TikToker ‘exposes’ the truth about how claw machines really work after figuring out how to hack them
Most people follow Katie Clark (@clarkatie) on TikTok to watch her home renovation stories — from the time she built her own shed to the time she installed her own bathroom tile. After buying an old toy claw machine and learning how to “hack” the system, Clark is currently pulling in a whole new kind of audience.
The DIYer first posted about the new purchase on Oct. 5, not long after she brought the machine home. According to Clark, it was a lucky Facebook Marketplace find she plans to add to a bar area she’s building. When she opened the machine to fix something, the TikToker found something startling inside.
“I just discovered something that I guess confirms a lot of people’s thoughts on these elusive machines,” Clark says at the start of the video. She then turns the camera around to show an instruction manual.
While zooming in on a section labeled “Win Rate,” Clark said the machine can be manually adjusted to make it easier or harder for the claw to grab a toy. Essentially, it’s a way to hack the machine when it’s “not clawing,” the TikToker says. That confirmed a long-held belief that the machines are rigged.
“I feel like we all suspected this, and I’m here to tell the truth, to spread the word,” Clark continues in the clip.
In a follow-up video, Clark later shows how simple the “hack” really is. She explains that it involves adding or removing a washer to make the claw tighter or looser. That determines the grip it has on the toys below.
In just a few days, both TikToks have racked up thousands of views and comments.
Several users said they always knew it was “rigged” but never knew to what extent.
“I heard it was rigged to win on a rotation.. like ‘every 8th game it will grab for real’ for example,” wrote @perasyte.
“I heard they tighten it for a day here and there to keep people playing,” said @flyhigh.butterfly1.
Others already seemed to have some insider knowledge about how this all worked.
“I worked with someone who used to supply all the soft toys etc for shows etc and he said those machines are rigged to favour grasping at a height,” wrote @user2023847020540.
But plenty of other TikTokers were pretty mind-blown by Clark’s post and kind of wished they’d never learned this information.
“I always new in my mind these things were true but it’s still heartbreaking to hear,” said @resolutepossum.
“I can’t help but think that they would make more money if people know they could win on a claw machine,” added @deand407.
This certainly isn’t the first time the internet has “exposed” the truth about claw machines. Back in 2015, a Vox story claimed that many of the machines are rigged in a “surprisingly clever way.”
“Some people think the claw machine is so hard to win because the stuffed animals are packed so tightly together,” writer Phil Edwards explained. “But the bigger reason is more insidious than that: the claw machine is programmed to have a strong grip only part of the time.”
After reviewing several manuals from some of the biggest claw games on the market, Edwards revealed that many clearly show how the machine’s “claw strength” can be altered.
“The machine’s owner can fine-tune the strength of the claw beforehand so that it only has a strong grip a fraction of the time that people play,” he continued.
Likewise, the owner can also adjust the “dropping skill,” Edwards shared. “That means that on a given number of tries, the claw will drop a prize that it’s grabbed before it delivers it to you.”
In 2020, a TikTok by Lissy Noel (@lyssynoel) actually gave a tutorial on how to hack the claw machine in a different way.
According to the video, players can actually move the joystick in a certain pattern to trick the machine into “maintenance mode,” which will allegedly grab a toy more easily.
For those who don’t own a machine themselves — and can’t “rig” the system from inside like Clark can — this method is certainly enticing. That said, a lot of commenters later wrote that they tried the “hack,” and it didn’t work for them.
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