While scrolling through TikTok, you often see claw machine experts who, with just over a hundred tokens, can grab dozens or even hundreds of plush toys in a single day. Do such claw machine skills really exist? As an editor who has worked in the claw machine industry for many years, I’m undoubtedly more familiar with it than those just getting started. So today, let me break it down for you.

    First of all, skills do exist, and they can indeed improve your success rate to some extent. However, that success rate still falls within the program's tolerance range. As for those so-called "experts" who manage to grab dozens or even hundreds of dolls with just over a hundred tokens — this kind of "cheat-like" skill actually happens because they’ve found a loophole in the claw machine’s control program. Once that loophole is discovered and exploited repeatedly, it can cause serious losses for business owners.

    Why does this happen? In the end, it comes down to the claw machine that the business owner chooses. To cut costs, most claw machine entrepreneurs tend to go for cheaper equipment when purchasing machines. And cheap machines are often the ones most prone to problems.

    Why? Because producing low-cost machines means manufacturers have to lower production costs. The easiest and most straightforward way is to use the cheapest motherboards available. Cheap motherboards are less stable, more prone to program failures, and can hardly support program updates — hence the problems. On top of that, these cheap motherboards are extremely common in the market. Within this industry alone, over 10,000 units are sold every single day. The sheer volume, combined with "experts" sharing their discovered "techniques" online, not only speeds up the spread of these unconventional tricks but also lowers the barrier to entry — even a complete beginner can master the "trick" with little practice.

    If you're an entrepreneur looking to avoid having your business ruined by people exploiting loopholes, my advice is: stay away from low‑price claw machines when making your purchase. Consider mid‑range machines instead. If your budget allows, you might even go for high‑end models.

    Spending a bit more upfront is far better than letting others use loopholes to "restock" from your machines. And what’s even more frustrating is that cheap machines break down every few days — the repair costs alone would be enough to buy a brand new machine.