Claw Zone — Local services in Louisville

We went today for the first time for their re-opening. I love claw games and have even had the opportunity to try them overseas in Japan. I was hoping for a similar experience here. I will preface by saying we were able to win several plushies and having that good rush feeling of a win was really nice. They definitely weren’t all “skill based” as they claim but I will say they do have a higher win output than a lot of claw machine places. However, the stuff they have is not good quality. They most definitely ordered in bulk from alibaba or a similar website. Which is probably why it took them a while to reopen because shipping from those websites takes a couple weeks usually. I was easily able to find the same ones for sale on alibaba. The plushies on there are about $2 or so a piece so you know they are making bank off those claw machines. Plus selling labubus at a crazy markup they should be making good off those too. Hopefully with the money they are making they can start stocking quality products that are legit instead of knockoffs. If they haven’t already, they should consider getting machines that you can reload your card on, because waiting in the long line to reload isn’t ideal. Especially when it was really hot in the building. All in all, it was fun, but just a bit disappointing. Especially sad that you have to trade in a lot of mediocre medium plushies in order to get a giant mediocre plushy that probably cost them the same to purchase as the little ones. The large ones are also knockoffs. It also would be nice to see them have more than mostly the Pokémon knockoffs. Like just more cute plushies or more anime themed ones or even some legit anime figurines that you can win. I really hope they get better/licensed products in. Until then I think I’ll pass. Side note, there was a really sweet lady working there that helped adjust the claw machine to try and make it easier to win. I thought that was very sweet and also reminiscent of how claw machine places are...

I really really wanted to like this place but unfortunately it falls way beyond the mark. Tokens are about $1 a piece unless you spend $25 and you get an extra 5 and with $50 you get an extra 15. Extremely expensive for bootleg/unlicensed IPs. Nothing Sanrio, Pokémon, Ect are real and are all Aliexpress knock offs. Given they are only spending a few cents to a handful of dollars a piece on prizes you would think they wouldn’t be so rigged against you. We bought the $50 package to receive 65 tokens and despite playing 25ish games only left with 3 items as most machines would fully pick up the bootleg plush and immediately drop it. You are given a bag upon buying tokens giving the impression you’ll be leaving with a decent amount but that is far from the truth. They also stated they had official pop mart goods in some machines but for more tokens which is somewhat true as we found a machine that had a sign that read if there were no labubus inside to refrain from playing that was 10 tokens a game but it was empty and there is no telling if they are ever actually stocked or if that was just mentioned in hopes you would buy a larger package. They are also selling what seems to be legit zimomos but despite the brown one being $100 less in retail they are priced at the same insane markup. I added a photo of one of the items I got from a blind box. It hasn’t even been appropriately removed from the mold. We asked the staff if they were licensed products, despite the fact it is not stated anywhere they are not yet they have signs up saying there are fake labubus and the man working fully laughed said no nothing is and when showed the item in the picture said there was nothing he could do about it. Absolutely disgusting customer service and manipulative practices. Selling fake IPs is illegal but selling them without the appropriate signage is just gross and predatory. If you want legit, authentic goods just open up WhatNot for the same thrill without...

We truly loved the experience brought to Louisville—what a fun and unique addition to the city! The claw machines were top-notch, and the quality of the plushies was impressive—soft, cushiony, and felt like memory foam. The atmosphere was energetic, and the staff was attentive and ready to help, especially when machines occasionally malfunctioned (like eating tokens or snapping mid-turn). It was great to see how prepared they were to handle issues and make sure everyone still had a good time.

That said, while we were excited to attend the grand opening and spent over $200, we were disappointed that we never got the chance to spin the prize wheel, as had been advertised—not once, but twice. We were also never offered the opportunity to enter the Labubu giveaway. It’s a little disheartening to miss out on the extra perks that were part of the grand opening appeal, especially after waiting 2.5 hours to get in.

We still had a blast and can’t wait to return—but we do hope future events are more consistent with what’s promoted. A little more organization around perks and fairness at the door (we saw a group being let in ahead of others in long line) would go a long way in making the experience even better! Thank you for bringing this...