Winning prizes in Claw Grabber, Games by Zaweba

Anyone who has fed coins into a seaside claw machine knows the feeling: the claw closes perfectly round a toy, lifts it, and lets it slip just before the chute. Claw Grabber on the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba recreates that machine on screen, full of cuddly toys and with exactly that unpredictable grip.

How a go works

You have ten credits. Each credit is one go. Steer the claw along the rail, wait for it to stop swinging over a toy, then drop it. The claw closes, lifts and carries whatever it has caught back towards the prize chute. Drop a toy into the chute and you score its points.

With the mouse, move to steer and click to drop. On the keyboard, use Left and Right to steer and Space or Down to drop.

The grip

What makes Claw Grabber feel like the real thing is the grip. It is different every go. A strong grip on a light toy will usually hold all the way to the chute. A heavy prize, though, often slips on the way, even when the claw seemed to take it cleanly.

That means part of every go is luck, and you cannot control it. What you can control is everything else: which toy you go for, where the claw lands on it and when you drop.

Waiting for the swing to stop

The claw hangs on a cable and swings as you move it. Drop it while it is still swinging and it lands off to one side of where you meant. Patience is the first skill here. Steer over your target, then wait until the claw is hanging still before you drop. A few seconds of waiting gives you a far cleaner landing.

Choosing your target

Every toy is worth points, but not equally. The gold star is worth the most, and it is also the hardest to hold. It is tempting to spend all ten credits chasing it, but that can leave you with very little at the end.

A steadier approach is to bank some points first. Go for lighter toys that the claw is more likely to carry all the way, and take a shot at the gold star when one is well placed. With only ten credits, a couple of safe prizes early takes some pressure off later goes.

Look at how the toys lie, too. A toy sitting near the chute has less distance to travel, so a weaker grip has less time to fail. A toy wedged among others may be harder to lift cleanly.

Claw Grabber alongside the rest

Claw Grabber is one of the luck to beat games on the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba, along with the wind and wobble of games such as Pub Darts and Bin It. It is a short game, ten credits and done, which makes it a good one to play in a break. At the end it shows your score and your best, so you always know what you are aiming for next time. Press Esc to pause and F11 for full screen.