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sMap: Locations to Play & Get Your Prize ... 4

Interview: Inside a Player’s Mind ... 10

Article: Mastering the Crane Game: A Game of Skills ... 6Article (Cont.): Mastering the Crane Game: 6 Tricks to Beat the Crane Game ... 8

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Crane Game

Article (Cont.): Mastering the Crane Game: 6 Tricks to Beat the Crane Game ... 8

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Fry’s Supermarkets

Arcades

Hotels

Malls

Walmart

Arcade video games are fun but they are also very challenging, especially when it comes to the famous crane game. People don’t seem to get so upset when they lose a game because atleast they had a couple of minutes of fun trying to pass a level. On the other hand, when people don’t win a prize from the crane machine, they become very disappointed because they feel they have waisted their money.

Some people will never again try to play the crane game. Others will get too absorbed by the game and lose track of the amount of money they have spent, just like with gambling machines. Wheter the prize is a plush toy, money, or a glittery ball, there will always be someone interested in taking a prize home. These vending machines are very tricky and the machine op-erators make it look like it’s a piece of cake to win a prize. The truth is that only people who have a strategy will win a prize.

A game of skills

Most machines have colorful lights flashing and music to attract people’s attention. Some machines even have high quality prizes and money, which make it ir-risistible for people to play atleast once. It’s important to know the different types of machines to know how to operate each one and be able to win a prize.

There are many people who think it is impossible to beat these machines, but there are others out there who

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Mastering the

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have been lucky. Following are a couple of tricks that will help everyone beat the crane game, and with some practice, even the youngest per-son will learn the skills necessary to be successful.

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Observe the claw machine while players try it out. Keep count from the first win you see, then take a men-tal note on how many tries there are until the next win. Each claw machine has a setting from a mechanical box, which tells the claw when to use the hardest grip to pull prizes. For example, it might be every tenth try when the grip is the hardest and will result in the big-gest chance for success.

Wait until you can play the winning round you identi-fied in Step 1. This may take awhile, depending on the number of people ahead of you in line who want to play the crane machine.

It’s important to choose your machine carefully. Don’t play a machine that only has a right and forward but-ton. When you’ve pressed and released each button once the claw will drop without letting you get the chance to adjust. You should look for a machine with a joystick and a “drop” button.

Insert the amount of money needed to play the game. Then move the crane over the items that can be reached. Avoid playing overloaded machines because the amount of items may interfere with the claw.

Finally, drop the claw over the prize. If you followed Steps 1 through 3, your chances to win a prize at a crane game will be very high.

It’s time to choose your toy. You need one that is on top, if it has an arm or tail trapped under another toy, it won’t come up. The claw is strong enough to lift a toy, but not to unwedge it. Also pay attention to how far the claw-track reaches because toys against the glass are not reachable.

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6 Tricks to Beatthe Crane Game

During the past couple of years, with the rise of video games and even portable video games, I have noticed that kids spend hours at home playing on their X Box 360 and nintendo games. Before these video games were so popular, kids could not wait to finish their homework and chores to go outside and play. Kids had so much fun playing tag with their friends, riding their bicycle, or just climbing trees.

Kids’ hobbies have changed so much with technol-ogy, which can be a good thing if they take advan-tage of the benefits, but it can also be a bad thing if used incorrectly. Many kids are still being active

MindInside a Player’s

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by playing sports or being part of other activities. Un-fortunately, other kids are facing the negative conse-quences like obesity or failing classes because of the high amount of hours spent on video games each day. These days if we visit an arcade, we would be surprised to see that they no longer attract kids’ attention.

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I was able to interview a 13 year old boy named Samu-el who loves playing games but tries to keep a balance between school and games. He likes playing with his PSP at home whenever he has free time but he doesn’t like going to arcades often. He says he doesn’t like ar-cades because he doesn’t see the point in paying to use a machine only once, it’s not worth it for him.

The main reason is because kids now even have their portable game to take with them whereever they go. Portable games are good because kids can play with them when bored, waiting in lines, or while waiting at the dentist’s office. But they miss out on a lot when traveling with their family because they don’t see plac-es they’ve never gone to.

One of the few arcade games he likes is the air hockey table. He likes this game because it’s different from the typical arcade game where you just sit down and move the controls. I asked Samuel if he likes playing the crane game, his answer was no. He says that some prizes catch his attention but he has never won any-thing. However he said that he would play it often if the prizes were easier to win.

“I would play the crane game more often if the prizes were easier to win”

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