Claws and Effect

This is a little frustrating.

While leaving a certain local toy store, I glanced at the claw game on the way out (as I typically do) and was stopped dead in my tracks. I know I'm not usually always prone to exaggeration but it was in this particular claw game where I saw what may be the single greatest Captain America collectible of all time: The Captain America Fuzzy Dice!!!

I had other places to be but it was then and there that I vowed to return the next day and acquire was was rightfully mine.

However, the next day, instead of being greeted by my precious, it was the cold bucket of water that is reality that waited for me. The claw game and been restocked (with crap) and my prize was gone!?!

Or was it? After breathing into a paper bag a solid forty minutes I took another look around the plush ghetto and discovered that the Cap Dice were still there...just moved to a more difficult location.

Now I've mentioned my affinity for various claw/crane games before but what I have not mentioned is that I know the only strategy to win. You see, during college I worked at a laundromat where I spent the better part of each day watching customers play and lose the claw game. There is a trick to it.

In most claw games the claw will lower, then raise and THEN grasp! So usually the only items that can be won are the ones at the very top of the pile.

On the previous day the dice were at the very top but now they were significantly lower. Undeniable proof of the existence of Satan? I think so.

Long story short: I had a finite amount of quarters/patience/interest and did not end up winning the greatest Captain America collectible of all time (This claw game, like many, seem to be rigged for maximum frustration).

Here are the video highlights (including a desperate grasp for a consolation prize):

Oh, I'll return to that toy store...and I'll continue to obsess over this nonsense...don't you worry about that. There will come a day when the Captain America Novelty Dice will fill that gaping hole in my life for probably a good 15 minutes. Afterward I guess I'll toss 'em. (Get it?)