PICTURE THIS: You are walking through a street in Seoul and you spot a claw crane machine. Unable to resist, you step closer and peer into the machine to check out the prizes. For a thousand won, you can try your hand at the classic arcade game and attempt to win a stuffed doll. However, as easy as it is to play the game, winning it is the true challenge.

A rigged design

   Claw crane machines are a common fixture in arcade game shops, cinemas, and college towns. Throughout the decades, the machine has kept its simple design: a huge, transparent box with a metal claw looming over the prizes. Players use a joystick to control the position of the claw and a button to make it drop down and grab the prize. This arcade game has recently skyrocketed in popularity, with over 880 claw crane machine shops registered in South Korea as of 2016*. This number has only grown since then, as videos of people and celebrities winning prizes continue to bring attention to the game.

   Although claw crane machines are largely marketed as a skill-based game that depends on the placement of the claw, the truth is that skill often has little to do with your odds of winning. Claw crane games are notorious for the claw’s abnormal actions—suddenly letting go of the prize mid-air or lacking the strength to grab it. In truth, the game is designed to draw in competitive players to rake in profit for the owners. According to Business Insider, the majority of claw crane games are rigged in various ways to ensure the player does not win until the owner has made a profit. The setting of the machine is decided by the owner, meaning some claws only reach their full strength after a set number of tries. Others arbitrarily grab the prize at full strength but loosen their grip midway to the funnel. A rare number of machines are rigged to grab at full strength only if the player drops the claw within the first 20 seconds after the game starts.

   However, the claw isn’t the only part of the machine that has been manipulated. An anonymous arcade game manager posted on Quora** that the prizes with significant price differences were distributed unevenly across the machine. For example, cheap prizes would be piled up near the funnel, while the more expensive and attractive prizes would be placed farther away to limit the chances of the claw being able to grasp them and carry them to the funnel.

The thrill of the game

   Every time the claw lets go of the prize or grazes it without being able to pick it up, outraged cries from players ensue. Are they aware the game is rigged? Vox claims that most people attribute the difficulty of the game to how closely packed the prizes are, which limits the claw’s reach. However, when asking passersby in Sinchon, the majority replied that they knew the claw was manipulated. All in all, it seems that most people are aware that the odds are not in their favor.

   Despite the poor odds, the appeal of this low-cost, high-reward game continues to incite people to play. The game is designed to trigger our brain’s response to “near wins”—seeing the claw narrowly graze the toy or drop it right before it reaches the funnel, we believe that we will succeed if we try just one more time***. The psychological impact of near wins is linked with gambling behavior; a study published by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology explained, “Self-perception of personal luck determined the participants’ willingness to wager [the next round].”

   Claw crane games are popular among teenagers and adults in their twenties and thirties, particularly those who do not have the leisure of time or the money to afford other activities****. In an interview with The Korea Herald, Lee Na-young (Associate Prof., Dept of Sociology, Chung-Ang Univ.) stated that claw crane games are merely a way for people to seek “a greater sense of enjoyment and satisfaction with the smallest cost.”

A deceptively problematic industry

   “Since I only insert ₩1,000 at a time, I don’t realize how much I’m spending while playing the game. It is only after I spend all of my money that I realize I have wasted a large sum.” A graduate student interviewed by Korea JoongAng Daily highlighted one of the main issues of this game. The psychological impacts of the low-cost game have been largely overlooked, but new research shows that these luck-based reward games can have similar addictive effects as gambling*****. Money Today reported the case of a thirty-year-old man who started playing claw crane games to relieve the stress of job hunting, and is now ₩50 million in debt, unable to go to sleep without trying at least one more time. Similarly, The Dong-a Ilbo has reported cases of customers resorting to theft after spending over ₩1 million while playing the game, and were subsequently charged.

   The growing demand for claw crane games has also led to the upsurge in counterfeit merchandise******. In order to attract customers, claw crane games must offer appealing prizes, and the most common are dolls of their favorite characters, such as Pokémon. However, government regulations set the price ceiling for dolls at ₩5,000 apiece, meaning most game owners have problems finding licensed merchandise within this limit. As a result, Korea JoongAng Daily speculates that a portion of licensed merchandise is either counterfeit or non-compliant with government regulations dating back to 2007. Game owners have even lobbied for an increase in the price ceiling for the dolls. However, these efforts only succeeded in causing an online debate between people arguing against outdated laws versus those who believe that the bigger issue is the manipulation of the game.

*                 *                 *

   It’s no secret that claw crane games have a trick up their sleeve, which is both the source of its addictiveness and the frustration it causes. From elementary school children to young adults, claw crane machines continuously draw in people who decide to spend their pocket change for a chance of luck. Those who play the game know it is rigged, yet these bad odds have not stopped those who wish to be the “1 in every X number of tries”.

*Game Rating and Administration Committee, a government organization that regulates all game content in South Korea

**An online platform where users can ask and answer questions on various subjects

***Daily Mail

***The Korea Herald

****Taiwan News

******The Dong-a Ilbo