Several years back, I heard a NPR story about a man who figured out how to beat the “claw game” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5061866). You know the claw game, where you try to pick up stuffed animals with a super weak claw that is incapable of grabbing anything. Ever. Well, this gentleman figured out that if you wait until the day they fill up the machine and then only go after the toys on the edge of the prize chute, you can come away with a prize. This guy however took it to an extreme and became sort of the Robin Hood of the claw game and would hand out the stuffed animals that he collected to kids, who otherwise would just waste their quarters in vain. The guy in the story was never heard from again, I suspect the claw game manufacturer clubbed him with a claw, because they certainly could never grab him with one.
Armed with the knowledge of how to defeat the claw game, every now and then I would indulge the kids in getting a toy under one condition, we had to go after a toy by the edge of the chute. This strategy has yielded some very odd prizes. When Jacob was 3½ we landed a Harry Truman stuffed doll (what child would not be thrilled to get a strange likeness of our 33rd President?)…
Then there was the mildly creepy and very ugly “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” green gorilla. I have tried many times to rid our house of the hideous green gorilla with large red lips and a hat to no avail…
4-year-old Ben once received a cute Gingerbread Man from the claw machine, which required a team effort including Jacob’s friend Raul, who happened to be walking through the grocery store with his mom, while we were feverishly trying to catch the Gingerbread Man.
All good fun, until I recently noticed something horrifying in the claw machine, a horse’s severed head. Yep, it even has a “Godfather” label to ensure that you know it is a severed head, instead of just a cute head of a horse. Plus, the horse’s head, complete with “red” on the bottom in case you wondered about the color of the inside of a horse’s neck, is on the farthest side of the machine. Nearly impossible to retrieve. To my credit, I restrained myself from trying to get the horse’s head, until I looked it up online and some versions of a stuffed “Godfather’s” horse’s head go for about $45! It was worth a try. A few bucks and turn it around on eBay for $40. Ah, if only.
The horse’s head rests against the glass on the far right side
I enlisted my claw machine experts (my three sons) and we gave it a go. Sadly, I must inform you that we failed and the severed horse’s head still rests in the Cub Foods lobby. Yes, there is an evil that lurches among us and it goes by the name, “Claw Machine” (officially licensed “Godfather” severed horse’s head included).