Claw City Berwyn — Attraction in Berwyn

Unfortunately my review is not going to be sunshines and rainbows as I did not have that experience.

I entered having high expectations as the reviews appeared very good. I was ready to win fantastic prizes! I spent $50 as that gets you 20% more tokens (or 10 more tokens for those who are math averse). Each token is worth $1. *Caveat that if you are using cash, there is one machine which will NOT combine your money and will only give you 57 tokens! Why even have this machine available?

The nice girl at the front explained that if you did not like a prize you could trade it for something on their wall. It is not a direct 1 to 1 trade though, you have to trade 5, 10 or 15 plushies to "upgrade" to a different one.

While they do have 1 coin machines, those include small plastic items. The majority of the machines are of the 2 coin ($2) sort. While the machines did not have the "weak grip" most of the claw machines have at arcades, they were much worse because they had a really good grip on the plushies.

This is where the problem is! The plushies are grabbed well and the claw goes up to the top and the plushie is still being held without issue. The claw moves to to dispenser opening but ALWAYS opens right before it gets to the opening to dispense the product! I tried 6 times and noticed the exact same thing every time!

I complained about it and the girl went to the machine herself, inserted some coins, and received the exact same result! She did apologize and said she was not able to fix the machines, nor place signs the machine was not working. She did however give me coins as an apology, but had I not complained, I would've gotten nothing.

Others there were also upset and kept saying the machines were rigged as well.

Since there are no refunds, I had to continue playing, but had to account for the fact that the machines all operated the same way and I had to stack plushies near the dispenser in order to get one to bounce and fall in the hole.

At least make it so the machines have weak grip, or the claw moves with less precision horizontally or some other thing instead of literally making people they won the prize but then open the before getting to the opening! It just feels like straight fraud to me!

Out of the $50 I spent, I only got 7 plushies. But would've had at least 15 had the machines not been so rigged.

*I NEVER give reviews in order to gain free anything, meaning I will NOT contact the business for a follow-up call nor chat. I only write reviews to let businesses know they are doing a great job, or if they should change things to better themselves for future customers. I will sometimes revisit a business in the future to see if they made any changes and then edit my reviews.

**Edit/response to owner: Yes, I did mention she gave me coins as an apology - the same number as I had played and clearly would have won but did not. While I do understand the concept of being a small business and I do applaud the effort for providing a unique experience, the way that the machine claws open right before getting to the opening is not right. There are other ways of making the machines not win as many prizes which would not seem so deceitful, in my opinion, and I am all for that! Things like having the claw have less grip is one prime example - just like all the other arcades out there.

Hopefully I am an outlier and others see it differently and win a lot, but for now, it will be a while before I go back and edit my review to a hopefully better one. I DO want to see more small businesses succeed, however at least have plushies that are more difficult to grab, but then not have the claw open right before winning, or better yet... decrease the price $0.50 per coin and leave the mechanics as they are. At least when you do lose, you are not losing $2 every time, plus you will have more fun trying to get that prize as it is not so expensive.

Just some thoughts, but I do hope to see this business succeed as claw machines in general...

My family went into the place with excitement and ended up leaving the place devastated. We first spent $50 and both of my kids only got one successful try after feeding the machine with 5-6 tries but all failed. The claw will release within two seconds no matter how good of a grip you got. I attempted to ask the staff if they could assist by adjusting some of the plushies as they tried so many times and other claw machine places we have visited in Las Vegas, New York, all assist after multiple failed attempts so that little kids could feel rewarded. However, this place will not and just say try another machine. As a parent, the intention is to bring the kids out to have fun and have a memorable experience, so I spent another $50 for another round of tokens. After $100, we finally were able to leave with 5 plushies. There was also no air conditioning nor any music so the atmosphere was not very friendly. Hopefully their management will be better as they progress in the upcoming days. My kids definitely don’t want to...

The machines are super rigged. I’m fairly skilled at claw games but had a lot of difficulty winning here. I have video of the claws purposefully dropping the prizes before they reach the prize chute. If you buy their package if 128 tokens for $100, it’s about $1.56 per play at 2 tokens per play, which is kind of expensive. I spent $120 for 151 tokens and won 10 plushies and 1 keychain. However, I have been able to win more than twice that number of plushies at a different arcade and for only $100. Also, it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and there was no air conditioning, and the walls had floor to ceiling windows, so it was just as sweltering inside as it was outside. For full review see Klaw_Kween on TT and...