Arcade games can be a lot of fun.
There are the old standbys, like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. But more modern arcades have updated their games to include other things like air hockey tables, basketball free throws, and Dance Dance Revolution.
Of course, there’s one game that seems to pop up in every arcade throughout the history of time, and that’s the claw machine.
Claw machines are pretty much the most recognizable arcade staple ever.
You’ve probably dabbled with one before, and if so, you likely know how incredibly frustrating they can be to operate.
Think you’ve got the claw hooked securely around a toy? Well think again because despite being a literal clawed hand, that thing somehow has the worst grip in the world and will drop your toy over and over again until you’re banging your head on the glass and wishing you saved your quarter for a better game.
The toys in the glass case aren’t even that great, really.
Usually, they’re just cheap stuffed animals, the kind you win at a carnival if you can manage to knock over some milk bottles or toss a ring around a jar. Yet we lose our minds trying to win these toys. Riddle me that.
The people behind one claw machine made a serious error in judgement while filling it with prizes.
Specifically, because they decided to use live puppies in place of toys. How did anyone ever think this was okay?
A video has emerged online showing an arcade claw machine filled with live dogs up for grabs.
The video was posted to Twitter by user Daniel Schneider who captioned it, “Some of those puppies in that game in #Japan are real. WTF. RT. #BeKindToAnimals”
According to LADBible , some reports have claimed the clip actually originates from China, not Japan. But that’s not really the big picture here.
In the video, a cluster of white dogs can be seen moving around inside the class case of the machine.
As a person operates the game, a metal claw comes down from the top of the case and snatches for the dogs.
At the end of the video, the person has won themselves a dog and holds it for the camera.
There are other toys included inside, but people are obviously going to go for the puppies at the bottom.
There’s a lot to be upset about with this.
First, there’s the obvious danger the metal claw poses to the puppies. It’s literally just snapping and grabbing at them, so it could cause some serious damage.
Then, there’s the question of their tragically poor living conditions: how clean that machine is that those dogs are so cruelly trapped inside? They must have to relieve themselves (they are puppies, after all), and with no where else to do it, it must be happening insnide the case.
Lastly, this game is letting basically anyone who has money win a dog. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be fit owners, thus subjecting the dogs to any kinds of mistreatment if won by the wrong person.
People have voiced their outrage over the video on Twitter.
“That is so cruel,” one user commented on the original video. “What if that [claw] pokes out one or both of their eyes?”
Another user surmised that there must be “twisted minds” responsible for the machine.
Some believe the dogs might be mechanical, but no one knows for sure.
A few commenters have pointed out the mechanical movements of the dogs inside the machine and of the one shown outside the machine at the end.
But there’s been no word either way as to how real the puppies actually are. All we know for sure is we see dogs inside an arcade game and we are not happy .
