Note: Everywhere you look down the streets of Taipei, you see it! The yellow or white consoles. The flashing buttons. The varied (and we mean varied) prizes stuck inside a clear bin. All that stands between you and some Doritos, a stuffed animal, a toy, some cash, or an iPhone is that dang deceptive claw. Pop a $10 New Taiwan Coin (about 30 cents) and welcome to the world of claw machines!
Whilst we were walking around the streets and alleys of Taiwan we began to notice the abundance of claw machines in the area. As you walked down the market you could see claw machines sticking out of every corner, when you moved in to investigate them it always expanded into a whole room carved out of the market. Me and my friends described it as walking into Narnia. And we quickly decided our goal had to be winning from these machines!
As we started to waste all of our money on these claw machines we became increasingly aware of how many forces were against us in our endeavors to win.
We noticed that the claws were always angled away from the hole at the side. Causing your prize to go flying away from the hole whenever you could hook it. Not only that but the claw also opened back up when it got to the top.
This is all well and good. We can see that the odds are (quite literally) stacked against us. However, there is one problem. Upon leaving our hotel every morning we spot this sign: “Largest claw machine amusement park in Taipei” (the billboard is quite literally hanging over the entrance to our hotel which you see to the right).
We knew we had to take a look, maybe even learn some from the professionals. The front was just a small staircase.
The last thing I wanted to note was that these were only filled with food while the ones in the streets had fun toys or figurines with some of the more crazy ones having iPhones and AirPods.
Anyway we ended up spending too much money winning very little (3 toy guns and some peach tea). Sigh! The fun we all had was well worth it!
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