UFO catcher
Prizes of both the anime and edible varieties can be yours even if you can’t make it to the arcade.
Amazingly generous arcade makes the diabolically difficult game super easy in celebration of something that had the entire town feeling good.
This plushie of Kirby’s video game co-star wasn’t broken, but it got fixed anyway.
Here’s your chance to breathe the rarefied air of AKB48, Japan’s highest-flying idol mega group.
Pikachu plushies snuggled up in Pokémon sleeping bags are the prizes we’ve all been waiting for!
Both foreigners and Japanese folks agree, Calbee’s new cola-flavored chips are a big win. But you’ll have to be pretty lucky to get some for yourself!
Look, arcade owners, UFO catchers are difficult enough already, okay? We’ve already worked out a precarious balance where you tempt us with stuffed animals, anime figures, and boxes of candy placed tantalizingly close to the drop slot, and we accept that almost always said item will slip out of the claw’s pitifully weak grip, leaving us empty-handed and the surrounding air resounding with frustrated cursing.
But still, it’s all worth it for the rare time everything goes just right. Once the player hits the button to drop the claw, the rest of the game is automatic. That means if you do manage to get a solid grip on the prize, you can sit back and savor your impending victory as the arm swings back into position over the slot and drops the prize in for you to claim.
Unless you’re at this heartless, diabolical Japanese arcade.
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