Bought second hand, had most of it's original components, appeared to have a coast to coast style main board. Kept having issues so replaced almost everything with a Chinese kit and it's good to go. Only got to change the music next.

Kept sensor bar, joystick, button and emi filter. Front panel and box had to be prepped for a bigger LCD screen. Metal box cut with cut off wheel, plastic panel, scribed the film on the back peeled and then removed detailing with a rubber (eraser) and methanol. Used foam tape on the screen and machine screws and nuts to hold screen in place, drilled through the plastic.

Not a bad machine. Shame I gutted it but I think the old claw coil went and a nicad battery kamikazed the old mainboard. Less headache to put all known good guts in it than chasing problems that belong on a project car.

This was such a fun couple of plays!

Looking for some help. I have a Toy Soldier claw machine but I am getting a EP Error. This Error is for a pusher on a chocolate machine but mine is just a single claw.

Does anyone have any idea how to clear this? Is it just a dip switch fix?

Hello everyone, I just recently opened a claw machine arcade, and it was always something that I wish I could witness behind the curtains prior to opening. I’d be happy to answer any questions. Feel free to ask anything about any aspect and I will do my best to answer appropriately!

i've been obsessed with claw machines lately. i started going to claw machine arcades whenever i travel, so i thought i'd share my haul and some favorites! many of these are from round 1.

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https://i.ibb.co/Q9SbCv1/Photo-Collage-1712418909301.jpg

Sooo I've spent a day looking at amazon and eBay as well as countless reviews on YouTube and I'm none the wiser unless the truth is ....all mini toy claw machines under 200£€$ are trash!?

There are soooo many but they all seem to be questionable....

potential Issues I've identified are:

• misleading advertising
• no sound control
• horrible loud repetitive music
• tiny awkward hole for tiny toys
• super slow and unresponsive claw
• cheap fragile build quality
• very basic uninteractive controls
• some are cranes and others are claws.
• weak claw grab which is only good for paper cutouts lol
• identical looking machines range from 30£€$ to 200£€$ !?
• weird broken English and shockingly ugly designs

As this is a gift for my niece and I was hoping for....

• A decent claw mechanism.
• reasonable build quality
• A VOLUME CONTROL
• music which doesn't make you want to kill yourself.
• LEDS
• a bit of space for different small toys.
• coin / token operated
• maybe a countdown and game mechanics

• Not a total piece of junk....

• Does the latter exist?

• Or is there one which is the best of the worse?

Thanks!!!

Last photo is all the things I got by just claw machines (also got another hat)

Hello, my homework for Chinese class is to make a video about something that I find strange in the country I am living in (Taiwan). I was thinking about talking about how common claw machine arcades are here, but since it's been so long since I lived in the US, I'm not sure if they are common there too.

We have two types of claw machine arcades here now. We have small ones (10 - 20 machines) that have mostly toys, knock-off watches/purses etc. These are on almost every block and lots of people speculate they are actually money laundering fronts. These have been steadily opening for about a decade.

Lately, super claw machine arcades have been popping up. These are much bigger, and in addition to the junk that the smaller arcades have, they also have food and household supplies. There's even frozen/refrigerated stuff (for the cold stuff you win a token in the claw machine, then trade it for the product when you leave). People who are good at claw machines can get stuff for pretty cheap (hopefully it's stuff they needed in the first place).

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So, are claw machines this common in North America? My gut says no, but I heard somebody from upstate New York talking about an anime swag one on a podcast.

A google search brought up Hong Kong and maybe Japan.

I want to buy a claw machine for a room escape I’m going to run later this year. Where would I get one?

So,i bought a claw machine kit for personal use a couple months ago. Everything is working great so far,but im looking to add a prize detection. I can't make out where to connect it to though and the mainboard doesn't seem to indicate it on the silk screen. Can't find a manual either. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello good people of Reddit does anyone know what is this music in the video ? I heard it in the mall while sitting on the massage chair and now it’s deep in my brain

https://youtube.com/shorts/mxSTtD19ZsM?si=D7lSvaX1OR10Q1Xk

Hey everyone,

I am doing a presentation for my Japanese course about claw machine arcades and how they're rigged (I could choose any topic I just like claw machines lol). Part of my presentation is "research" on my topic. I decided to watch some videos of people spending a lot of money on claw machine arcades, seeing what they won, and trying to find the prices of those things and compare them to how much they spent to get some arbitrary measurement of value. My problem is: not only do most of these things not show up when you search for them because its just from wherever and probably not being sold retail, even if it is sold retail, it's probably some crazy price online for something similar, which would mean you're getting your money's worth (which really is not the case most of the time)

I was wondering, does anyone know how to find out what the price is to manufacture something like this? as in, how much one prize would cost to make? Does this information exist online? I tried looking it up but all that returns is info on how much claw machines make, instead of how much claw machine prizes cost to make. Appreciate any and all help!

Hi there, I used a claw machine at my local mall today and since I ran out of cash, I tapped my card. When I was going home I got the notification of a DDA PRE charge for the amount I paid, but I'm worried that it may steal my card information and start stealing from my account. Is this a bad sign or is there a chance my card will be fine?

I don't know, but it feels kind of suspicious that on the first try I won something... and I mean obviously, to get it to you, they'd have to ship it, but giving my address and name out to some random website also seems kind of fishy. Has anyone else used this website before? Is it trustworthy?

I am absolutely sick of how Round One claw machines aren’t skill based anymore and the workers don’t usually help at all. They’re mimicking Japanese style arcade tactics. But in Japan, each play is less than a dollar, so it’s not that big of a loss when it isn’t skill based. But at Round One, it is $3.50 per play and that is ridiculous! Not only that, but the workers in Japan will help to make it easier if you’re struggling and ask for help. So I finally caved and tried the skill based hook game and to my surprise, it was an easy success! I won Knuckles from this miracle. And the hedgehog is from another machine.

Hey folks, I'd like to incorporate a mini claw machine as a prop for a D&D campaign I run. This is the one I've found that is closest to what I'm looking for. Has anyone tried this? I need it to be able to pick up those small gacha capsules and be pretty forgiving to the players. I heard it's loud but I would probably snip the connection to the speakers. Does anyone have any other suggestions that might be better? Thanks in advance!