Christopher Salazar could not stop with the plush round Kool-Aid Man. The 11-year-old claw machine master had to have more. So, outside a South Side strip mall on a recent early evening, he and his ...

Like the little green aliens in Disney’s “Toy Story,” people — often kids — may find themselves obsessed with “the claw.” Claw machines, also known as crane machines, dot arcades, malls, even grocery ...

I love taking my son to the arcade, sharing with him the games I grew up playing and the workarounds that can help improve his odds of winning. On one such trip, we spent too much time and money ...

Mike Nay bought his first claw machine during the pandemic to pass the time. Once he had the strategy down and arcades reopened, he was winning hundreds of plushies. He learned he could make a profit ...

A claw machine is a staple at any arcade. Also known as crane games, they require players to insert money or tokens to use a claw-like device to grab a prize, lift it up, and then let it go over the ...