Topic: How Do You Think About UFO Catcher? - page 2. (Read 524 times)

If we play in this game it's required a high lucky moment to win the prizes.
Yes you are right that mate here in Philippines many of these kind of game especially in malls or supermarket honestly I'll try this game too and believe me or not from my 100,PHP convert it to a coin i did not win this kind of game it's hard for me to catch the doll in the claw. Maybe I am not lucky enough for these kind of game.

I have played this kind of game in the past, and for me those machines feels rigged, to be direct, the gripper doesn't have enough strength to grab. This is from my experience. But at the same time i have seen videos of people getting banned from this games for winning to much, and other videos where people use magnets to take the prices without spending money.

I don't think this could lead to a gambling addiction to the kids, because they play for fun and not really for the prize.

A lot of people are still hooked into claw games. Some are still hoping that they are the ones whom will the jackpot will favor. I know that it is guaranteed to give a prize at x amount of bets specified by the creator of the game and I can't help but try it sometimes if I pass by an arcade. A lot of kids and their parents are still trying to win that thing even though it's rigged. You can't really deny the charm of a game of chance with enticing prizes, especially to kids.

I don't understand what does exchanging money for coins have to do with it? And, what do you mean by "coin"? In most countries around the world, physical coins are still money, just like paper money.
It doesn't make sense to define gambling in that way.

Firstly we can see it as a common game which everyone plays and seems to be pleasing and making impacts in children's life to both adults but there is something to be considered.

Naturally we call it game right? Yes!
But do you actually know that such games leads to much exposure, coupled with exchanging local currency to coin makes it looks more of gambling which is not idea for a kids under 18 years to place a game.
What makes it not recommendable for Kids is where you have to exchange fiat for coin at this aspect you the Uncle have literally initiated the knowledged of gambling to him or her.

If exchanging money to coin can be excluded then is okay for kids to play around with it, about adult who is above 18 years can exchange fiat to coin and play with it otherwise we can call it gambling because there is a chance to win and lose money. I can assure you that in most cases the machine can be configured in a way were they could frequently loose instead of winning.

Claw crane fun games are were popular in early 80s and I have the opinion that they are no longer in demand for now. It could be that because many people have discovered that it is a rigged game where the owners set every working process of the game.
I don't like it for children and I will not allow my children play it. I will rather like a grocery store to have an educational game, where a child can answer simple education questions and win something for themselves.

There is no doubt that this type of machine is designed to maximize profit for the owner. They have variable PSI strength settings for the claws, and they only give out toys as often as state regulations require. Until recently, I had no idea that there were state regulations concerning this type of amusement.

Here's an article about it: https://kotaku.com/why-yes-those-claw-machines-are-rigged-says-arcade-op-5929888

Thus, we cannot talk about a skill-based game here if the game has settings that determine the frequency of winning prizes, as, for example, slot machines do.

You know that saying about gambling, the first win gets you hooked!

My daughter won a bear with her first coin! 6 coins for a dollar, and there are those riding toys and this catcher... I was standing and watching her playing around and in one moment she went to this catcher, she was moving that stick without any sense, from one end to another (30 seconds), I was laughing cause she was small and she couldn't even see what she is doing... when time expired claw went down and she got a bear! I couldn't believe it! Now we play those games whenever we see one! I play it as well, but she is luckier than me!

When I was a kid we had arcade games, you need a coin to play... and you play until you use your lives (2-3 depending on a game)! I never thought about these games as gambling, it's just fun... if you wish to play you need coins, that's it! Good fun is rarely cheap, you need coins or equipment, and you need to pay for something to have fun! I see gambling in the same way (and I am close to 40) if we wish to have some fun we need to spend money! I will try to teach my kids to be aware of what life is, to know that fun costs, and how to never spend too much on it! There're other important things in life except for fun and entertainment! It's ok to have fun, but we need to have some limits!

If you looked that way then it's gambling, if your children use skill to try to get a doll then its a game, it's more challenging than slot because you need timing here and you need to know the right doll to claw, I have seen a lot of tricks on how to claw dolls, it's not cheating but you need skill and timing to do this, so your children that you can get things through timing and right method to use.

It's legal here in our country and it's included in a game and theme parks some Mall here in our country included this game and we have seen it in many recreational parks here, I guess its how every country define this kind of game


I played this on one occasion but I got irritated seeing I cannot even get one doll while in ten tries other kids got theirs in one or two tries I thought that might as well buy one instead of getting myself embarrassed  

This topic belongs to the Gambling Discussion forum, not the Gambling forum.
I've never seen such machines in my country. Perhaps they are banned where I live.
I don't consider claw machines to be actual gambling machines, because the objective of the game isn't winning money.
It's simply winning a toy. This is more like a "pay-to-play" or "pay-to-win" game rather than an actual gambling game.
Banning such games would be equal to banning almost all "pay-to-win" mobile games on the Apple and Google Play store. The people, who play mobile games don't want to win money, but they are incentivized to buy in-game currencies, in order to win the game.

Just what I thought so. But I'm not so sure about them not playing again of course when there is a reward after winning, they'd come back or maybe try some other games. I use to play these sorts of games.

I wouldn't still consider this a gambling activity because we have tried this sort of entertainment besides the shopping malls. This is like a recreation area for kids while their parents are busy choosing groceries.

I am confused why you and your wife were confused... Confused about what? Confused because the kids wanted to kid stuffs?

And I wouldn't call those claw machines a form of gambling. I wouldn't worry of them becoming a gambling addict because they played one round of those claw machines. I bet none of the kids would be interested to play again after they managed to win something once. If you call this gambling, then all games at the arcade can be considered as gambling. After all you win tokens playing games which you can later redeem for prizes.

Had no idea what a UFO Catcher was until you mentioned claw machine which is why the title needs to be modified op. Coming to the machine itself, I've played with them when I was small and had a ton of fun even though it's frustrating sometimes.

It's gambling alright, but you won't lose a ton of money gambling with these machines when compared to traditional casino games like slots, roulette, blackjack, baccarat etc.

Another advantage of these machines is the fact that you need to use small denomination coins to play which many people don't have access to these days.

You know I never thought of those games as a form of gambling but you are right, they were very popular in arcades back in the day and you can still find them everywhere, however in the case of the video games you could play at the arcade you got exactly what you paid for and if you were good at the game you could play for a long time with your money, however when it came to those machines you could spend all your money and get nothing, so I think I will agree with the governments which have banned them, since kids should not be gambling with their money on those machines.

They're making money out of the kids but if the kids learned tricks on how to claw this doll, its the operator that will suffer, I have seen some kids good at clawing those dolls and if you Google it or check out Youtube videos, there are tricks and methods to do this, it's gambling for those first trying it or do not know the tricks but for those who's playing these for a long time and discovered tricks on how to claw it its skill and cannot be considered gambling, there are kids who are curious on how to do this properly and will search or create their own tricks, so the risk is on the operator.

Well, that's how those operators earn a living when kids don't even know about the mechanisms behind the whole machine but the person who developed this concept is really a genius.

Just like those carnival games, you're better off buying the real thing.

Played it several times before and I remember playing other games that are similar to gambling but instead of winning money you could get one of those high-value prizes or tokens which can be usually bought from the entrance of the arcade. I agree it could lead to addiction but then again there are so many games that are accessible online and offer a similar experience so I think it still comes down to the parent's awareness and how they'll guide their children bit by bit in order to prevent that path to gambling addiction in the future.

I never play this game with my kids because I do not allow them to play any games in the mall except to buy what we want and then go home as soon as possible. So I do not know about that game but as a parent, I think I see some kids in my environment ask their parents to go to the mall and just want to play many games at their place. I thought that could lead them to learn about the passion of playing that game. Maybe it is not gambling but it surely teaches kids about addiction that they do not know at their ages.

But soon after they grow up, they will explore other things that can give another addiction and somehow, they will know about gambling, although that is not the same as what we play at the casino. But still, that is gambling in the end.

I only recently learned how these machines worked.  I always thought there was some skill involved as a kid, like this was the one game I could get over on.  However, now that I've learned it is just as much a game of chance as everything else, I'm a bit let down.  Spoiler Alert: The pressure that the claws use to grab things changes every attempt and only every so often is strong enough to pick up one of the prizes.

I agree that this somewhat teaches kids to gamble, as they are taking their chances on the claw machine thing to get some stuffed toy or whatever is in the box. It is up to the parents how will they control their kids to not get the idea that they can win more with this kind of thing as they grow old. Kids that grow into adults that are a trouble to the society are often exposed to an environment that is not nurturing and is promoting bad activities. If the parents can somehow show these kids that it's okay to take your chance on something but do not rely everything on such activities to get where you want to be, I think it will be fine and safe. It's on how you train your kids to think IMO and also how you introduce things to them.