Claw Machine
Revival of Claw Machine:
A potential business or just a bubble?
Have you ever played claw machine? It is a vending machine which operates like an arcade game. Players need to manipulate a hanging claw in an attempt to pick up a prize from the claw machine. Claw machine can be deemed as one of the collective memories of Hong Kong people, most of them have played claw machine when they were small. Recently, there is a sudden revival of this game in Hong Kong. Numerous claw machine shops can be found in different districts. Ranging from kids to adults, all are fond of this game. Let us find out the reasons behind this phenomenon.
Many people support claw machine shops and got their prizes successfully.
The original model of claw machine is called “Miami Digger”, which was invented and patented by an American named William Bartlett in 1932. In the past, claw machine was used for gambling industry in Europe. Therefore, it was banned by the European Government for a long period of time. In 1965, Taito Corporation, a Japanese video game developer and publisher of arcade hardware introduced Miami Digger into Japan and modified it. They named the modified machine as “Crown 602”, and released it to the market. Sooner or later, the fanaticism of claw machine was spread throughout Asia, including Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The prizes inside the claw machines have also changed a lot in order to attract customers. In the beginning, there were usually candies and snacks inside the claw machines. Later on, there were mainly dolls. But recently, various prizes are provided, such as cosmetics, bluetooth speaker, and even iphone.
Claw machine shops provide coins changing services for customers so as to be more convenient.
Recently, there are many claw machine shops pop up in Hong Kong, the main reason why so many people join the business is due to low cost. Grace Lam is the owner of a local claw machine shop called “Lamchichi”. Grace is a claw machine and animal lover, and that are the reasons why she decided to operate a claw machine shop. “The main purpose of operating this shop is not to earn money, but to donate part of the revenue to help stray cats and dogs.”
Grace Lam, the owner of Lamchici (淋吱吱) started her business since mid April 2019.
Grace believes that claw machine revives in Hong Kong mainly because it is a relatively low-cost business. In term of time cost, claw machine shop does not need a shopkeeper, a few surveillance cameras are good enough for security. As a full-time accountant, Grace can only go to the shop after work and at weekends. It is more flexible for employees to start their own business. As for money cost, Grace says that those claw machines are not very expensive. ‘The machines that I have bought are from Taiwan, but for Chinese models, they can be as cheap as HK$3,000 each.” Grace also mentions that the rental price of the shopping mall where her shop is located is around HK$10,000 to HK$20,000. And hers is on the cheaper range as Lamchichi is located in a less crowded spot. Surprising, Grace is not positive about the prospect as she believes that the fanaticism will be gone someday in the near future. “I think the hype will continue for one or two years.”
Grace usually comes back at night to check the machines and fill up the prizes.
Apart from owners, customers are also the main contributors of the fanaticism, especially youngsters. Janice Luk from Hong Kong Baptist University says that claw machine shops can attract teenagers because they can stay at the shop as long as they want to. “Youngsters care about freedom and personal space. Take myself as an example, I do not like staff staring at me when going shopping. ” As such, customers can stay until they can get the prize without feeling embarrassed.
Enoch Ng, student from The University of Hong Kong says that some new rules attract young people to play claw machines. For example, there is guarantee of prize after paying certain amount, or customers can enjoy unlimited trials after certain rounds. However, he thinks that this business cannot sustain in Hong Kong due to saturated market and high rental price.
Professor Sin Yat Ming, Leo, the Director of the Master of Science Programme in Marketing of The Chinese University of Hong Kong said in a press interview last month that “poor economy reduces people’s ability of consumption, as well as the price of short-term shop rent. It provides more chances for those claw machine shops to survive.” He also mentioned that it was profitable to operate a claw machine shop in short-term. However, he believed that some claw machine shops will be eliminated if the economy improves.
Claw machine revives in Hong Kong due to its profitability and new operating style. However, this revival seems to be temporary. Only time can tells how long the fanaticism can maintain in Hong Kong.
Interviewees:
Grace Lam- owner of the claw machine store
Mavis Ha- student
Research links
https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/history/2m2bzbr.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzyIpZvsC0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFWgBo7fCU
https://www.facebook.com/355665009819/posts/10157116571174820/?sfnsn=mo
https://www.hk01.com/社會新聞/306898/有片-無人駕駛夾公仔舖區區湧現-真係咁好賺
http://clawmachinenetwork.blogspot.com/2013/01/unique-definition-and-description-of.html