Anybody ever win treasure from an arcade game?

[philinchio]

At the bowling alley my parents have league at there is an arcade machine called "Whistle Stop," a railroad-themed game of skill where you have to press the button at the right time and hope your selected prize stops on the winning arrow. Some of those prizes are collectable coins such as Walkers, Bens, Ikes, and Mercs. I figured that if I got good enough to win almost every time I could score some silver for cheap.

Unfortuantely that did not happen. Although my timing was pretty much spot on, even adjusting when necessary on subsequent attempts, the lights would always stop just before or after the "winner" row. I have a good feeling that the machine is rigged to allow a win after a pre-determined amount of money is put inside. A lot of skill-based prize games, like Stacker, are. Then again, I might just suck at timing. :P


So, anyone else have any experiences with winning (or attempting to win) cool prizes from arcade machines?

 

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[dogpound]

the only thing i win are stuffed animals from the crane machines

 

[Monty]

I won a plastic whistle at Skiball! Monty

 

[Unicorn]

I doubt you would win anything of value on an Arcade machine. They put the odd interesting object in to attract players, but mostly those machines are fixed.

 

[Frankn]

*Most machines that are electronic work on a %. The house can only legally set their % at a certain level.
On the other hand the claw type are all luck and observation. I say observation because some items are "buried" deeper in the base material.The jowl's are set at a certain tension and they will slip off the items that are set deeper. Some items might even have a weight on the bottom.
When I was a kid, my Father would take me with him when he played cards at a local bar. He would give me a hand full of coins to play the claw machine. It was filled with little wooden figures about 6" high I think the bartender hated to see me come because my average got up to better than one figure per two coins. I still have a couple.

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