N.J. state investigators test boardwalk games of chance for impossible odds

yeah boardwalk games are quintessential Jersey experience the bells and whistles the rows of plush toys the seemingly simple tasks but if you've ever found yourself plunking down a chunk of change trying to get a ball and a hoop grab a toy with a mechanical claw then you've had the same sneaking suspicion we've all had are these games rigged ah yeah you think so yeah without a doubt I'm actually the prize is it too hot for the clock I try to force a wet like plan all day well you know you always think in the back your head as this rigs are that are the toys weighted is it really gonna work but you know what you just give it a shot or two and then you never know you can win enter investigators from a little-known unit at the state's Division of Consumer Affairs the first time you were inspected this year these guys are from the legalized games of chance control Commission it's their job to keep game operators honest whether it's conveniently askew basketball hoops or darts with dull tips investigators have seen it all we've seen bushel basket games which is a softball that has to be thrown into a tub operators may put a tennis ball or a doorstop behind the bushel basket making the back of it springy so that the ball cannot actually stay inside of the types of profit yeah it's a for-profit business and they expect to make some money on it but by the same token there has to be that ability to possibly win you just can't rig it so that they can't win the thing most of the time violations aren't so blatant maybe an operator holds on to change and lets you play another round or the prizes promised aren't actually available this part lost my spin okay required to have it spend here all right okay I'm gonna put that here well established family-friendly boardwalks like this one in Point Pleasant are more in compliance than you might think but for a long time investigator a violation sticks out like a sore thumb investigator went up earlier and he found that several of the rims were not level and that gives an unfair disadvantage to a player yeah that was pretty egregious that basket just walked and visually by walking by you could see that it wasn't level so let's look at one of the most common games the claw investigators are particularly vigilant about these games because there are so many ways the player can be disadvantaged they tested this machine which offered tantalizing prizes like iPads and blackberries when Bill Walters first tried playing the game normally he found it too difficult so he forced it he'll take that prize and physically put it in the call to see if the flow is strong enough to hold it it wasn't one problem is that the claw has smooth metal tips trying to grasp a hard plastic case it wasn't working even the game's operator wasn't able to force the claw to hold the box it appears other than for some lucky catch of a piece of metal or something like that this would be very very difficult percentage-wise to win I think I should take a look at that one I spent like 15 bucks in that one no exaggeration seriously I'm glad I picked it up

Channel: NJ.com

Views: 8,276,001

Rating: 4.7349105 out of 5

Keywords: tvjersey, star ledger, new jersey, nj, newspaper, division of consumer affairs, dca, games of chance, boardwalk, summer, beach, games, point pleasant, safe summer, task force, testing

Id: bNbD_rc_TNI

Length: 3min 43sec (223 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 01 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Wardlord]

"Do you think this game is rigged?"

"Yes, definitely." inserts another dollar

[u/ImHully]

Interesting watch, but who the fuck spends $50 on a claw machine?

[u/Yoguls]

Watched a documentary about those claw grabbers here in the UK and they are actually programmed so that occasionally the will grip with more force in order to successfully grab the item

[u/Scarbane]

Preeetty sure that little girl at the balloon booth wasn't the actual owner/operator of that attraction.

[u/[deleted]]

that poor kid working in the balloon booth didnt know wtf was happening. I feel like these carnival games are easy to detect rigging. The real suspects are those stacker games and games that require some sort of computer programming.

[u/Dutchan]

Which is quite strange, is they do it in a way like this, acting all professional with shirts on it.

So the boardgame owners could interchange some things, because they know they come around.

Undercover would be a much better approach.

[u/[deleted]]

these guys are quite literally the fun police

[u/[deleted]]

I worked at six flags for 9 years in the games department. The claw games at the park at least when I worked there had a claw strength adjustment on them. You could make them win almost everytime or never. The basketball hoops were almost 13 feet high and had a slightly smaller hoop. Some of the games like the ladder climb require practice and eventually become incredibly easy. I could walk up the ladder climb with no hands and ring the bell. Others like the ring toss are pure chance games. The park liked to maintain a 28% cost of sale. The games with the huge prizes generally generated a little over $100 before someone won. The plush given away was also terrible and filled with Styrofoam balls.

[u/NotAlanAlda]

I've worked in the Arcade/Amusement industry for over 20 years, and I will say, NJ has some pretty strange and strict laws concerning games. It even goes to the point where game manufacturers release prize and ticket redemption games with specialized NJ-approved software updates, or options in the software to be compliant. Things such as play-till-you-win claw cranes, minimum ticket output, cash to ticket ratio, cash to prize ratio, there's like a 300 page booklet on the laws regulating these games. Conversely, the state gaming commission(Slot machines/table games) is fairly relaxed compared to other states. It's a strange double standard, like "Don't cheat our kids, but take the adult's money at the blackjack table!".