UFO Catcher Turns 40, With Japan Still Hooked On Claw Machines

Revenues from crane games make up about 70% of arcade earnings.

- Walter Sim

TOKYO - Crane games, claw machines, or UFO Catchers. Call them what you will, but these brightly lit consoles offering the promise of a prize, through a delicate dance of claw and chance, are undoubtedly the crown jewels of Japan's game arcades.

Mr Mitsuharu Fukazawa, 56, knows these machines inside out. The self-professed crane game geek goes by "UFO Catcher Artisan" on his business card, a nod to the crucial role that he has played in overseeing generations of machines launched by Japanese gaming giant Sega, best known for the iconic Sonic the Hedgehog.

The distinctive "UFO Catcher" name has come to be synonymous with claw machines in general, although not many may know that the name is trademarked and used within the industry to specifically refer to Sega-made consoles which were launched 40 years ago this month, in May 1985.

Such is the cultural imprint that these machines have left on the Japanese gaming landscape.

The most basic steps involve players using either a joystick or buttons to navigate a mechanized claw to clasp or nudge their coveted item into the pickup box. Gameplay, however, may vary by machine.

Mr Fukazawa, who joined Sega in 1991, leads a team of about 20 people overseeing UFO Catchers.

While he was not with the company for the first-generation UFO Catcher, he has been closely involved in the modern evolution of the game. The latest UFO Catcher 10 was launched in 2023, nine years after UFO Catcher 9, although there were many interim updates much like a smartphone operating system.

Before the UFO Catcher, many claw machines were equipped with three dangling arms and unattractive prizes, he says, relegating them to the darker corners of arcades. Instead, more popular video games like Daytona USA, Dance Dance Revolution and Street Fighter took more prominence.