Claw Games

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LostKause said:
Gonch, I'll give you definition # 3 from your link, "marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting". That's how you perceive the way other people except for you act in a lot of situations, I'll deal with it.

But if you are saying that people (other than yourself, of course) lack intelligence, I have no idea where you are coming from.

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I love how you keep putting the arrogance into my comments. I never once said "except me" - never. In fact, I thought I did a pretty good job of including anyone with my description. Read it again:

"That doesn't mean everyone. That doesn't always mean the same people. That doesn't mean all of the time.

It means that in any given situation you can count on a majority of those involved to act, think or behave stupidly."

That's all I'm saying. People are stupid.

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It just sound so arrogant, and you know that arrogance kills me.

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Doesn't sound any more arrogant than calling everyone ignorant:

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Lost Kause said:
If you replaced "stupid" with "ignorant", I would agree, Moosh. A lot of people are uninformed.

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Uninformed compared to who? You? And if that's what you are saying, then is everyone lacking information except for the person who notices that everyone is lacking that information?

(you get the point)

Besides, I'm not arrogant. I'm confident in my own abilities. Confident people can back up the talk. Maybe even a bit of brash self-assurance, but certainly not arrogant. :)

Did you guys know half of all people are of below average intelligence?

Only if the distribution is symmetric. ;)

Half of all people are below median intelligence (more or less).

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matt. said:
[My point was more to do with once you get into the long run with slot machines, then the returns pretty much are what they are.

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I saw the word game in quotes and thought you meant that as in "fun and games" and not as in "competition". Your point is valid, then, but I think it is also obvious to most slot players. I don't think most of us (I'm an admitted slot jockey) are in it for the win as much as for the fun of the occassional bonus or jackpot.

Say you go to the parks with a budget each trip. You come back having spent that much money and feel like you got your entertainment value. Now, imagine if every once in while you came back with $2,500 extra. That's the way I've always looked at my gambling - except I don't bet enough to win $2,500 at a shot. :)

- Jeff

Nice explanation, Gonch. I have a saying, "Confidence is not the same as arrogance."

matt. (who really lets me get on his nerves sometimes but I like him anyways) has made an incredibly interesting point. With very few words, he has reminded us that "half" the people are "below average" intelligence. That proves that not "everyone" is stupid. Only half are stupid, since by definition, below average intelligence is the place where stupid starts.

And that was my point all along.

Look at my signature, which has been there for at least a few months now. "People who think that people are stupid are stupid." I know that it's a paradox. I think that people who think that people are stupid are stupid, which ultimately means that I am stupid, and therefore everyone is stupid sometimes. I thought that that was funny. I hope that that shows that I really do understand where you guys are coming from.

I just take issue with you calling humanity stupid. We are the most intelligent creature on the planet. It bothers me that man is losing faith in mankind. I guess I just look at things a little differently.

Stupid does not mean unintelligent.

Like Gator (and Forrest Gump) said, "Stupid is as stupid does."

I have seen plenty of people who have higher than average IQs make some truly monumental STUPID decisions. I have also seen people who have lower than average IQs make good decisions.

Man, a cool thread about the claw game pulls a Casey Jones. This sucks.

Wow! I actually started an interesting thread (for once)!

Getting back to the topic...do you folks have strategies for winning? have you ever won any major prise of significance (not just a stuffed animal) but an I-Pod or DS?

Are there ways to cheat? (Perhaps using a Super magnet??? - Though it would be hard to sneak one past security.)

How much have you plunked down to try to win something? (We gave my son 1 card swipe and that was it).

I think people are stupid, too.

I used to win the claw game all the time, and never once did it occur to me that they are "set" to hit. I would merely scan for a machine that had a couple of loose ones on top, usually from the previous player's drops. Then, using my amazing dexterity, guide the claw over the object, wait for it to stop swinging/spinning and drop it. It might take a few tries to get the crappy stuffed animal in just the right position, and it helps to accidentally hook a finger under the ribbon around her neck, but it's possible. I'm dismayed to know that it wasn't skill at all, but sheer dumb luck, and that I was stoopid to even waste my money.

Once at Cedar Point I dropped 50 cents into the machine that has the rotating turntable and a skinny little arm that is supposed to sweep the prizes down into a hole. Waste of money, right? No. The skinny arm got right behind the plastic thing that held the wristwatch and pushed it straight in. So not knowing what to do next I took it into the Jitney Arcade and handed it to the girl.

"I won this and I don't know how to get it out."

"You won this?"

"Yes."

"Here?"

"Yes."

"You won this here?"

"....yes"

"Well, I'm sorry, but we've never had anybody actually win anything out of there. Um, let me call my supervisor and see how to get this thing open"

"That'll be fine"

Half hour later I had a lovely gold wristwatch to wear around the park for the rest of the day.

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Emiroo said:
Man, a cool thread about the claw game pulls a Casey Jones. This sucks.

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Sorry. I'll stop. I am enjoying the "games" part of this topic too...

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LostKause said:

I have always been fascinated by how games are designed in order to manipulate the perception of the chance of winning.

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See? :)

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RCMAC said:

I used to win the claw game all the time...it helps to accidentally hook a finger under the ribbon around her neck, but it's possible. I'm dismayed to know that it wasn't skill at all, but sheer dumb luck, and that I was stoopid to even waste my money.

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That's the exception. It's awesome that you are skilled in such a way to win in that way...

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LostKause said:

It is very unlikely, but sometimes you can win a prize just by luck. I have seen a prize get stuck on one of the claw fingers before, allowing for an "unscheduled" win.

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And I don't think that you are "stoopid" (lol) for playing. It's been a part of the cnversation here that a good reason one should play games is for the fun factor and not just the prize. Just look...

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LostKause said:

I LOVE the coin pushing bulldozer style games. They are "fun". I get a lot of enjoyment from them.

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redman822 said:I have seen plenty of people who have higher than average IQs make some truly monumental STUPID decisions.

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As a freshman in high school, I had a classmate make a friendly "wager" that I wouldn't plug a resistor in the outlet prior to our Intro to Physics class. I won that one....shocking. LOL, the entire building dimed for a couple seconds, and my instructor, who HAD to notice my hair, was very kind and decided to "not notice" the barely smoking resistor I threw in the trashcan immediately after recognizing that I was truly one of the dumbest people on the planet. At least for a few seconds there... ;)

Long story short, we ALL have our moments - that's why people had to reproduce *and* migrate readily. Or mankind would never have made it. :)

edit: Just realized how far OT I was...in regards to these games, or Vegas, or whatever, if you're having more fun, and gamble only what you can afford to spend, then you're not stupid. You're paying to be entertained. Bully for you! I'll probably find my entertainment in another way most times, but I've certainly been known to play some nickel-and-dime poker with friends, so....(only in states where that was legal, LOL!) ;)

*** Edited 8/19/2008 11:32:15 PM UTC by rollergator***

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Emiroo said:
Man, a cool thread about the claw game pulls a Casey Jones. This sucks.

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It would be stupid to think a claw game thread would stay on topic around here. ;)

Here's the jist:

1. They're often predetermined to pay off and in some cases flat out rigged.

2. People play for the excitement.

3. There's no secret to it.

That's pretty much all you can say about the claw games unless you start sharing personal stories of triumph or frustration - and that's fine. Just ignore the 'stupid is as stupid does' subplot and you'll be fine. :)

I used to love The Claw and the old second run movie theatre as a kid. It had crap prizes but they were easy to get. Practice made it easier each time.

A few years later after the old theatre had been bulldozed, I went to try a claw machine that was at the shiny new multiplex built near it. The prizes were a bit bigger and the machine cost a bit more. But using my skills on built up on the older machine I placed the claw perfectly on the prize. Prize would lift, claw would move then prize would slip out on trip to drop slot. After a couple tries, realized the new machine was rigged and The Claw has been dead me since...

On a similar but slightly off topic note, has anyone ever seen anyone win a big prize on The Stacker game? The machines have a couple of names but involve stacking lit blocks by stopping them as they move across the board. There's a dummy prize level near the top that's easy to reach..prize is usually a keychain or something similar..but if you can make it a few more spaces to the top you can win a Wii or fake Ipods..fancy pants prizes. The game is fun, somewhat suspenseful but conclusion is that it's essentially a slot machine for kids.

I've never seen, nor know anyone who's ever seen anyone win a large prize on the game anywhere!

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Cropsey said:
On a similar but slightly off topic note, has anyone ever seen anyone win a big prize on The Stacker game? The machines have a couple of names but involve stacking lit blocks by stopping them as they move across the board. There's a dummy prize level near the top that's easy to reach..prize is usually a keychain or something similar..but if you can make it a few more spaces to the top you can win a Wii or fake Ipods..fancy pants prizes. The game is fun, somewhat suspenseful but conclusion is that it's essentially a slot machine for kids.

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I'll second your suspicions.

That's absolutely one of my favorites. I can reach the last level (top row?) every time and yet have never won the big prize. If my accuracy up to that point is dead on, does it really suddenly decrease on the final row? Perhaps, but over the long run (I always play that when we come across one), you'd think my skills would hold up at least once.

My guess is a predetermined payout ratio. Or as you put it - a slot machine for kids.

I forgot to add that I also can easily get up to the last line but always lose too. It is a fun game with cool sounds, so don't mind dropping a dollar or two if there's time to kill. But I'd feel better about it, or at least less of a sucker if I knew that someone, somewhere has won or at least seen someone win a big prize

With the amount of time that most of these people on this board spend in earshot of one of these machines, unless it's a total scam someone has to have seen someone win! I really don't mind not winning or taking the chances of hitting a payout. But it would piss me off to know that it's a total scam.

This could be right up Markay's alley. "Youth and Adults who like toys are being tempted by evil slot machine game of lies!"

I made a decision at the begining of this year that at each visit to VF, I will invest $20 at the garage arcade to see how many "tickets" I get before the end of the season. I already know the return on my investments will not be met but it's a fun experiment to see what I will end up with. So far I'm into it for a little over $100. I pretty much stay away from the cranes and the coin pushers.

Last year I got addicted to the game where you drop a coin down the chute onto the center of a horizontal rotating wheel with ticket amounts along the perimeter. The coin follows a guard out to the edge and you win whatever it lands on. I have hit the accumlative jackpot a few of times. Sometimes over or close to 1000 tickets.

This year they were removed so I've moved on to a game where you try to get 6 super balls to land into a red zone of pockets inside a vertical roatating wheel. The amount of tickets paid out is determined by how many you can get into that zone. All 6 gets you the accumlative jackpot. The last one I hit was worth 1800.

Another game to get good amounts of tickets is the police hellicopter game that you aim your coins accross a fast spinning platform into slots with 5, 10 ticket amounts with a 50 at the center. Once you get that aim set, and with a light touch, you can get that 50 a few times. Give or take a tap one way or the other in the process.

There is a ski jump one that pays out more than most games also.

Sorry I don't know the names of these machines. I'm too busy playing to notice. Is that bad?

*** Edited 8/20/2008 1:44:03 PM UTC by WildThingNative*** *** Edited 8/20/2008 1:48:03 PM UTC by WildThingNative***

^The names of the machines varies quite a bit....might be by manufacturer?

P.S. Check your PMs... :)

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Cropsey said:
Has anyone ever seen anyone win a big prize on The Stacker game?

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This one got me as well. The first time I played it I got to the top and then (of course) lost without winning the big prize. Well that suckered me right in. It was easy right? $10 later and I had made it back to the top row 6 more times, but somehow could never win. I have written it off as rigged. But somebody must be winning, because the prizes do change and are missing from time to time...or maybe the operator just wants us to think that.

The other thing I've noticed is that even though the prizes are things like iPods, DS & PSP, they are never in the official retail package. It's usually some ghetto packing or box I've never seen elsewhere. I often wonder if I were to win, would the prize be legit?

Stacker machines are set by the operator to have a win for the large prize after a set # of plays, I believe it can be set to 1 in 250 up to 1 in 800. People have won, someone on Great Adventure Source won twice last year. I also have seen a few videos on YouTube of people winning at various places.

I occasionaly try them but have yet to win of course *** Edited 8/20/2008 4:11:03 PM UTC by YoshiFan***