Robot Claw

UFO Catcher is the japanese term for ‘claw games’. These are devices where you manipulate a claw in an attempt to pick up a prize and drop it into a hole for collection. Here’s a shot of a typical UFO Catcher:

< UFO Catcher

These things are extremely popular here in Japan. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they are the ‘hook’ that gets people into arcades. They are typically the most abundant type of machine in any arcade and are placed at the most visible positions (almost always at street level). The range of prizes available are staggering and run the absolute gamut, with a tendency toward the cute, perhaps because these machines are very popular with female players (and not just young females). Here’s a random collection of shots of various catchers and their prizes:

From top left: sausages, stuffed bears, a pillow, Haruhi figurines, Monster Hunter cats and big stuffed bear heads. (The bear mascot incidentally is called Rilakkuma and is stupid popular here these days). In parts of town popular with girls (such as Shibuya) the machines are typically more likely to have cute goods (and not always toys), whereas in places popular with dudes (ie. Akihabara) the machines have dude-ish contents such as cute girl figurines or Gundam merchandise.

However these things don’t just contain toys, as you can see here:

From left: a refridgerated machine vending ice creams; a machine (in Odaiba) with live beetle prizes, and at right a machine (in Ueno) with panties as prizes (this was in a decidedly sleazy arcade…)

If you can imagine it, I’m sure someone in Tokyo has at one time or another put it in a UFO Catcher.

The machines come in all shapes and sizes, from very small with tiny claws to large with massive claws. Here are two examples of the latter:

The one on the right is actually a slight variant because instead of a claw is has two separately controlled fingers. It looks difficult.

The machines are almost always Y100 (about $1) per go, usually with 3 tries for Y200 or 6 for Y500. If the prize is particularly good (such as an iPod or something similar) the cost per attempt can be as high as Y500. However it is more or less moot because the technology in the catchers means that they are as much about chance as they are about skill.

Consider the following case. First, look at this image:

< Rabbit Bonanza!

That was a machine we saw yesterday in Ikebukuro. I wanted to win a rabbit, and KLS (happily) recorded me trying.

Watch the video here.

Yes I won a pink one, more by luck than skill (the claw hooked between the ear and the body). But you saw in the video the first time I tried the claw easily had the strength to lift the yellow rabbit (my initial target) into the air. I had three more attempts after the end of the video (the attendant asked us to stop videoing!) and the claw was so limp it basically couldn’t grab anything. It seemed very much so that the tension of the claw decreased dramatically after my win.

If you read this entry, you can see that this is extremely likely and almost certainly what happened.

Take a look at these images as further illustration of the canny ways the arcade owners use to minimize wins on UFO Catchers:

These images show the same prize in two different machines (a Gurren Laggan sheet). Look closely at the left image – note the anti-slip material placed under the sheet? On the right you can see the sheets are placed in a manner as if to suggest they could easily be knocked down. The catch in both cases is the sheets are quite heavy, probably heavier than the claws could even lift. So they can’t be budged due to the anti-slip stuff, or lifted due to weight. It would only take one try for a player to find this out, but they’re already out their Y100…

Another clever ruse. The prize is dangling directly over the slot you have to drop it into. But the claw can only just come down to the height of the ring. But that tiny ring is supporting all the weight of the Kapibarasan stuffed animal (which is over a foot long). So even assuming your aim is dead on, the chance of actually dislodging it is minute. This setup – making a win look trivial – is quite common.

The left image shows a Rilakkuma stuffed bear that is absolutely massive – easily over 1m in height. There’s no way it’s falling through the prize slot of any machine, so the arcade has an alternate win system – you have to pick up a balloon from a dish of water and drop the balloon into the slot. I’d wager this is borderline impossible, but I had to wait to take this photo today as a couple kept trying 🙂

The thing is, even when I know victory is unlikely and these things are engineered to keep my money. Even when I know the cost of playing is almost more than the value of the prize, well I still enjoy trying these guys. For instance…

< Rilakkuma

…I spent a good 5 or more minutes analyzing the above earlier tonight. Obviously there was no chance of actually picking up the motorized walking toy, but I kept wondering maybe I can knock it to the right if I do xxxxx…

I eventually gave up and walked away, but the machine came damn close to taking some more of my cash 🙂

I’ll end with a shot of something that did not come from a UFO Catcher, but very well may have come from a UFO!

< UFO Cat

The title is the name of a monster from an old Ultraman series, a tiny model kit of which we saw today in a retro toy store in Akihabara. I don’t remember the cost, although it was probably low (under $20). However the Mandarake in Akihabara sold a Y2,100,000, approximately 20cm tall vinyl toy of another Ultraman monster, still bagged and in great condition. That’s US$21,000 approximately. Even for an unopened toy from more than 30 years ago that seems a tad steep 🙂

Akihabara is where the otaku (maniac fans) go for all their manga, anime, games and toys. It’s also the best place in Tokyo to buy electronics, play video games, or eat at maid cafes 🙂

The ‘big’ franchises these days are Monster Hunter (both the games and the merchandise), which is massive and featured in every store; Neon Genesis Evangelion (yes, even after almost 20 years the franchise is as strong as ever, bolstered by the recent films) and Queens Blade (the series of ecchi gamebooks has spawned a mini merchandising empire).

We checked all the major shops yesterday, and most of the minors, paying particular attention to the figure stores and the game stores. I managed to find the latest volumes of Guyver and Bastard!!, and picked up a Monster Hunter artbook and a slew of TCG cards from such series as Duel Masters (the 52nd expansion just came out!?!), Monster Hunter & Queens Blade (yes every big franchise gets a TCG…)

No Railfan yet Jim, and you can bet we’re looking everywhere. We’ve even discovered there are three games in the series (Japan, Korea and amazingly Chicago!) but the PS3 sections in stores are tiny and the used PS3 sections are tinier still.

In fact game stores are mostly about DS and Wii these days (unsurprisingly), with the next biggest section being PSP. PS2 still has a healthy following, but 360 sections are small and, as I said, PS3 sections so tiny they are hard to find. This will all change in time though, as the system is picking up steam. Not to mention the 800 lb gorilla of FF13 about to be released.

Even so, in most game stores the section of shelves devoted to advertising the upcoming release of Monster Hunter 3 on Wii is typically bigger than the entire PS3 sections!

Above left is a maid, who was handing out fliers advertising the maid cafe you can see in the middle photo. On the right is a shot of a billboard used to advertise all the maid cafes just in the Akihabara region. What was a novelty when we were here in 2006 has become a local tourist attraction, and as you can see there are a great many cafes now. Basically they are (apparently) overpriced restaurants serving average quality food, the attraction of which is the waitresses all dress in maid outfits.

< In Animate

The above was taken (on the sly) on the 5th or 6th floor of Animate (one of the mega otaku shops) and shows just the maid outfits they sell for cosplay. The professionally made Bleach outfits ($100 and up) were much more impressive, but as they were next to the counter I couldn’t get a shot due to the no photography rule 🙂

A couple more random Akiba shots. Once again, I’m guessing AW is boggling at the fact that you can just find gashapon out on the streets here. Put it this way – there are so many in just the few blocks of Akihabara, they have to put some out on the street!

In Japan, ninja slice kebab meat.
In Japan, some drinks are bionic.
In Japan, well I’ll let you work out this photo 🙂

We actually walked to Akihabara via Ueno, and spent some time in the park before most people were up.

This next shot is of the two statues outside Ueno Zoo entrance, overgrown with vines. Can you identify the two animals?

< What are these?

When I review the days shots, especially the ones KLS loves to take of me eating, I’m always struck by how it seems as if I had posed or hammed it up for the camera. The rightmost shot (dinner) is an ‘American Dog’ (which was eaten cold, but was actually decent). The middle shot though is more interesting, since it was a piece of chicken at KFC. And it was great. Here’s proof:

< Mmmmmmmmm

I bet most of you will like this video though!

And what better way to end todays entry that this way?

< Lest you forget