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INTEREST: Photo Feature: Japanese Crane Game Machines




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rizuchan



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:40 pm Reply with quote
I'm quite good at US crane games, so I've been curious about the Japanese ones for some time. For example, non-stuffed animal crane games in the US are usually pretty much impossible to win. I take it that isn't the case with the figure cranes and such in Japan?

I so wish there were more crane games like that here...
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2634
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:13 pm Reply with quote
rizuchan wrote:
I'm quite good at US crane games, so I've been curious about the Japanese ones for some time. For example, non-stuffed animal crane games in the US are usually pretty much impossible to win. I take it that isn't the case with the figure cranes and such in Japan?

I so wish there were more crane games like that here...


I've never been able to win at an American crane game, but I have won at the Japanese ones.

And of course a lot of times you can find the items in the crane games at second hand figure shops in Japan. Smile
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yotsubafanfan



Joined: 28 May 2011
Posts: 653
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:23 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty average in American style crane games, I win some, I lose some, so I'm sort of so so. Japanese one's though, well I can't really determine that. I've only really encountered one once when I was on a field trip in Elementary school. I spent $20 trying to win a prize and the second I left the next person in line (my really annoying classmate) won something out of it! Man was I mad, but I guess it makes for some funny memories though! Very Happy
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:01 pm Reply with quote
I wonder how the hell do you grab soming that big
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Meygaera



Joined: 28 Apr 2011
Posts: 324
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:16 pm Reply with quote
I don't think I'd be able to walk away from that Eevee one.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14886
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:23 pm Reply with quote
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Samo2222





PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:19 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty good at getting stuffed animals with the crane in my country. Wondering if going for a prize figure like that isn't as rigged as it is here. Sometimes the claw opens and resets as I'm taking something.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 4014
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:23 pm Reply with quote
I want those Eeveelution plushies!
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider


Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 2209
Location: Tokyo, Japan
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:16 am Reply with quote
firedragon54738 wrote:
I wonder how the hell do you grab soming that big


The plushie is attached to a string that's hung on a plastic pole. You have to inch the big pillow off the pole. With lots of money.

Also, Japanese crane machine do not grab... They poke and pull, meaning it's almost impossible to win things in one try.
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GhostShell



Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 1009
Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:14 am Reply with quote
mewpudding101 wrote:
firedragon54738 wrote:
I wonder how the hell do you grab soming that big


The plushie is attached to a string that's hung on a plastic pole. You have to inch the big pillow off the pole. With lots of money.

Also, Japanese crane machine do not grab... They poke and pull, meaning it's almost impossible to win things in one try.


Probably cheaper in the long run to buy the item from a store on-line and import it. Been doing that with my Eva Sega Prize figures for a while now. Very Happy
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2634
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 6:25 am Reply with quote
Yeah I never won on one try in a Japanese crane game. It's more about pushing the item until it falls.

But because there are usually one or two items near the edge already...
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Catseyetiger



Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 779
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 9:07 am Reply with quote
I have always thought these are not possible to win at. So I skip them all the time.
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Wooga



Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 916
Location: Tucson
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 2:29 pm Reply with quote
You nudge the item over the edge. Also, you can ask the person working at the counter to unlock the machine and move the item to the edge. I've never asked though.
I have won a few small Pokemon plush, nothing big.
The strangest thing I saw was live axolotls in tanks. You have to pick up a tag and grab it, then the person who works there gives you the axolotl the tag number corresponds to.
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Kyosuke_



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:25 am Reply with quote
I love these UFO games. I always play them when I visit Japan. Akiba has a ton of arcades with them.

The machines have different tricks to them but yes, usually winning involves nudging, pushing, pulling, or rotating an item so that it falls. You can't just pick up an item because they adjust the strength of the claw arms so that they're in general too weak. A lot of strategy involves placing claws off-center to move the item. Since a lot of items aren't that close to the ledge, this can take a lot of tries. There's a popular type in Akiba that involves wiggling a plastic piece off a rubber ball; the plastic is attached by strings to a trap-door ledge on which the prize rests. That type of machine can, in my experience, predictably be won with 1500-3000 yen if you are good enough with claw placement.
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sailornyanko



Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 134
Location: Mexico City
PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:43 am Reply with quote
Wooga wrote:
The strangest thing I saw was live axolotls in tanks. You have to pick up a tag and grab it, then the person who works there gives you the axolotl the tag number corresponds to.


Never saw one of those when I went to Japan in Nov 2012!! How bizarre that an animal native to Mexico City is a pet virtually nobody in Mexico City owns yet it's strangely popular in a country half away from the globe that whose national language cannot even spell half of the letters of the species title.

I tried some of those arcade machines in Akihabara hoping to get a Hatsune Miku figure, didn't even get close to winning one! I was very sad. Sad Most of the stuff on the arcades can be bought on ebay though.
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