3 ms·
This reminds me of the claw machines you see in malls. They look like something you can be good at - place the claw more accurately, choose a toy placed at a c
by underdeserver 3y ago
This reminds me of the claw machines you see in malls.
They look like something you can be good at - place the claw more accurately, choose a toy placed at a cleaner angle - but what they actually do internally is randomly give you a (say) 10% chance, if you hit it you will grab the toy (unless you're REALLY far from one), if not you won't.
The illusion is there, but the profit is stable and guaranteed.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoIs there a source for that? Has anyone ever reverse engineered the code driving one of these machines? Would be interesting to read about it.
- dddddaviddddd 3y agoYou can just read the machine's manual: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37658844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37658844
- AlexandrB 3y agoAlso applies to other supposedly skill based games at arcades, like "Cyclone"[1]. Interesting to contrast this to how pinball machines were considered gambling for a while, even though they were not[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBfwgwT1nQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBfwgwT1nQ [2] https://www.history.com/news/that-time-america-outlawed-pinball https://www.history.com/news/that-time-america-outlawed-pinb...
- musicale 3y agoPrize game machines (crane games, stacker, etc.) are scams (though technically not gambling since they are predictable?) but they seem to be the last arcade machines standing in many venues. I was encouraged recently to find that Mountain Mike's chain pizza restaurants seem to have mini-arcades with emulated retro cabinets from Arcade1Up.