Matt Schley
December 24, 2017 
You know those arcade machines where you deploy a claw to fetch a tempting toy—and almost inevitably come up short?
It turns out you never had a chance—if you were playing at one of a few arcades in Osaka, anyway.
A company that maintains crane games in Osaka has been busted for rigging the machines to make it impossible to win, Tokyo Reporter has reported. Though it’s often been suspected crane games are not entirely fair, this raid was reportedly the first of its kind in Japan.
The crane games in question weren’t cheap, either. With the promise of winning some seriously high-end merchandise, such as hoverboards, video games and more, the games could cost up to ¥10,000 (almost $100) per go.
Players were convinced the games could be won by the staff, who demonstrated a successful clawing before stealthily changing the settings.
The president of the game company denies the charges.
Next time you’re in Japan and feel a clawing urge to play some crane games, we recommend sticking with reputable chain arcades—or, at the very least, don’t pay ¥10,000 for a single play, for cryin’ out loud.
Source: Tokyo Reporter
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