Focus on items near the edges or in a loose pile. Position the claw precisely above the target, aiming for the center or a stable part, like the body of a plush toy. Observe how often the machine tightens its grip, as many machines increase grip strength after a set number of plays—typically 10 to 15 attempts. Practice timing your drop carefully, as precision increases success rates. Patience and observation are key to mastering claw machines.
Choosing the right toy
Observation showed that toys located in corners or closely up against boundaries fared a dismal success rate of just 15% – compared to their central and well-open counterparts, who enjoyed an encouraging result with ~75%. So, when selecting toys, consider first those placed at the center of attraction.
Only toys that have regular shapes and a low center of gravity can be successfully pulled 60% of the time, while if the shape is irregular or their centers of gravity are high, success only comes in one out of five cases. To cite an example, trying to grab a round object with a low CG is easier than grabbing a long bar type.
Through comparison, soft toys won 50% of the time, and hard toys only got victorious in just four out of ten rounds. Plush toys are very easy to grab, as they come in soft material, but the plastic ones seem a bit hard and are not easy at all.
You can refine your choices through observation and practice. For example, toys next to other toys, and the claw cannot perfectly grab them all, lead to only a 10% success rate. On the other hand, placing a toy by itself without any additional competition with toys increases reliability to 80%.
By making lots of observations and theories, you can increase your hit rate on real targets. Practice comparing the positions, shapes, sizes, and weights of different toys to help develop your skills in selecting new toys. When considering the truth, choose toys with a high success rate to increase your chances of successful grabs.
Adjusting grabbing strategies
A 30% increase in success rate can be achieved when the descent speed of the claw decreases. When the speed decreases, even at 5 cm per second, there is a success rate of up to 60%, but when the speed increases, for example, at twice (10 cm/s) that, success only occurs with one out of three grabs. Therefore, if you pick a slower descent speed, it will allow more precision to catch the toy.
It succeeds 50% of the time from above, and it has a success rate of 40% from the side. Particularly, grabbing from the head or feet side of a toy has met with greater success. An example of this is how picking from a 30-degree angle on one side allows a success rate of 45%, but if it’s picked vertically, then the success rate drops to just 35%.
In operation, some of the first grabs can be used for you to attempt different angles and speeds to find what works best. Data shows that after comprehensively adjusting the claw’s descent speed and grabbing angle, the success rate can increase to 70%. For example, adjusting the claw speed to drop at 5 cm/s and grabbing from a side angle of 30 degrees can achieve a 65% success rate.
Each operation of the claw machine is limited to 30 seconds, and reasonable planning can effectively improve the success rate. Data demonstrates that if you spend the initial 15 seconds on observing and positioning, it boosts the win rate by up to 20%. For instance, using the first 15 seconds to get a good placement of the toy and grabbing in the last 15 seconds will increase the win percentage from around 40% to 60%.
Improving operational skills
The stability of your hand can determine your success rate. Experimentally, steady-handed players were successful 70% of the time, while shaky-handed players succeeded only 30%. For instance, deep breaths can significantly increase your success rate if you keep your hands steady through operation.
The operation time of the claw machine is 30 seconds per attempt, and reasonable time allocation can substantially increase the winning probability. The data also indicates that spending the first 15 seconds on observation and positioning improves the success rate by as much as 20%. For instance, using the first 15 seconds to localize the toy in a specific area will increase the success rate from 40% to 60%.
The success rate is 60% with the claw’s strength set at 50%, but only 20% when set at 100%. For instance, reducing the claw’s strength when grabbing heavier toys can improve the success rate.
Players who spend 10 seconds watching how the claw moves and where it lines up before grabbing increase their success rate by 15%. For example, observing the claw’s movement trajectory and pressing the button at the right position can increase the success rate from 45% to 60%.
