Gotcha-Lafayette — Local services in Lafayette

I’m writing this review as an adult who has no kids and will be making comparisons to the claw machine store located in Metairie.

The machines: The claw machines are 50-50 on whether or not they are fair. While playing the machines, I would often find that either the claw itself was too small for the plush/item in the machine, making it impossible to win anything and would waste your coins. This is the same case with the large claw machines with the big toys- there simply isn’t enough room to grab the toy or enough grip strength, leading the toy to slip right out with ease. On the flip side, I will find some machines that are great to win, leading me to collect many items from the same machine. Overall, while it can be annoying to have a machine be blatantly bad, there are plenty of other machines that do work great.

This store does have more variety of types of machines compared to New Orleans, mainly the pinball style machines. This ensures that no matter your play style, you can be sure to find something fun to play.

The items: The toys and prizes, on the other hand, are lacking. Many of the nice prizes that an adult would want to win that aren’t Labubu or mystery boxes, while on display, are not for sale. While the Metairie claw machine was similar in that it was targeted to lure individuals in with mystery boxes and Labubus, the plushies within the machines were ones that I actually wanted to keep. At Gotcha, majority of the fun items I would want to keep for myself are in the machines that are unfair (see above). As such, I’ve been to the located twice and have been stocking up points as there simply aren’t good prizes.

Overall impression: I do think that Gotcha would be a great time for players wanting to spend money and win items. However, the store would do good to improve the prizes and ensure that the items within claw machines are fitted to the type of claw in play. I do enjoy coming here, but at the end of the day, I wish I could play at the Metairie claw machine store as it allowed me to leave the store feeling satisfied with my haul for the money I spent. I will continue to come play here at Gotcha whenever I experience the urge to play, but I hope to see the store better itself as it continues to flourish.

Edit: Edited to add that one of the prizes I received was broken, so that’s another point against them. Also be wary of positive reviews as they reward customers who give them 5...

EDIT: There is literally a wheel in the lobby where they have people spin for a prize ONLY if they leave a 5 star review :| . Keep that in mind while looking through these.

Short Review: If I could leave a negative star review I would. DO NOT GO THERE. It is a scam. Do not take your kids there, they will not win anything and you'll be out 20$ per kid.

In Depth: I brought my sister with me and we each got 20$ in tokens. They rigged the machines to where you CANNOT bring anything to the drop box. There were multiple instances on different machines throughout the store where my sister and I successfully grabbed a plushie, but the machine was too weak to hold onto anything. And when we DID get something in the claw, it literally started to open and close on the way to the drop box, repeatedly, until it let go of the prize. It ONLY does this when you have actually grabbed hold of something. Even the cheap 1 token machines, the ones meant to be easy for small children, are rigged to the point where they can't grab anything in them because it's too large or too heavy. Additionally, there are machines in there with no instructions to play. One such machine took three of my tokens because it said I used up my turn when I hadn't even actually done anything. When I expressed this to the employee, they said "Oh, you're supposed to hold the button , but you already used your turn so."

I'm not writing this to be a Karen, I'm writing this because I know it's the new hot topic place to go in Lafayette. It's a scam. 40$ and the only thing I was able to win out of the many machines in the store was a tiny keychain solely because I accidentally knocked it over.

Do not bother...

Had to update my review to give honest feedback. The reason this store has so many 5 star reviews is because they have a spinner wheel in their lobby you can use once to win whatever you land on. I personally love the way it looks, but some of them you can buy at miniso in the mall and not have to try win them.

They feel their sticker difficulty is enough information when playing the machines, however, I would appreciate honest transparency from the start. I can't tell if you get to keep the dolls you collect or if you turn them in to earn coins to get one of the mini surprise boxes. I tried to play a pinball type game to see how it worked. I even tried to wait for a prize because it stopped after one hit. They then told me that whichever number the ball lands on, that number is added to the top score and once you get high enough points you can win what's in the glass case. So basically, you find the machine with the highest points, see if they have anything left you want and if they do then start grinding away at it.

The only thing I won that day, was a fake golden Charizard card. I was able to confirm it was fake through a professional grader. I haven't gotten the chance to ask if they were all fake or if the cards not facing the front are real, but again, I would say the biggest issues here is honest transparency. It could be fun if you're smart about it, I personally would love to try it again and I hope they take my review and honest...