There’s nothing quite like the joy of pumping shiny coins into a “UFO Catcher” machine or crane game and getting a fuzzy toy in return. As long as you can figure out the machine’s “sweet spot”, you’re almost guaranteed a prize.
But in Japan, where crane games feature a wide variety of prizes including anime figures and snacks, the game designers have been coming up with sneaky ways to trick you into feeding in even more coins in pursuit of a reward. Check out these epic crane game fails…
When this Twitter user decided to film what was supposed to be the triumphant retrieval of a tub of chewing gum, they probably weren’t expecting their prize to slip out of their clutches in quite this dramatic a manner…
なんだよこれwwwwwwwwwwwwhttp://t.co/5IEUOhNfCu
— えね (@_ene7) May 4, 2015
Luckily, they seemed to see the funny side, but others aren’t quite so impressed! Check out this gallery of fails!
▼ In this game, anti-slip material is used to prevent prizes sliding towards the goal.
クレーンゲーム失敗した事を、(ゲーム機の装飾のイラストの)ナジャヴが邪魔をしたからだ、と濡れ衣着せて「あいつめー！」ってなってたモジャヴ。
— 💐ど根性ねづみ1匹🐭NE233 (@nezuminya_namja) May 8, 2015
自分の腕のせいだと認めなさいwww pic.twitter.com/PZOUd2Lw5Z
▼ Er, how are you supposed to fit those long boxes through the slot, anyway?
めっちゃ頑張ってるねんけど、落ちない笑笑
— 消しました (@T_F_kishimon) February 28, 2015
落ちそうやねんけど落ちない笑笑
クレーンゲームなんてそんなもんw
これで無駄遣いするやつは人生失敗する爆笑 pic.twitter.com/1bPIs5Ykie
▼ Darn!
https://twitter.com/S____2405/status/589645612095705088
▼ Those arms are weaker than a newborn baby’s!
https://twitter.com/juri_vb_storm/status/582738494696628224
Noooo!
松本衛「おで、ホグワーツに入学する！！」そう言ってUFOキャッチャー失敗。 pic.twitter.com/8xi0A47i91
— てび かずき (@tk1209hb) February 9, 2015
▼ So close!
UFOキャッチャー失敗 pic.twitter.com/45Ahcm1a93
— ナチュラルMななお太郎 (@GeeeGym) October 23, 2014
▼ WHYYYYY
変な取れ方してUFOキャッチャーエラーになった(笑)もう１個取れたかな？って思ってやると失敗するからやめとく♪ pic.twitter.com/mdvi8z4tiR
— ゆかり☆ (@yukari_day) April 21, 2014
Being no stranger to the lure of a fluffy character myself, I recently wasted about 500 yen trying to get a cuddly toy from a UFO catcher machine, only to be outwitted at the final hurdle by a particularly inventive bit of trickery. On my fifth try, I managed to pick up and drop the fuzzy critter right into the retrieval slot – only, it didn’t drop, and instead seemed to be suspended in mid-air as if by magic. That’s when I noticed the webbing of almost-invisible floss-like plastic strands criss-crossed over the top of the slot. Aaaargh!
We guess that with so many people out there regularly visiting arcades and honing their skills on the UFO catchers, the machine creators have had to seriously step up their game to outsmart them. Unfortunately, that means the rest of us average coin-gamblers wind up wasting our money for nothing when outfoxed by the machines’ evil tricks.
Source: Jin115
Main Image: Twitter @S____2405
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