Claw machines seem like fun. The premise is simple — guide a robotic claw towards a prize that catches your eye, hit a button to lower the claw, shiver in anticipation as it clasps your chosen treasure, and revel in joy as it drops into the collection chute. But like elections in the mind of MAGA cultists, these claw machines rigged. Nineteen times out of 20, the claw will grasp your sought-after prize, raise it triumphantly, then prematurely release its hold, sending your trophy tumbling back into the mountain of lost dreams.
I recently came across the video below, posted by No Context Humans, that offered a workaround to this unfair system. A resourceful individual used a strong magnet to coax their desired prizes into the dispensing chute. Whether the video was a staged spectacle or a genuine act of beating the game by unilaterally changing the rules is debatable, but if this ploy works as shown here, claw machine owners might reconsider positioning prizes susceptible to magnetism near the transparent display case.
Please note, I'm not encouraging anyone to adopt this tactic, but if curiosity gets the better of you, this appears to be the type of magnet the individual in the video employed.
