How to beat one of those claw machines

[yendi]

http://www.totallycrap.com/videos/videos_how_to_beat_the_claw_game/


(I suspect it's faked -- the hole seems to get bigger at just the right moment -- but it's still a nifty idea)

Comments

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't try that on one of the claw machines filled with water and live lobsters, though.

One of my friends had a key that would open those things up. After spending several dollars trying to get the toy she wanted, she had several of us stand around her (to block the view of what she was doing) and she opened up the front panel and took the thing.

[yendi]

Man, I never see claw machines filled with lobsters at my local mall.

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

The only time I ever saw one of those was at a restaurant in Denver.

[littlebuhnee.livejournal.com]

the hole seems to get bigger at just the right moment

Okay, I thought I was just imagining that, but it looked like the hole got bigger to me, as well. On the other hand, Bastian's only 8 inches wide at the shoulders, which is about the size one of those holes would have to be in order to get out a stuffed animal. He'd be able to get into one of those machines easily. :)

[yendi]

Hee! You could walk home with a fortune in crappy stuffed animals if he gets in there!

[allroads.livejournal.com]

I like how the employee was concerned about the little girl but felt the need to finish washing the windows first.

[yendi]

Well, washing the windows was his job; getting little girls out of claw machines is the responsibility of another department, I'm sure. That, or maybe he thought she was a prize.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Video Production Guru to the rescue! =:o}

It is clearly and visibly faked. They exploit the low video quality and fixed angle of the "security camera" to obscure some of what's going on (isn't it convenient how the security camera just happens to be neatly covering the field of interest of the entire incident? Almost as if people knew where to stand when doing their "reacting" or, in some cases (the cleaning person), "not reacting at all naturally"). However, there's a couple of edits where a change in light quality conveniently distracts you from a discontinuity in the in-laid picture of the box of toys, etc. Note also the way that as soon as the girl has disappeared into the suddenly-bigger hole, the stack of toys - without significantly shifting or "avalanching", as it actually would - suddenly acquires a big gap just where the girls head needs to fit (nice and close to the front glass), where before it seemed to be completely full...

Most importantly, the visibility of the scene inside the box is just far too high and too consistent for something taking place in such a confined space with a light source *inside* the box, just above the girl's head. She should be casting shifting shadows inside there like crazy.

All that said, for something probably done on a shoestring budget, it's a nice gag.