New Orleans pro demos claw machine with a toilet paper roll. Then he switches from hard to easy mode

Few arcade games cause as much collective frustration as the claw machine. Many an arcade has seen its share of people swearing at the maddening little crane that always seems to lose its grip at the worst possible moment. Most people chalk such losses up to their own bad luck or clumsy joystick skills.

But one New Orleans man says that's not really the full story.

‘You're actually not that bad at them'

Shed construction company owner Chris Gary (@garyshedco) shared footage of him using an old claw machine. His video has since accumulated more than 183,000 views.

“Fun fact about claw machines that you probably didn't know,” Gary said, his camera pointed at the machine apparently in for repair at his shop. “You're actually not that bad at them. I'll give you a demonstration.”

Gary filmed himself attempting to operate the machine, which was completely empty save for a single full roll of toilet paper. When he tried to get the claw to pick up the toilet paper, it failed.

“There are settings where you can make it easy to win, hard to win, in between,” he said. “Or you can control how many times it takes before someone can win something. So I'll show you just how bad it gets sometimes: No grab.”

Gaming the system

Gary's video then cut to him fiddling with what appeared to be the control panel of the now-opened-up claw machine. He tweaked some settings, saying, “Now I can hop in here, play with some adjustments … Let's see.”

Gary proceeded to successfully pick up the toilet paper with the claw. He conceded that “obviously [he's] cheating because [he doesn't] have locks on it, but you can see—a winner!”

In his caption, Gary emphasized that “with the rise of the claw arcades … people [think] they are just horrible at claw machines,” even though that's not necessarily the case.

“Sometimes it is just luck, and sometimes it is skill,” Gary wrote, calling his video a showcase of a claw machine “secret.” “Depends on who owns the machine and how they set them! At the end of the day, it is a business that needs to make money, so they can't just set these machines to be easy and a winner [every time]!”

@garyshedco With the rise of the claw arcades and people thinking they are just horrible at claw machines here's a video to let you in on a little secret sometimes it is just luck and sometimes it is skill. Depends on who owns the machine and how they set them! At the end of the day it is a business that needs to make money so they can't just set these machines to be easy and a winner everytime! #arcade #clawmachine #arcadegames #secret #moneytips ♬ original sound – garyshedco

Are claw machines rigged?

Gary's demonstration lines up with how the arcade industry itself describes these machines. Kotaku reported that, per the testimony of an arcade owner, a claw's grip strength changes according to where it's at on a payout cycle.

“Claw machines do deliberately have a tissue-thin grip, even when you think you have it lined up directly over that plush toy and can't possibly miss picking it up,” Kotaku writes. “It's designed so that they “pay out” (give you a toy) only as often as state regulations require … The odds in California require a prize dispensed on one in every 12 tries. In Nevada (and in many other states) the odds are 1 in 15.”

Vice also found that “the machine owner can also decide on their ‘profit rate,' which in turn determines the frequency of the claw grabbing prizes at full strength, allowing players to win easily.” The Associated Press, however, did report that “according to industry officials, it's in arcades' best interests to have customers win so they'll keep playing.”

Legally, claw machines occupy a gray area between arcade games and gambling. This gray area allows them to be “rigged” in this manner. According to legal resource Gamma Law, claw machines generally count as “skill-based” entertainment devices exempt from gambling regulations. However, owners often cheat the system and make their machines “rely too heavily on chance”—therefore running the risk of getting themselves into legal trouble.

“Operators can (and often do) manipulate claw strength and payout timing,” Gamma Law writes. “Manuals openly instruct how to reduce grip strength or set a win-to-loss ratio, creating scenarios where winning becomes statistically impossible—even for skilled players. That undermines the argument for a skill-based classification and invites regulatory scrutiny.”

Buzz News has reached out to Gary via email.