seaside (or better known as sleazside to people who live around there) also has them.

as my fiancee put it when I said want to try "by the time you won one you would probably been able to buy two of them)

I'm in southeast Pa. I may have to take a drive and give this a try.

Can I get a business name so I can enter it into the google maps app on my iPhone to get directions?

Just look up Jenkinsons in Point Pleasant and you'll be close. There are actually three or four games that have iPhones in them, but those two are JUST iPhones. If I recall correctly, one has just iPhones in it, while the other has capsules that tell you what prize you've won. There were about 12 capsules in there, but only one wins you an iPhone. The other 11 are for 25000 points for the arcade "store". I think it's $2 a play for each of those games. I won my girlfriend a Coach wristlet in one of their cranes, but I didn't try my luck on the iPhone. Maybe next time...

NPR ran a story a year or two ago about a guy who was a master at extracting prizes from these types of machines. He has some sort of technique that works every time, he used to clean machines out and give the prizes to kids.

He should hit every one of them that has an iPhone and clean 'em out. :)

I thought the machines had a counter that applied more pressure to the claw in pre-determined or random intervals. I could be wrong but then again, I am not a crane game expert by any means.

Everyone knows the trick is that those crane arms are so weak, they can't pick up crap. Even if you manage to get a good grip, it's strong enough to lift the box up, but not strong enough to keep it held up, thus it'll drop shortly after it's airborne.

It's all about Slam a Winner. Best redemption game EVER.

[benchmarkgames.com]

Here's the NPR story Lamont mentioned:

[www.npr.org]

Good call, Lamont!

Hey we should try to contact the crane guy...

I'd give him $300 to win one for me...he he.

Wasn't aware there were so many NJ locals on here. I'm close to both Sleazeside (will proably be down there tonight drinking) AND Pt. Pleasant. Don't bother taking the trip unless you want to lose a lot of money and perhaps grab a bitching italian sausage sandwich, both of which the two boardwalks are good for...

Perhaps a Gizmodo drinking night NJ edition? Bring all of your gadgets to the Sawmill for drunken nerdy fun!

I work at an arcade in Point Pleasant. Won't say which one for job security reasons, but I'll say this. Your not gonna win an Iphone in any of the arcades. Especially in some of the random prize cranes. In the random cranes, well, lets just say the iphone win is buried.

@ultrasource:

Some machines do have electronic force controls and some have machanical tension set at a constant. There are old an new models of these things and they are all different, but look pretty much the same.

Stuff or Details magazine had a story about how to win at them, but concluded that the newer ones were like electronic slot machines and you had to watch and count how often they "paid out" other patrons to figure out the "random" settings for the newer electronic ones.

I'm in south Jersey myself - these machines NEVER work for me.

I do recall an article on something to with every 6th time the machine is stronger or something to that effect.

I recall watching an episode of Brainiac on G4 that had a short segment about "beating the crane game." Essentially what you do is camp out near a machine and wait until someone wins, then begin counting until you see someone else win. Once you figure out the number of turns it takes to win you wait again, appropriately shoving others out of the way when that magical turn number arrives again. Although I have never tried this myself, and am entirely skeptical, it's worth a try. Although not necessarily worth the drive to NJ. (I am from NJ, lived here my whole life therefore I am allowed to rip on the "armpit of America" without persecution from others. Look it up in the Gizmodo handbook.) please no banhammer, please no banhammer, please no...

Last summer I saw people win an ipod nano and a video ipod from one of those crane games in ocean city, within about 10 minutes of each other.

I think the iphone is winnable.

I'm never any good at those things, but my friend is a total PRO. Seriously. He usually gets 1 stuffed animal each try, sometimes 2 at a time if they are situated the right way. I will tell him about this, and we might take a small road trip and see if he can win one. I already have one, but if he can win me another... More power to us. :P

here is how to beat the machine (from brainiac)

[youtube.com]

@TheNinthPlayer: does Jenks still rig the machines? I know they did when I worked there as a ride operator back when I was highschool. Worse job ever. Nothing like being caught in a nor'eastern and STILL having to go to work on rides you know will not be ran that night.

All of us ended up under the bumpercars all night till finally at 9 they called it. Wouldnt have been half bad if 75% of the workers I worked with at rides couldnt speak english and I only knew a smattering of polish which was close but not exactly the same language they spoke.

The girls where hot though.

Man makes me wish I didn't wait on line at the Bricktucky AT&T store (shout out to anyone who was there!). Oh wait, those machines at Pavilion are FUCKING rigged...

But based on that Brainiac clip I would say they probably have set to make $2k off the suckers that try it before giving up the goods...

@ajfili: The Sawmill?? Ugghhh, Captain Hooks is the only decent place down there...

Menaq: yeah.... not only are they rigged that the claw doesn't have enough strength to pick it up except for one time every set number of attempts, but if someone doesn't have a good grip even on one of those attempts that one could win off of, and the item drops prematurely, the count starts over. so even that way of thinking is flawed.

@Worf.

Think about it. The iPhone is $500. Lets say each time to play with cost a dollar. You get 500 chances to play. Each little time you pick it up and it drops, you can do it again 499 times. At max it will take you about lets say 50 times. You save 450 bucks right there.

If us Jersey natives can't win it, then nobody can. We are all born with crane game skill infused in our blood.

@Dollarbill

Most of these machines are at LEAST $5 a play. Most people will play it 5-10 times thinking they "almost had it" making the arcade $25-$50 richer before they inevitably give up. Most people won't drop more than $100 before they realize it isn't going to happen.

Everyone knows these things are rigged, especially when the prize is a 3 lb. box wrapped in celophane. The sad part about it is, the owner of the game is probably going to make thousands off of his $1,200 investment. Who knows how many idiots will come by and throw $20 in that machine before giving up and going home crying.

I can remember getting in a fight with an old girlfriend years ago at the bowling alley... the only way I knew how to make it up to her was to win her a teddy bear she admired in the crane game. I spent $14 trying to win that freaking bear before I finally landed a POS plush honeybee by accident. Fortunately she was fine with this. Now, had it been an iPhone she wanted, I would have been in big trouble. Somehow I just don't think a plush honeybee can compare to an iPhone.

Wildwood, NJ also has them. In fact - the one in Wildwood literally has 10+ Wii's in there but the boxes are so incredibly beat up from being picked up and dropped from 2-3 feet in the air that I'd venture to guess the console and other stuff in the box may be ruined.