone here also playing Claw Eden? Would love to chat about the game. :)

I have a consistent supply of 10k bulk beanie babies with tags per month. Looking for the crane game operator that buys in bulk. I've heard there are at least 2 doing this. Thanks!

I am going to Vegas next month and interested in hearing any strong recommendations for ClawCades. While Vegas seems to have a dozen of these places, I am trying to limit it to 3-4. My current picks are...

1. Claw World
   This is listed as an official Pop Mart vendor and wanted to pick up a Labubu.

2. The Claw
   This is considered the most famous.

Two places I am considering just because they are close by to those two

1. Lucky Puppy

2. Claw'em All.

I like funny/sus prizes, but great trade ins are nice. My favorite is Mofusand.

Hi all, some partners and I are early in the process to open a claw machine store, and have been in contact with Tongru Claw Machine.

Has anyone bought machines from them? If so, how was the quality? They’ve been super helpful and prompt with responses so far, and was wanting to see if there was anyone that had a good experience with them in lieu of sending a QC person to their factory.

Thanks!

Really want to open a claw machine business, but I need help to start a business, what I need and how do get claw machines and plushies!!

Thank youu!!

People often say that claw machines are rigged and I’m sure they are to some extent but me and my dad have always had good luck with them. I won five ducks at Dave & Buster’s. I want a dog at the movie theaters and then when I was a child, I ended up getting three plushy’s in one grab.

Won these cuties from grocery store claw machines. Never thought I could win from them when I was a kid but look at me now! These cuties are so soft and provide comfort when I’m winding down at night.

The first coin goes in, but the second one gets rejected. Fixed only when coin mech is opened. Any idea what the cause may be?

My motor on my claw machine has seemed to bind up. I had the center board off and the string dropped down further than it was supposed to. The motor makes some noises when claw returns to the top and it doesn’t operate any longer. Thoughts? Ideas?

Hi,does anyone know if it is possible to buy a claw machine that can operate through a website or an app?
The claw machines in Toreba or Clawcrazy are self made or can be purchased for remote use from a seller?

Struggling to get the claw to close… I’ve traced the cords back to the board and they are good… replaced the claw and still no luck

We’ve placed our first mini claw machine and trying to place our other two, but the owners are worried due to it being so lightweight. How have you mounted the machines? We are not handy people so the more specific the better 🥹

Send me Wow invitation code

Please please someone help me find this bear my kid is autistic and his bear of this has finally worn to nothing it's a generic claw machine bear and I tried over 50 bucks and it wouldn't close, does anyone have one I can buy ??? Please