i have mastered the crane machine game of skill, and it has spawned a little bit of an obsession. my roommate has a few investments in town has partial ownership of a small store front the size of medium sized bedroom which has housed several unsuccessful botiques and has been kicking around the idea of putting a giant crane machine with large stuffed animals, and low cost merchandise from the business’ she rents space to (a handmade artsy underwear store, a skateboard shop and one successful botique) as prizes. This was brought to my attention when i told her i was going to make a giant crane machine as art installation.
my question is
Where can i find the mechanics for such an idea? i went to a family fun center that had a crane machine that was about 10x10 and had a giant crane. i have googled and only found standard size machines and parts for them.
I would thing the first thing to do would be to a buy a used machine and gut it, from there I would thing it’s just expanidng that you’d have to do. The mechanics will and exectronic I would expect to be the same, just longer rails and wires and a bigger/stronger claw. It seems easy enough, but most things are easier said(posted) then done.
I still want to know how you mastered one of those things. I walked into a rest stop last summer and saw one of those machines. A little doll was sitting completely on top of the pile. I couldn’t resist. 50 cents. Fail. 50 cents. Ooo, it dropped it but it was close. 50 cents. IT PICKED IT UP…IT HAS IT…IT FELL DOWN THE CHUTE. I would have been less suprised if I just won the lottery.
The doll was poor quality of course and it got lost in the mix with all my daughters much better dolls but I will always consider that one of my greatest life achievements.
I can tell you the secret is knowing your machine, esp if its a machine in a location you are always at. My machine is in my supermarket. Everytime I go to the bank or supermarket its there, and i have to drop my 50cents in. You will learn the tension of the claw and direction it spins when it drops. Also when you win a few new friends for your SO or child after luck, you will know the size the claw will handle. So aim for the part of the stuffed animal that is something you know the claw would pick up. The last secret is going to the side of the machine to gauge if you need to bring the claw forward or back. You cant do that from the front of the machine very well.
that is all I have to offer up on the subject, but I seem to win 4/5 times when putting in a dollar. Id say one of those 4 dollars will net me 2 toys (50cents a try)
all this being typed out when the new owner of all the prices (my live-in SO) is whispering “dork” over and over in my ear.
I have a friend that seems to have a skill for these machines. She doesn’t look around the sides or anything, just puts the money in and wins. The last time I saw her play, she played 5 games and got SIX items. Yup, actually grabbed two items at once.
I’m amazed. I always thought those games were just random, and the claw would only pick up and lock in every so often. I’ve won exactly once, much to my shock. The claw itself never seems to have enough grip to actually hold anything. It just plunges down, half heartedly grazes its metal talons across a stuffed animal, and returns home. It’s never looked to me like those claws actually can pick anything up–that’s why I always assumed that the machine would just randomly lock in the claw occassionally and actually grab the item you were aiming for.
In a random conversation I was having once about crane games, someone asserted that the claws have much more gripping power when nearly closed as opposed to open wide. Therefore, the strategy is to try center on a small part of the stuffed animal; like a paw instead of a torso.
Any truth to this? I’ve never bothered to try it myself.